Co-evolutionary dynamics of experimental governance: a longitudinal study of sustainable mobility services in Oslo

Abstract

ABSTRACT The attention that has been drawn to urban experimentation has contributed to new knowledge of the role of local governance for a sustainable transition. Still, there remains little knowledge of how municipalities can foster experimentation and that may result in real change across the protected spaces of experimentation and the existing policy structures. This paper aims at exploring how experimental governance result in real policy change over time by reviewing related discussions from the cross-disciplinary fields of sustainability transition and collaborative innovation, and by discussing findings from a longitudinal case study of an emerging innovation for sustainable mobility services in Oslo. This longitudinal study shows how experimental governance have played various roles at different times in the emerging innovation: promoting innovation, destabilising existing policy arrangements, transforming institutional routines and co-creating shared interests. The findings demonstrate the critical co-evolutionary dynamics of experimental governance, transforming existing policy structures over time.