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One of the key challenges of our era is to halt biodiversity loss and foster the sustainable use of nature. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) recognize the importance of the inextricable link between social and ecological systems and human quality of life (QoL) and biodiversity. Therefore, understanding the feedback and interactions between biodiversity, nature’s contributions to people (NCP), and QoL plays a central role in advancing toward sustainability. In this context, the social-ecological systems (SES) approach has advanced on the subject, particularly in recent decades; however, much remains to be done to comprehensively understand these relationships and interactions, especially at local decision-making scales. In this thesis, through the lenses of the SES approach, I investigate connections between biodiversity, NCP, and QoL in a tropical dry forest (TDF) on the Western coast of Mexico. This place is one of the best-known Neotropical TDF and has been the focus of SES research in the past 20 years, making it an excellent case study for exploring these connections. First, to approach the need for dialogue among different global and local scales and between global and local frameworks, the thesis identifies five key components of the SES dynamics-(1) ecological supply, (2) co-production of NCP, (3) management, (4) demand, and (5) benefits- and three local decision-making scales of analysis- individual plot, smallholder, and land tenure or governance units. A literature review was performed on the social-ecological indicators for the last 11 years in the Chamela-Cuixmala region to operationalize this framework. The representability of the framework shows that research has emphasized the components of NCP co-production (42% of indicators) and SES management (21%). By analyzing SES dynamics through this new framework, we can support the monitoring of NCP and potentially detect regime shifts or radical changes before they happen. The framework is simultaneously context-specific and operationable across global contexts, providing an opportunity to inform discussions on global sustainability from local contexts. Second, this thesis uses social-ecological information to identify social-ecological systems units (SESU) spatially explicitly. A methodology was provided to spatially identify the components of social-ecological systems that environmental conditions and management practices have shaped at three previously stated relevant decision-making scales: plots owned by individuals, plot owners, and governance units. To do so, we identified and characterized: (1) ecological clusters (EC), (2) social-management clusters (SC), and (3) SESU in a TDF in western Mexico. Our findings suggested that decision-makers (ejidatarios, i.e., type of ownership (related to agrarian reform), that in most cases the land allocated is small-smallholders-) are bounded by the topographical characteristics and the public policies that determine communal (or private) governance and the number of resources available to them. The methodology can be applied to other contexts and nested decision-making scales. The spatial identification of these interdependencies is critical for landscape planning since it can contribute to reconciling productive activities and biodiversity conservation. Finally, the thesis examines the self-perceived QoL across the different SESU, finding 48 QoL items, which were grouped into six categories: 1) social capital, 2) economic capital, 3) agency, 4) nature, 5) peasant non-work activities, and 6) government and services; and two additional dimensions referred to obstacles and enablers of QoL. We found that the more land cover transformation, the more enablers, and obstacles of QoL are identified; emphasis was put on economic capital to achieve QoL. As management is intensified and governance fosters individualism across SES, the higher the Current Welfare Index, and the lower the self-perceived material and non-material satisfaction. We discuss the need for governance structures promoting smallholders´ worldviews that move beyond utilitarianism and foster commons. The social-ecological systems approach employed throughout this dissertation contributed towards crosscutting insights; the testing of new frameworks and methodologies represent important steps towards unraveling the connections between biodiversity, NCP, and QoL and contributes to achieving sustainable scenarios such as the ones proposed by the SDGs.

This dissertation deals with the increasingly recognized role of incumbent firms in advancing sustainability-oriented industry transitions. Incumbent firms are understood as firms-in-industries, which are embedded in established market structures and thereby contrast new entrant firms. The purpose of this research is twofold. First, to provide empirical evidence of barriers to and success factors of incumbent-driven industry transitions. Second, to unify hitherto dispersed descriptions of transition-related firm behaviour in a new understanding of incumbent firms in industry transitions. To this end, theoretical concepts are discussed and extended on the basis of different empirical studies in the German meat industry. The meat industry serves as suitable research setting due to its diverse sustainability challenges, ranging from climate change and pollution to animal welfare and public health, as well as its current developments towards sustainable protein alternatives. The meat context also offers opportunities to delve into individual-level processes influencing transition-related behaviour. The main contribution of this dissertation is a Multi Embeddedness Framework (MEF) that details processes and outcomes of integrated incumbent firm behaviour, including passive, reactive and proactive behaviors. The framework acknowledges the diversity in incumbent firm behaviors within industries and firms and provides new insights into transition-related behaviors at firm and individual level. With regard to the latter, the potential of learning about and from innovative start-up firms as well as shared sensemaking processes are discussed. The contents of this dissertation provide valuable contributions to the transition literature as well as important management implications with regard to the stimulation and promotion of proactive behaviors

Climate change presents a major sustainability challenge to coastal social-ecological systems (SES). The integration of climate change adaptation into processes or structures for coastal governance, however, has been described as challenging. Resilience presents a suitable concept to approach this problem, as it facilitates bridging between the natural and social sciences, as well as between science and policy in an inter- and trans-disciplinary approach. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change also makes use of the concept of resilience and confirms that recent literature increasingly suggests that transformative changes in SES are required to enhance their resilience to climate change. Yet, knowledge gaps still exist on how to enable effective coastal governance to enhance the climate resilience of coastal SES. To address this problem, the importance of actionable knowledge is growing in climate change adaptation, environmental governance, and broader sustainability research. Actionable knowledge refers to knowledge that contributes to solving societal problems and points to actions and processes of change. One way of generating actionable knowledge is the co-production of knowledge with societal stakeholders. Yet, knowledge gaps exist in what methods and approaches may contribute to generating actionable knowledge and what obstacles to knowledge co-production exist especially for early-career researchers (ECRs). This dissertation contributes to research on generating actionable knowledge for coastal governance to enhance the resilience of coastal SES to climate change. It does this by providing theoretical, methodological and empirical insights on three research questions (RQs), laid out in Chapter I. These are: 1) what is a more actionable concept for applying the concept of resilience in coastal governance?; 2) what methods and approaches are suitable to generate actionable knowledge for coastal governance?; and 3) what obstacles to knowledge co-production exist for ECRs and how can they be overcome? The RQs are addressed in five publications, each presenting one chapter of this dissertation. For answering RQ1, Chapter II applies a research synthesis to bring together common themes and challenges documented in resilience, climate change and environmental governance literature. For answering RQ2, in Chapter III-V different methods and approaches for generating actionable knowledge are proposed and tested using a case-study in the SES of Algoa Bay, South Africa. These include i) the analysis of stakeholder agency as an indicator of the ability of stakeholders to act in governance processes; ii) the application of a stakeholder analysis to gain an improved understanding of the current degree of knowledge exchange for climate change adaptation; and iii) the combination of a capital approach framework, and fuzzy cognitive mapping, which shed light on the governance performance for climate change adaptation and on leverage points that can enhance climate resilience. Finally, for answering RQ3, Chapter VI provides a perspective on the obstacles that especially ECRs face, and actions that are needed to create the conditions under which knowledge co-production processes can be successful. This is done by applying a multi-method approach combining an online survey and workshop targeted at ECRs in the marine sciences. Key findings suggest that system and transformative knowledge are particularly important when applying the concept of resilience in coastal governance to generate actionable knowledge. The different methods and approaches that are proposed and tested contribute to generating both system and transformative knowledge. Firstly, they provide an overview of the capacities of different stakeholders to act, shed light on current collaboration and knowledge exchange, and enable the identification of different governance processes for coastal governance and climate change adaptation (system knowledge). Secondly, results have implications for how to improve knowledge exchange and identify leverage points that can enhance overall governance performance, thus providing recommendations on actions and processes that can enhance climate resilience in the case-study area (transformative knowledge). It is also highlighted how knowledge co-production can contribute to generating system and transformative knowledge together with stakeholders, and what actions are needed to build the capacities to translate knowledge into action. Additionally, the findings of this dissertation put forward actions that are needed at different organisational levels of the academic system to facilitate knowledge co-production processes with stakeholders involved in coastal governance. The results of this dissertation have implications for stakeholders and decision-making in the case-study area, as well as for environmental governance, climate change adaptation and broader sustainability research. Implications for stakeholders include recommendations for implementing formal commitments to share climate information across levels and sectors, establishing the role of information providers in the municipality, and reinforcing human capital within the local municipality in Algoa Bay. It also requires more support from the provincial government, such as addressing funding issues, offering training focusing on stakeholders with lower agency and capacities, and improving the overall availability and accessibility of climate information, as well as the priority given to climate change in the Integrated Development Plan. Findings also suggest the need for a more integrated approach to climate change adaptation in coastal planning and management frameworks. It also suggests that the conservation of environmental assets presents an important bottleneck for resilience management and needs to be further prioritised within decision-making. Implications for research include the applicability of methods beyond the context of this dissertation; a more actionable concept for approaching resilience in (coastal) governance systems that can be applied for achieving broader sustainability goals; and a more critical reflection on how transformative research is conducted, and what academic foundation is needed so that it can fulfil its societal goal. Future research may include a combination of the methods applied in this dissertation; qualitative applications of the stakeholder network analysis; and an application of the proposed approach to other case-studies using real-world laboratories. Overall, this dissertation provides theoretical, methodological, and empirical implications and insights into pressing SES problems. It also contributes to advancing the field of transformative research for more societally relevant outcomes in face of climate change and broader sustainability challenges

Können die kulturellen Praktiken und wertschöpfenden Handlungen innerhalb von Musikkulturen mit dem Begriff der Produktivität erfasst werden? Dieser Frage geht diese Dissertation am Beispiel der Technokultur nach. Sie zeigt auf, wie Menschen in solchen Vergemeinschaftungsformen für sich und andere Werte schaffen. In Abgrenzung zu wirtschaftswissenschaftlichen Formulierungen wird hier von Werte-Schöpfung gesprochen. Zugrundeliegend ist ein kulturwissenschaftliches Verständnis von Produktivität, welches den Fokus auf unterschiedliche Arten der Produktion und Werte-Schöpfung legt. Es wurden Akteur*innen, ihr Handeln und ihre musikalischen, kulturellen, sozialen, sinnstiftenden sowie ökonomischen Produktionen innerhalb der Technokultur auf unterschiedlichen Ebenen analysiert. Dies umfasst Produzierende und Partizipierende, Gemeinschaften, Szenen, Städte, Festivals und Ökonomie. Das methodische Vorgehen basiert auf (Szene-)Ethnographie als Verfahren der Datengenerierung, was Interviews mit Experten (DJs, Produzenten, Labelmacher, Angestellte von Musikwirtschaftsbetrieben, Veranstalter) und Partizipierenden sowie teilnehmende Beobachtungen (Clubs, Festivals, Berlin, Köln, Lärz und Ruhrgebiet) umfasst. Zusätzlich wurden Technotracks musikhermeneutisch analysiert, um die Vielfalt der Affordanzen an Technomusik aufzuzeigen. Zur Datenauswertung wurde auf das Grounded Theory-Verfahren der Situationsanalyse (Clarke 2012) zurückgegriffen. Leitend für die Analyse sind die Konzepte der „Sonic Bodies“ und des „Soundings“ von Julian Henriques (2011), des Musickings (Small 1998) sowie der Begriff des „Sonischen“. Im Zentrum der Arbeit steht das Handeln von Menschen mit Klang und Musik in musikalischen Soziokulturen und der wechselseitige Einfluss mit der umgebenden Stadt und Gesellschaft. Die Dissertation zeigt auf, wie die Sonic Bodies der Technokultur persönliche, soziale, kulturelle und ökonomische Werte für sich schöpfen, auf dieser Grundlage ihr Handeln austarieren und sich mit anderen Produzierenden und Partizipierenden zu temporären oder beständigen Werte-Schöpfungsnetzwerken zusammenschließen. Die Möglichkeiten der Werte-Schöpfung sind durch mehrere Konfigurationen gerahmt. Darunter fallen sozialstrukturelle, subjektive und subkulturelle bzw. kulturindustrielle Faktoren, die das Handeln und die Werte-Schöpfung der Sonic Bodies prägen. Diese umfassen u. a. Faktoren sozialer Ungleichheit, individuelle Faktoren und Faktoren, die der Feldstruktur der Technokultur entspringen.

This research argues that the emergent driverless car, as a kind of autonomous vehicle, is a Foucault-ian ‘ethical apparatus’, working as an epistemic device to materially embody and enable discursive power by generating notions of ‘autonomy’ and ‘ethical decision-making’. The ethical implications of AI, algorithmic, and autonomous technologies are topics of current regulatory and academic concern. This concern relates to the lack of meaningful oversight of black boxes inside AI systems, liabilities for manufacturers, and inadequate frameworks to hold AI-based socio-technical systems to account. One recent artefact, the driverless car, has taken on these concerns quite literally in the shaping of a niche discourse of the ‘ethics of autonomous driving’. Ambitions to produce a fully autonomous vehicle based on AI technologies are constrained by speculative concerns that its decision-making in unexpected accident situations cannot be assumed to protect humans. ‘The ethics of autonomous driving’ evaluates proposals to build ‘ethical machines’ by examining the relationship between structures of human values and moral decision-making, and how they comport to computational architectures for decision-making. This is the first case this work takes up, chiefly organised around an analysis of a thought experiment, the Trolley Problem, and the online game, Moral Machine, that crowdsourced values to suggest approaches to an ‘ethics of autonomous driving’. Rather than evaluate the feasibility or appropriateness of these two approaches, this work attends to the more critical issue that ethics is being proposed in terms of technologies turning on the logics of risk, speculation, and probabilistic correlations that are fundamental to how machine learning makes decisions. The concern in this work is less a normative framework or approach for a better or more appropriate ethics of autonomous driving. Rather, this work argues that what we understand as ‘the ethical’ is being transformed when architected by, through, and for AI/autonomous technologies to become their own regulators. Hence the production of autonomous driving necessitates computational infrastructures that are creating a world legible to and for the navigation of a driverless car. I argue that this is fostering computational governance that has implications for human bodies and social relations, chiefly that conventional approaches to regulation and accountability attend to human values and decision-making rather than computational ones. A second case that this research examines is that of driverless car crashes, to examine how ‘autonomous’ driving requires substantial embodied human knowledge and micro-work. Taken together, these two cases - the ethics of autonomous driving, and crashes - make an argument for how myriad practices of knowledge-production are translating the human world into something legible to the navigational needs of the car, producing changes in the human world through the actions of the car on that basis, and advancing notions of ‘autonomy’. This work concludes with arguments for a critical reconceptualisation of ethics and ethical decision-making in AI/autonomous systems.