Jessica M. Williams, Vivian H. Y. Chu, Wai Fung Lam, Winnie W. Y. Law
Our recent publication in the International Journal of the Commons (IJC) discusses how problems arising from nested social and ecological systems in the peri-urban setting can be addressed through nested institutions, which were designed to support commoning across spatial and governance levels. While we drew on examples of agricultural commoning developed and implemented by the Centre for Civil Society and Governance (CCSG), HKU, and collaborating organisations to substantiate our arguments, the paper identifies favourable designs of commoning that could be useful when solving other types of nested problems.
The paper’s premise is that conventional governance approaches struggle to effectively manage problems that cross spatial scales and sit at the intersection of ecological and social systems. However, these characteristics are embedded in sustainability problems. Therefore, we adopt a social-ecological systems perspective to understand influences across systems. In the case of managing problems in peri-urban areas, interconnected process across social and ecological subsystems at different levels, e.g. influences from urban areas, have created substantial challenges for the sustainable revitalisation of these areas, preventing them from creating value to both rural and urban areas. For example, due to rural-urban disconnect, challenges are encountered in re-establishing management systems for natural and cultural resources in desolate villages. Key strategies to overcome such challenges include incubating communities of interests to draw upon manpower from the wider community and developing multiple co-management platforms, which enhance open participation and enable self-governance (Diagram 1). The better management of such resources in the longer term contributes to the resilience of the broader society. [Access the full paper on IJC]
Diagram 1: Overview of the interconnections and challenges between the different levels and the commoning approaches undertaken.
Diagram 2: Incubating communities of interest to revive urban-rural integration