eindhoven university of technology master transition
TRANSCRIPT
Eindhoven University of Technology
MASTER
Transition experiment case-studythe Quinta Esencia Eco-Campus project
de Vos, T.L.M.
Award date:2012
Link to publication
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Transition Experiment case-study: the Quinta Esencia Eco-Campus Project
Master thesis by Timmy de Vos (0677587)
August 2012
Supervisors:
Dr.ir. R.P.J.M. Raven
Prof.dr. R. Oldenziel
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I. Preface and acknowledgements Half of the time spend on this thesis I have been in Buenos Aires in Argentina. Here there has
been taken really good care of me through the provision of a nice and comfortable living
and working environment. Amartya helped me in providing me housing and an office.
Besides that, they have welcomed me with open arms in their team of inspiring individuals.
I came to Argentina to provide a critical view on the Quinta Esencia eco-campus project
initiated by Amartya and analyze the opportunities for wider adoption of the sustainability
aspects to be experimented with. I would particularly like to thank Christian Tiscornia, director
of Amartya, for allowing me deep into their organization which allowed me to make this
analysis. He has been open to criticism and allowed me to get deep into each aspect of the
process however fragile they sometimes still were. I was allowed access to every meeting,
contact and document concerning the project. Second I would like to thank Powa Herrera
Girard for his quick responses and helping me to get into contact with all of the core-actors
involved. Third I would like to thank Antonia Cermak-Terzian for accompanying me to some of
the interviews that were conducted in Spanish to assist me when my Spanish would not
suffice.
The other half of the time spend on the thesis was spend on writing in Eindhoven, the
Netherlands. My first supervisor, dr.ir. Rob Raven, has been a pleasure working with. He has
allowed me to do the research I really wanted to do, gave me the space, and provided me
with valuable feedback when it was required. I felt at ease working with him and am grateful
for the quick responses I received. I would also like to thank my second supervisor prof.dr.
Ruth Oldenziel. Especially during the last phase of writing the thesis she has provided me with
extended feedback on a very short notice that has been helpful in giving the thesis its final
touch.
II. Executive summary This research analyzes the initial phase of the Quinta Esencia eco-campus project in
Argentina initiated by the Argentinean NGO Amartya. This eco-campus project focuses on
the promotion of sustainability through education and demonstration of renewable energy
sources, sustainable building and sustainable agriculture. This research seeks to understand
how the initiators of the project are proposing its implementation and what challenges the
local context may pose for the wider adoption of the innovative aspect of the project.
Amartya proposes the implementation of the eco-campus in the pampas region of
Argentina where there is little access to higher education and where unsustainable
agricultural practices dominate the economic situation. Amartya promises to benefit the
local community with the implementation of the eco-campus and counter unsustainable
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practices in the region. However, how receptive the Argentinean context will be to the
proposed innovations remains to be seen. The likeliness that the innovations will be adopted
or experimented with further is what makes the project a success and is the core interest of
this research. In other words the interest is in the transition potential of the project.
This results in the following research question for this thesis:
What is the transition potential of the ‘Quinta Esencia’ project (in Argentina) and what could
be improved?
Research approach
The Quinta Esencia project aims to promote sustainability practices in Argentina. By
proposing experimentation with different innovative aspects (e.g. renewable energy,
sustainable building and sustainable agriculture) Quinta Esencia seeks to make a difference
and influence society at large. From an innovation sciences perspective the Quinta Esencia
project can then be seen as an experiment trying to change society, a transition experiment.
The Multi-Level-Perspective (MLP) helps to put the innovative experiments in a wider context
emphasizing social, technical and economic factors beyond the particular project that may
influence the project’s success and ability to influence practice as usual. MLP makes a
distinction between three levels in socio-technical systems: (1) the landscape, this is the most
robust level of society in the sense of being most highly structured and not being easily
influenced (e.g. cultural values or international oil prices); (2) the regime, which can be
characterized as an interrelated set of dimensions (technologies, policy and regulations,
cultural values, user relations, industrial structures, etc) that through their relations constitute
practice as usual in certain domains and industries in society; and (3) niches, this is the level of
innovative projects and experiments that still need nurturing (through subsidies, or protection
by stakeholders) before being able to survive under regime selection pressures.
The Strategic Niche Management (SNM) approach is applied to analyze the innovative
sustainability experiment at the niche level. SNM emphasizes the importance of experiments
contributing to niche development. The term niche here refers to an environment that offers
the innovation protection from the full range of selection criteria that favor business as usual.
Experiments can contribute to niches through the creation of coherence among actors, to
develop a shared vision and direction, and improve the sharing of lessons through
networking(Romijn, Raven and Visser, 2010).
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The combination of a regime analysis and SNM analysis allows for insights both on the local
level of the experiment and for an overview of a wider context in which the experiment is to
be implemented. The transition potential will be distilled from this analysis.
Data collection
The research was conducted on-site in Argentina. The research is primarily based on in-debt
interviews with all involved stake-holders, attendance in meetings and observations. The
interviews have been informed by the theoretical concepts of SNM and MLP, to map niche-
processes and analyze the relation of the project to its context. Furthermore, project
documents and complementary scholarly literature have informed the analysis on different
levels.
Analysis and conclusions
The regime analysis provided insights on the differential character and the fundamental
differences that may be hard to overcome. With regard to the innovative sustainability
aspects proposed by Quinta Esencia, Amartya faces a very confronting environment that is
badly adapted to the proposed innovations. There is too little focus on sustainability in the
political climate and local practices may be too divergent posing a threat for the ability to
adopt the proposed innovations.
The SNM analysis provided insights on the management of the niche processes. Here there is
still much room for improvement. So far the group of involved actors is still very limited to a
core group of project developers. There is a lack of inclusion of actors operating in regime-
institutions that would prove useful to deal with regime barriers. Also there is a lack of learning
from other similar projects to provide lessons about best practices and substantiate
expectations about the project. Also there is a lack of inclusion of users to articulate their
preferences. Stepping up the inclusion of these actors could significantly benefit learning
processes and the articulation of a broader range of expectations. Since the project is still in
an early phase there is room for improvement of these processes which in turn will benefit the
transition potential of the project. Nevertheless there is still a very stable, closed Argentinean
context that will be faced that doesn’t allow for easy break troughs. If the processes
mentioned are properly managed, they will however be better in grasping opportunities
when tensions in the current system occur.
Recommendations
Recommendations are given on the improvement of niche-processes directed at Amartya.
Based on the analysis the most important recommendations concern the involvement on a
diverse range of regime-actors, actors involved in other projects, and different users.
Expectations should be communicated among this broader group of actors and be made
more specific. This is expected to result in improvement of learning processes.
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III. Contents
I. Preface and acknowledgements ..................................................................................................... 2
II. Executive summary ......................................................................................................................... 2
III. Contents ...................................................................................................................................... 5
IV. Index of figures ............................................................................................................................ 7
V. Index of tables ................................................................................................................................. 7
VI. List of abbreviations .................................................................................................................... 8
1 Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 9
Research objectives ............................................................................................................... 10 1.1
Research question ................................................................................................................. 12 1.2
Research justification ............................................................................................................ 14 1.3
Social relevance ............................................................................................................. 14 1.3.1
Scientific relevance ........................................................................................................ 16 1.3.2
Reading guide ........................................................................................................................ 16 1.4
2 Presentation of the project ........................................................................................................... 17
Campus buildings .................................................................................................................. 17 2.1
Context .................................................................................................................................. 19 2.2
Geographical context .................................................................................................... 20 2.2.1
Environmental context ................................................................................................. 21 2.2.2
Social context ................................................................................................................ 24 2.2.3
Economic context .......................................................................................................... 25 2.2.4
3 Concepts, theory and methodology .............................................................................................. 26
The Multi-Level Perspective .................................................................................................. 27 3.1
Socio-technical Regimes ................................................................................................ 27 3.1.1
The socio-technical landscape ....................................................................................... 28 3.1.2
Niche innovations .......................................................................................................... 28 3.1.3
Interactions between the levels .................................................................................... 29 3.1.4
Socio-technical transitions to sustainable development .............................................. 30 3.1.5
Strategic Niche Management ................................................................................................ 31 3.2
Methodology ......................................................................................................................... 33 3.3
Regime and niche comparison ...................................................................................... 33 3.3.1
SNM analysis .................................................................................................................. 35 3.3.1
Transition potential ....................................................................................................... 35 3.3.1
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4 QE compared to the regime context ............................................................................................. 36
Guiding principles .......................................................................................................... 37 4.1.1
Technologies and infrastructure ................................................................................... 39 4.1.2
Industrial structure ........................................................................................................ 43 4.1.3
User relations and markets ........................................................................................... 48 4.1.4
Policies and regulations ................................................................................................. 49 4.1.5
Knowledge ..................................................................................................................... 52 4.1.6
Culture and symbolic meanings underpinning practices .............................................. 54 4.1.7
Conclusions regarding regime barriers and opportunities .................................................... 55 4.2
5 SNM analysis.................................................................................................................................. 56
Network ................................................................................................................................. 56 5.1
Involved actors .............................................................................................................. 57 5.1.1
Possibly relevant local actors ........................................................................................ 60 5.1.1
Network structure ......................................................................................................... 61 5.1.2
Expectations .......................................................................................................................... 65 5.2
Vision, mission, and objectives ...................................................................................... 65 5.2.1
Sharedness, specifity and quality .................................................................................. 67 5.2.2
Learning ................................................................................................................................. 72 5.3
Learning on different dimensions ................................................................................. 72 5.3.1
Learning by interaction .................................................................................................. 78 5.3.2
Second order learning ................................................................................................... 80 5.3.1
6 Conclusions .................................................................................................................................... 80
Conclusions regarding the regime ......................................................................................... 80 6.1
Conclusions regarding SNM................................................................................................... 82 6.2
Transition potential ............................................................................................................... 82 6.3
7 Recommendations......................................................................................................................... 84
Recommendations on project management......................................................................... 84 7.1
Network ......................................................................................................................... 84 7.1.1
Expectations .................................................................................................................. 87 7.1.2
Learning ......................................................................................................................... 88 7.1.3
Lesson for transition community .......................................................................................... 90 7.2
8 References ..................................................................................................................................... 93
9 Appendix ........................................................................................................................................ 96
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IV. Index of figures
Figure 1: House of the supervisor
Figure 2: SUM, the general use building
Figure 3: Eco-hostel (based on preliminary design by already involved architects)
Figure 4: Master plan campus landscape
Figure 5: The area where the QE project will be developed (part of Tierra Fiel)
Figure 6: Multi-level perspective on transitions from the book of Grin, Rotmans and Schot
(2010)
Figure 7: Relation between regime and niche stability
Figure 9: Core and cloud network division
Figure 10: Vison, mission, objective scheme
Figure 11: Core and cloud of the network
Figure 12: Core and cloud network division
Figure 13: Indication of the transition potential for different sustainability aspects
V. Index of tables
Table 1: attendance at educational facilities (latest census 2001)
Table 2: percentage of workforce per occupational category
Table 3: General data of the department of Mar Chiquita
Table 4: Overview of regime and project differences in guiding principles
Table 5: Overview of regime and project differences in technologies and infrastructure
Table 6: Overview of regime and project differences in industrial structure
Table 7: Overview of regime and project differences in user relations and markets
Table 8: Overview of regime and project differences in policies and regulations
Table 9: Overview of regime and project differences in knowledge
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Table 10: Overview of regime and project differences in culture and symbolic meanings
VI. List of abbreviations
CEP - Centro Experimental de Producion
CSR - Corporate Social Responsibility
ISCN - International Sustainable Campus Network
MBA - Master Business Administration
MLP - Multi-Level Perspective
SNM - Strategic Niche Management
QE - Quinta Esencia
UBA - University of Buenos Aires
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1 Introduction
While many of us may be confronted with the importance of a more sustainable society, in
Argentina sustainability is still a minor subject. This research focuses on a case-study analysis of
setting up a sustainability experiment in Argentina: the ‘Quinta Esencia’ (QE) eco-campus.
The project has been initiated by Amartya, an Argentinian NGO, aiming to promote
sustainability in Argentina. The organization is active through the development of educational
programs, volunteering work and the development of a consumer platform. Amartya
proposes the implementation of the eco-campus in the pampas region of Argentina where
there is little access to higher education, some areas remain without access to electricity and
water infrastructure, and where unsustainable agricultural practices dominate the economic
situation. The local situation is to a great extent depending on intensive agriculture and
feedstock based on agrochemicals for the provision of national and international markets.
On the local level this puts pressure on ecosystems and creates dependencies on the
agrochemical industries and international markets.
Amartya seeks to benefit the local community with the implementation of the Quinta Esencia
eco-campus and counter unsustainable practices in the region. The focus of the Quinta
project is to build an inspiring campus environment where people can learn about
sustainability and where sustainable alternatives to common practices can be demonstrated.
The project will serve as a demonstration project for sustainable energy, permaculture1,
sustainable architecture and education about sustainability. The campus will provide a
setting where a sustainable way of living can be experienced and experimented with.
At the time of the present research the project is still in its start-up phase. A group of actors is
assembled for the first development phase of the campus. They started to articulate, share
and communicate visions and goals including building plans, base-line studies and
philosophies. The actual building of the campus still needs to start. Since we stand at this
crucial beginning of the project many unforeseen barriers may still be encountered. Structural
system-barriers like existing regulation, routines and assumptions for building a campus may
pose challenges for the project that need to be dealt with by its managers. In short, Quinta
Esencia is a work-in-progress in an early phase rather than a finished project.
The design and implementation of the buildings of the campus are considered important by
its initiators for the success of the project. For a demonstration project like QE, success is also
measured in terms of to what extent the sustainability practices it aims to promote and
demonstrate are making an impact into society at large. In this context a transition literature
1 Permaculture: is a way of designing ecosystems which develops sustainable human settlements and self-
maintaining agricultural systems inspired by natural ecosystems. For a further explanation see chapter 4.1.1.
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perspective will prove useful because it helps recognizing relevant system-barriers that pose
challenges for sustainable innovations. A transition perspective allows for the analysis of how
likely sustainability characteristics of QE will be adopted beyond this specific project.
The transition perspectives of interest here are Strategic Niche Management (SNM) and the
related Multi-Level-Perspective (MLP) (Geels & Raven 2006, Smith 2007, Raven 2008, Schot &
Geels 2008). The SNM approach is of interest particularly because it is a framework to study
innovative sustainability experiments. SNM emphasizes the importance of experiments
contributing to niche development. The term niche here refers to an environment that offers
the innovation protection from the full range of selection criteria that favor business as usual.
Experiments can contribute to niches through the creation of coherence among actors, to
develop a shared vision and direction, and improve the sharing of lessons through
networking(Romijn, Raven and Visser, 2010).
The Multi-Level-Perspective helps to put the innovative experiments in a wider context
emphasizing social, technical and economic factors beyond the particular project that may
influence the project’s success and ability to influence practice as usual. MLP makes a
distinction between three levels in socio-technical systems: (1) the landscape, this is the most
robust level of society in the sense of being most highly structured and not being easily
influenced (e.g. cultural values or international oil prices); (2) the regime, which can be
characterized as an interrelated set of dimensions (technologies, policy and regulations,
cultural values, user relations, industrial structures, etc) that through their relations constitute
practice as usual in certain domains and industries in society; and (3) niches, this is the level of
innovative projects and experiments that still need nurturing (through subsidies, or protection
by stakeholders) before being able to survive under regime selection pressures. In chapter 3
the theory and concepts of SNM and MLP will be discussed in more detail.
Research objectives 1.1
The Quinta Esencia project proposes to experiment with sustainable building, permaculture,
renewable energy and sustainability in the educational program. These are all different
sustainability characteristics that may be adopted elsewhere or where can be experimented
with in other projects. The aim of this research is to analyze the possibility for the different
sustainability characteristics of the QE project to be adopted and experimented with beyond
this specific project. The research is interested in the capacity of the QE project to influence
society at large an cause possible changes e.g. transitions. In other words the aim is to
conduct an analysis of the transition potential of the ‘Quinta Esencia’ eco-campus project in
Argentina. Specific attention will be given to the transition potential of the projects
sustainability characteristics because sustainability is at the core of the foundations of the
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project. A broad interpretation of the term sustainability will be used here, including its
economic, ecological, and social dimensions.
The innovative and sustainable character of the ‘Quinta Esencia’ project differs substantially
from conventional campus building and is therefore likely to encounter structural system-
barriers such as existing regulation, routines and assumptions for building a campus and
organizing an education environment. The aim is to understand these barriers and to offer
recommendations based on SNM literature to improve the transition potential. Applying a
SNM and MLP perspective allows for the identification of strengths and weaknesses within the
project and threats and opportunities from external factors embodied in a larger socio-
technical system.
Special attention is given to how sustainability is allowed to develop further and how
sustainability aspects (e.g. sustainable building, permaculture, renewable energy and
education) can be adopted elsewhere. Such a perspective allows for example to learn how
innovative aspects, like the QE education program’s focus on sustainability, may be adopted
by other schools, or how the sustainable way of building the QE campus may be adopted by
other building projects. The insights gained will allow us to give recommendations on project
dynamics and point out relevant points of attention for the project’s management
(Amartya). This way the aim is to actually contribute to the transition potential of the project.
Furthermore, the research aims to contribute to SNM by adopting a prescriptive approach.
This means using lessons learnt from earlier SNM literature and applying them in a prescriptive
manner to give recommendations on management processes. Thus far SNM has primarily
been used as an ex-post transition analysis tool, i.e. as a descriptive framework (for an
exception see: van den Bosch, 2010). Here the descriptive part will be mobilized as a
prescriptive framework to enable managers to steer the project according to the gained
transition study insights. The insights gained from this prescriptive approach may prove
valuable for further ex-ante project or experiment based SNM research.
In summary, this research aims to contribute to: 1) making an analysis of the transition
potential of sustainability practices from the QE project and identifying opportunities and
threats, 2) providing input to the QE management through recommendations in order for its
sustainability characteristics to prosper and increasing the likeliness for these characteristics to
be adopted in other schools, building projects, farms and households; and 3) providing
recommendations for SNM literature based on a prescriptive approach in the research.
The objectives discussed here result in the research questions following below. Thereafter the
social and scientific relevance of this research will follow.
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Research question 1.2The main research question of this thesis, following from the above mentioned research
objectives, can be formulated as follows:
RESEARCH QUESTION:
What is the transition potential of the ‘Quinta Esencia’ project (in Argentina) and what could
be improved?
This research question can be divided in four sub-questions:
a. How can the current education-campus regime (in Argentina) be characterized and
what are its barriers and opportunities for the ‘Quinta Esencia’ project?
As put forward in SNM literature regime-institutions may have difficulties coping with
radical new innovations and thus may pose barriers for an innovative project like the
‘Quinta Esencia project. The (policy) regimes often tend to favor incumbent and less
sustainable technologies (Caniëls and Romijn, 2006). In order for the ‘Quinta Esencia’
project to be successful it needs to cope with regime barriers and opportunities that
need to be identified. For further explanation on what should be understood as a
regime see chapter 3.1.1.
The education campus regime may not be a very clear-cut regime. The project
actually relates to different interrelated and overlapping regimes. Building-, energy- ,
agriculture-, and education regimes can all be seen as distinct regimes that are
touching on each other in what we will call the campus regime here. The proposed
educational system, the sustainable way of building, the use of renewable energy
sources, sustainable household practices, and permaculture practices will all be an
interrelated part of the Quinta Esencia project. These practices could all relate to
distinct regimes but it would be a daunting task mapping each and every regime
relating to the campus. For this reason the research will not offer an in-depth analysis
of these different regimes. The focus is rather on what is conceived relevant for the
transition potential of the sustainability aspects of QE. We will term the regime the
education-campus regime here. Here the focus is on what is considered business as
usual for developing an education-campus and how QE differs in this respect. This
analysis is mainly based on the insights of the different stakeholders involved in the
project development.
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b. How can the current ‘Quinta Esencia’ project be characterized from a SNM
perspective?
In SNM three main points of attention have been identified for sustainable innovation
projects to contribute to niche formation. Niches provide sustainable innovations a
basis for experimentation without direct exposure to market and regime pressures. The
three focal points are the network, the key stakeholders’ expectations and learning
within the project. How to asses these points of attention will be discussed in the
methodology part of this paper (chapter 3).
c. How can Amartya improve the project’s sustainability transition potential, following
from the regime- and project insights?
The two earlier questions above allow us to characterize both regime-practices and
the way they differ from the ‘Quinta Esencia’ project. Building on the information
generated by these two questions we can identify where the project management
needs to focus his attention to improve the project success and to allow different
sustainability aspects to be adopted and developed beyond this particular project.
Completing a successful demonstration project with economically viable sustainable
innovations is one thing; creating an environment where innovations are more likely to
be adopted elsewhere or serve as an inspirations to people to come up with different,
new, innovations for sustainability, for other settings is yet another. Achieving the last
point is what actually contributes to a sustainability transition.
d. What can we learn from this case study for the strategic management of niches and
experiments?
The Quinta Esencia project differs to some extent from other sustainable technology
experiments thus far analyzed with SNM (biomass energy, wind-energy, public
transport, sustainable food production etc.): the project has several sustainable
technologies and dynamics at work in one experiment that will be analyzed while
they still need to be implemented. In this respect there are many lessons that could be
learned. Eco-campuses may be set-up in differing ways to address different issues in
relation to their local context. For this reason, it is useful to describe to what extent the
findings of the case-study and the prescriptive method applied for this particular case
can be generalized and what lessons there are to be learned for further SNM
research.
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Research justification 1.3
Social relevance 1.3.1
Argentina is a socially unequal society where the majority of its citizens live in poverty without
access to higher education or information. The economy is based primarily on agriculture
and natural resource extraction like mining, oil, gas and forestry. These social and economic
conditions in Argentina have generated a lack of political leadership and limit strategic long-
term considerations of the sustainability of current practices. In Argentina, the dominant
sustainability challenges include entrenched social inequality, massive deforestation for soy
agriculture, chaotic urbanization, and new infrastructure construction without concern for
associated environmental degradation, water, and air pollution, and vulnerability to climate
change impacts. The lack of political movement to combat these challenges is very clearly
embedded in a short-sighted political context where influential and powerful individual
stakeholders often control the political agenda and information dissemination through the
media(Stephens, C.J. et al., 2008).
Universities have to work in this challenging political environment. However Stephens et al
(2008) claim they also have great potential to influence positive change by providing
unbiased and clear information to politicians, industry leaders, and the public; by identifying
long-term negative impacts of the status-quo processes and approaches; and by providing
visions and methods for alternative, more sustainable paths. For institutions of higher
education, the opportunity exists to serve as a social agent that is uniquely stable,
independent, with a capacity for long-term thinking to interact with political leaders and
other stakeholders to counter the dominant economic and political tendencies to focus on
near-term conditions and change (Stephens, C.J. et al., 2008).
The Quinta Esencia eco campus project aims to fulfill such a role as an agent of change. It
seeks to be a campus where people may experience and experiment with a sustainable way
of living, to offer a learning center on sustainability issues, and develop into a place for
sustainable tourism. The campus will be a place to produce, teach, and broadcast
information on the sustainability cause. In this respect the project serves as a model to
promote sustainability in a country where there is a lack of attention for this subject. It shows
and teaches citizens and politicians about sustainable alternatives to the country’s dominant
practices in different social, economic, technical, and political areas like consumption,
building, agriculture and energy-technologies.
Stephens et al. (2008) point out that institution of higher education can for example play a
role in advancing renewable energy technology. They also emphasize, however, that
potential strategies will vary in different places. In regions with limited electrification, like that
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of Quinta Esencia, higher education can play a role by demonstrating and supporting the
adoption of solar panels or solar cookers. In other countries higher education may play a role
in engaging with regional renewable energy businesses and working toward developing
public policies that are favorable to renewable energy technology adoption. In the case of
Quinta Esencia, within its rural environment, the interaction with locals to demonstrate
adoption of sustainable alternatives will prove particularly useful. However Amartya also seeks
to interact with different levels of governments to lobby for change.
The project particularly seeks to contribute to the socio-economic situation in the campus’
surrounding environment and to promote community integration with the local region. In the
pampas region where the campus is projected there is little economic activity besides
feedstock and agriculture. The expectation is that people visiting the campus, attracted
either through by its touristic activities or its educational practices, will benefit local businesses.
This may stimulate business opportunities, in particular to eco-social business related to the
campus. Amartya furthermore aims to be building as much as possible with local materials,
local labor, and locally constructed technologies to benefit the local socio-economic
situation. There are very few other institution of higher education in the region other than the
local agricultural school ‘Nicanor Ezeiza,’ located a few kilometers away from the project site.
The closest alternative besides this is located in Mar del Plata, 60 km away from the project
site. For many local people this is an expensive or impractical option thus leaving very limited
study possibilities. Educational opportunities may be broadened by QE.
This case-study will provide specific information for the QE eco-campus context. The eco-
campus project will be unique and different from regular campuses because there are
several innovative concepts at work. The project focuses on a sustainable-energy supply,
sustainable building methodologies and materials (low polluting, non-toxic), own healthy
food-supply and a sustainability educational program. All of these are add-on innovations
that could be adopted, or experimented with further, in both existing and new campuses in
the future. Similarly (local) households, farmers, and architects may learn from the QE project,
adopt its innovations or experiment with them further.
Many insights can be gained from the project about its sustainable innovations and how to
manage and develop an experiment like QE. Here this research focuses on how such
learning processes will be managed, if and how expectations are being shared and aligned,
and whether the right actors are involved in the project providing different insights to get
things done. Such an analysis contributes to insight on how to improve such processes and
which barriers and opportunities are being encountered in sustainability experiments like QE.
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Scientific relevance 1.3.2
The research will contribute to SNM by using the lessons learnt from this literature in a
prescriptive manner. A prescriptive approach has been recognized as a valuable
contribution to the literature (Geels & Raven 2006, Van den Bosch 2010, Caniëls and Romijn
2006). Thus far little work has been done on SNM as an ex-ante research tool. Caniels and
Romijn (2006) have pointed to some necessary prerequisites for sustainability experiments to
be able to contribute to niche development that need to be in place and that managers
can act on these have not yet been applied in research however.
Reading guide 1.4The following chapters of this paper will be structured as follows. First, in chapter 2, an
introductory presentation of the project will be given, explaining what the project is about
and what the campus will globally look like. In this chapter there will also be an elaborate
explanation of the political, social, environmental and economic context of the project. This
chapter thus functions to give the reader a complete overview of the project and its context.
Chapter 3 is the theory and methodology chapter, explaining why and how the Multi-Level
Perspective theory and the Strategic Niche Management theory are applied in order to say
something about the transition potential of the project.
Than the two analysis chapters follow. First chapter 4 is the regime analysis, comparing
business as usual, the regime, in Argentina to the new and innovative concepts of QE. This
chapter gives insights in the differential character of the QE project compared to regime
practices and the barriers and opportunities this poses for the innovations of the project.
Chapter 5 will be the SNM analysis, giving an overview of the learning processes, the network
of the project and the extent to which expectations are shared and communicated. These
processes are important for experiments like the QE project to contribute to niche
development(see chapter 3). The transition potential of the project will follow from the
combination of these two analytic chapters, 4 and 5.
Chapter 6 will be the conclusion chapter of the paper answering the research question and
the four sub questions.
Chapter 7 will be the final chapter in which recommendations will be given. There will be
recommendations for Amartya as the overall project manager but there will also be
recommendations more directed at the research community to take into account for further
research.
17
2 Presentation of the project QE is a campus projected in a rural environment. The campus will be built with sustainable
technologies and the main activities that will be carried out at the eco-campus will be:
sustainability courses (both theoretical and practical), research projects where the campus
functions as a sustainability laboratory, organic food production and it will function as an
ecotourism center also open for seminars and conferences. QE eco-campus wants to be
holistic, didactic, and exemplary to enhance and contribute to the experience of its visiting
students or guests. Besides sharing a sustainable culture and experience, the project aims to
be an inspiring place, that will bring together people passionate about the same topic in a
remote, quiet atmosphere.
With regards to the design of the campus, all structures will be constructed with local, natural,
and non-polluting materials. The buildings will be powered by renewable energy, mainly solar
and wind power. The campus will be equipped with a rainwater collection system as well as
a water treatment system for grey water and black water (sewage). The design of the eco-
campus will strongly take head on the bioregional conditions2 of the region. There will be an
emphasis on rational use of the natural resources surrounding the campus by respecting the
principles of permaculture practices for organic food production.
It is through these specific aspects that the eco-campus aims to become a demonstration
center for renewable energy, bioclimatic architecture,3 and ecological food production. On
one hand, the students will be required to take the responsibility of monitoring their own
consumption in terms of energy, food and water use, in relation to the campus’ production.
As a result they will gain insights in the different sustainable characteristics of the campus and
in the impacts of their own behavior on sustainability outcomes which will serve educational
purposes. On the other hand, QE plans to experiment, together with the students or guests,
with different sustainable practices, hoping to replicate and influencing the adoption of
these practices beyond the campus. To do so, strategic alliance with members of the local
community, such as rural schools, the local government and agricultural institutions, are
considered important.
Campus buildings 2.1The project buildings can be divided into 3 parts. First, the campus’s supervisor house will
serve as a living lab to demonstrate how a regular household family can live on its own
2 Bioregional conditions: characteristic flora, fauna and environmental conditions in a region (Bioregion: An
area constituting a natural ecological community with characteristic flora, fauna, and environmental conditions and bounded by natural rather than artificial) 3 Bioclimatic architecture refers to the design of buildings and spaces (interior – exterior – outdoor) based on
local climate, to providing thermal and visual comfort. Bioclimatic design makes use of passive systems using environmental sources (sun, air, wind, vegetation, water, soil, sky) for heating, cooling and lighting the buildings.
18
sustainable energy- and food supply. The complex will consist of a house, a barn, a
bioclimatic tower for the food production, fish cultivation ponds, and a water reservoir for
water supply and hydro-power generation (see figure 1).
Figure 1: House of the supervisor
Second, there is the general use building, or the multiple use room, SUM according to its
Spanish acronym (Sala de Usos Multiples). It houses the educational center including a
general hall and classrooms. This building will be referred to as SUM in this thesis (see figure 2).
Figure 2: SUM, the general use building
Third, an eco-hostel for students, professors, or other guests is planned. For the first two parts,
the supervisor’s house and the SUM, architects have already been contracted, for the eco-
hostel no definite decision is made yet (see figure 3).
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Figure 3: Eco-hostel (based on preliminary design by already involved architects)
Figure 4 below illustrates how the different buildings relate to each other on the campus.
Figure 4: Master plan campus landscape
Context 2.2
The transition potential of projects is always location and context dependent. To what extent
sustainability aspects of this campus will be adopted and accepted beyond the project will
therefore be partly depending on the project’s context. As pointed out by Stephens et al.
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(2008) ‘One critical component of considering the opportunities and challenges of higher
education as a change agent for sustainability is the identification of location-specific
sustainability problems, which includes the status and rate of change of socio-economic,
technical, and environmental conditions of the region. The plethora of societal challenges
that are linked to sustainability is broad and highly variable in different places around the
world, so identifying region-specific social, environmental, and technical conditions is helpful
to considering opportunities and challenges for higher education’ (Stephens, C.J. et al.,
2008). Even though the focus of the QE project is not exclusively on higher education, it is a
core practices and the dependence on the context pointed out here will equally count for
this project. In this chapter the environmental, social, and economic context for the Quinta
Esencia project will be discussed to gain location-specific insights.
Geographical context 2.2.1
The university campus Quinta Esencia is planned in a rural environment (part of Mar Chiquita,
in the pampas plains of the Province of Buenos Aires, Argentina). Some of the most important
places in the region:
- Mar del Plata will be the closest city at a distance of 60 km asphalt and 15 km
dirtroads.
- Ruta 2 is the closest asphalted access road at a distance of 15 km of dirt road which
will be inaccessible after days of heavy rainfall.
- Coronel Vidal is the closest urban center also distanced at 15 km. It is a small “rural
city” with a stable population of 8000 inhabitants.
- Tierra fiel is the polygon area within a family owned estancia of 3000 hectares (used
for agricultural exploitation). The QE project is positioned on 30 hectares of this land.
- Primary school n6 is a small primary school situated within the farmland of Tierra fiel,
located 2,8 km from the project site.
- Esquina Arguas at 100 meters distance from QE there is the authentic gaucho
‘pulperia’ a bar/grocery store founded in 1817 that remains open and has been
declared historic heritage.
- Rural agricultural school Nicanor Ezeiza even though this school is situated a few
kilometers away it is planned to become a possible strategic partner for the project.
- The sea and a natural reserve, a reserve with forest, dunes and a lagoon by the
Atlantic coast with very restricted access is situated at 50 km distance of internal
roads. It is accessible by horse.
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Environmental context 2.2.2
Characteristics of the region in general
The area under study is located within the Ecoregion Pampa, 25 kilometers from the
Argentine Sea Coast. The land in question is a subdivision of the farm property called "Tierra
Fiel," within the department of Mar Chiquita, about 15 km away from Coronal Vidal, head of
the district (see Map 1). In this region, the fields are mostly used for livestock and agriculture
activity. The area of the project stretches on approximately 30 hectares within a sector that
has mostly secondary accesses, meaning they are dirt roads (see Map 2). It consists
of grasslands, low area, a one hectare small plot of land of mixed forest or woodland and an
area set aside, for the moment, to soybeans growing.
Map 1
Map 2
Coronel Vidal
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Figure 5: The area where the QE project will be developed (part of Tierra Fiel)
Climate
The regional climate is described as temperate humid, with an annual rainfall of 1000mm and
an average annual temperature of 15 ° C (40 º C maximum and minimum of 4° C). It is
generally considered an oceanic climate, with good water, mild winters with rather high
temperatures in caparison with the northern hemisphere. Average summer temperature is
21 º C while winter ones reach 9 ° C. Prevailing winds are coming from the East. Frosts usually
occurs between April and October (Fundacion Plan 21, 2012.c).
Ecoregional framework
The Pampas region can be subdivided into six relatively homogeneous regions: Rolling
Pampa, Pampa Central, Semiarid Pampa, Austral Pampa, and Flooded Pampa. In the latter
the project area is located (see Map 3).
During the first half of the twentieth century, the grasslands were an important base of food
production worldwide and famously reputed as the “world’s breadbaskes." These natural
grasslands became the most modified ecosystems in Argentina. Today it is suggested that
only 1% of the original area of grassland in the region of Rio de la Plata is still preserved. The
grassland preserved is split up in small remaining fragments usually subjected to degradation
processes such as those of biological invasions (Fundacion Plan 21, 2012.c).
23
Map 34
The pampas areas are also characterized by an unbalanced cropping sequence that has
several aspects that threat their sustainability and efficiency. Intense soybean cultivation in
the crop sequence threaten to turn the balance of carbon and other elements in the soil
negative, leading to soil deterioration and degradation (Caviglia and Andrade, 2010).
Degradation and modification activities were intensified throughout the twentieth
century. The situation changed dramatically by the middle of the century when agriculture
was adapted with a technological package composed of highly productive GM crops,
tillage and increased use of fertilizers and pesticides. The extended spatial development of
agriculture determined the replacement of grasslands by crops in a large proportion of its
original area (Fundacion Plan 21, 2012.c).
The areas less suitable for production such as the so-called "depressed pampa" were highly
modified by livestock grazing and are now subject to new pulses to be replaced by
agriculture, due to the availability of new technologies (Fundacion Plan 21, 2012.c).
The agricultural frontier expansion and the dislocation and concentration of livestock in
marginal areas pose a new threat to the ecological integrity of these last remnants of
grassland on which the conservation of the argentine pampa’s native plants relies. The strong
modification of grasslands affects their survival and their associated fauna diversity.
4 FVSA, 2005, Situación Ambiental (FVSA) http://www.fvsa.org.ar/situacionambiental/pampa.pdf
24
The conservation of the different ecosystem services (genetic varieties, soil conservation, etc.)
provided by the native grasslands, both regionally and globally, could be seriously affected if
sustainable production processes are not developed with the application of agro-ecological
concepts and systems. Consequently, the future of the remnants of grassland in the Pampas
eco-region depends on the outcome of the interaction between different social, economic,
and environmental (climate change) forces that regulate land use, a balance that is
dynamic, varying in space and time (INTA 2007).
A new socioeconomic force could then be sustainable production models, which are an
opportunity to preserve wildlife and, at the same time, make use of natural resources in this
region. (Fundacion Plan 21, 2012.c)
In this tough and challenging environment, Quinta Esencia seeks to counter the tendency of
unsustainable agricultural practices demonstrating and teaching about the possibilities of
sustainable alternatives. The project aims to promote biodiversity conservation and
diversification, eco-agriculture and the connection with nature. A greater biodiversity also
provides the local community with more business opportunity and enhances the ability to
build self-sufficient rural communities.
Social context 2.2.3According to the 2010 Census and Turismo de la Casa of the de Buenos Aires province: “we
estimate the population of Coronel Vidal to be around 8000 people.” The demographic
composition of the population is as follows:5
Education attendance(percentage of population per group)
Age categories Municipality Province Country
3 to 4 years 61,28% 54,14% 39,13%
5 years 89,63% 83,73% 78,80%
6 to 11 years 98,83% 98,44% 98,20%
12 to 14 years 98,38% 97,56% 95,11%
15 to 17 years 81,19% 84,75% 79,40%
18 to 24 years 33,37% 36,54% 36,86%
25 to 29 years 9,28% 14,24% 14,41%
30 years or more 2,16% 3,24% 3,01% Table 1: attendance at educational facilities (latest census 2001)
5 The statistics follow from the following website: http://www.marChiquita.gov.ar/Estadisticas.aspx, Datos correspondientes al Censo Nacional de Población, Vivienda y Hogares, Año 2001 The last census was in 2001.
25
Occupational categories in percentage of the workforce
Ocupation category Municipality Province Country
public sector 23,97% 18,98% 21,20%
private sector 43,26% 53,72% 48,94%
company owner 8,69% 6,66% 6,24%
self-employed 20,84% 18,27% 20,26%
family worker 3,24% 2,38% 3,37% Table 2: percentage of workforce per occupational category
General Data of the Mar Chiquita Department, Buenos Aires (2001)
Population 17.908
Density 5,75 inhabitants/km2
Illiteracy rate 1,72 Table 3: General data of the department of Mar Chiquita
If we look at these statistics we observe that particularly in the age group between 14 and 25
years there is a relatively high percentage of the population that does not attend an
educational institution (between 20 and 70%). This means that relatively few people attend
higher education which is partly due to a lack of easy access. QE offers an extra opportunity
for higher education in the region.
The occupational categories illustrate within which sectors there are most opportunities for
collaboration for Amartya. There is a relatively high amount of self-employment and
company owners and a relatively small private sector in the municipality compared to the
province and country. This indicates fewer business that are of a relatively small scale. Such
small scale businesses might be a potential focus for QE to collaborate with.
The Mar Chiquita Department is clearly very low in density of population. Many people are
farmers owning big pieces of land. This is a focal group for Amartya to demonstrate its
permaculture practices.
Economic context 2.2.4Regionally, the most important economic activities are agriculture and livestock. Within the
agriculture production we find wheat, corn, sunflower, and soybeans, while livestock
specializes in cattle. Traditionally, livestock occupied more space than agriculture in the
province, but this has been balanced since the 1990s with the spread of new crops,
especially soybeans, and new agricultural techniques as "direct seeding ." In addition to grain
crops, fruits, potatoes and vegetables are grown, the latter are concentrated in the area
closest to the City of Buenos Aires. In Dunes, 40 km from Bahia Blanca, there is a production of
high-quality wines; this terroir is located east of the traditional wine regions that produce
Malbec, Cabernet Sauvignon, Tannat, Chardonnay, and Sauvignon blanc.
With the rise of Argentina’s industrial development in response to the 1930 world economic
crisis, the province welcomed a large number of new industries. Since 1960, Avellaneda, La
26
Matanza, La Plata and its surroundings, Mar del Plata, Bahia Blanca (where the largest
petrochemical plant is located nationwide), San Nicolas and Zárate (both basically steel)
industrialized rapidly. In Mar del Plata and Necochea, an important fleet and fishery
developed as well.
The province has the highest number of industrial establishments in the country. The GDP of
the province is 565.564 million pesos which represents about 38.5% of the GDP of Argentina. In
the region, growth is 6.3% below the average of Argentina.
Another important source of income is tourism, as there is a substantial zone along the coast
with large areas of beach, Mar del Plata being the most important tourist city (about 60 km
from the project site). Tourist activity increased after the 2001 economic crisis, as for the
middle and upper classes it was less viable summering outside the country due to the
increasing value of the dollar. (Fundacion Plan 21, 2012.a)
Many of these transitions are considered poor developments by the actors involved in the QE
project causing many inconvenient unsustainable consequences . QE proposes to counter
the unsustainable economic situation of the pampas area in which it will be located through
education and demonstration of alternative practices.
3 Concepts, theory and methodology This research focuses on a case-study of the radically innovative Quinta Esencia project. This
project will be diverging in many ways from status quo practices in Argentina aiming to
demonstrate sustainable alternatives in energy supply, agriculture, building and education.
In this research, we are interested in how sustainable innovations are applied, what can be
learned from them, and how they may diffuse beyond the project constraints. In other words,
we are interested in the project’s transition potential. The transition study theories SNM and
MLP are used here because they claim to provide a framework to analyze radical
innovations and transitions. In particular socially desirable innovations that face a mismatch
with regard to existing infrastructure, user practices, regulations etc.
SNM provides a lens to analyze the management of these socially desirable, radical
innovations. MLP helps to contextualize SNM providing a framework to analyze the
complexity of socio-technical systems because not only internal but also external processes
are important to bring about regime transformation (i.e. a change in status qua practices,
see chapter 3.1.1).
The adjective ‘socio-technical’ coined here serves to indicate the complex structure of
interrelating artifacts, institutions and agents within these systems. It indicates that social
27
relations are strongly depending on technological mediation and that visa-versa
technological pathways are influenced by people interacting with each other.
The transition potential of the QE project will depend on the project’s management and on
the socio-technical system in Argentina in which the project is embedded. As explained, the
SNM and MLP frameworks allow us to analyze this potential. In this chapter, the theories will be
explained beginning with the MLP in chapter 3.1 to provide a broader overview of the
different concepts used in the literature. Then the SNM theory will be discussed in chapter 3.2.
In the methodology part in chapter 3.3 it is discusses how these theories are mobilized for the
case-study analysis.
The Multi-Level Perspective 3.1The multi-level perspective (MLP) provides a framework to view socio-technical transitions
within their broader socio-technical context. The MLP describes the dynamics of transitions as
the interactions between three different functional scale levels: (1) the socio-technical
landscape; (2) the socio-technical regime; and (3) niche innovations. ‘These three different
levels provide different kinds of coordination and structuration to activities in local practices.
The three levels thus differ in terms of stability (and size)’ (Grin, Rotmans and Schot, 2010
pp18). ‘Transitions take place when development on these three levels strengthen each other
in one and the same direction, i.e. when modulation occurs’(Rip and Kemp, 1998, Geels and
Kemp, 2000, Rotmans and Loorbach, 2010 in van den Bosch, 2010, pp39).
The conceptualization of the levels in the socio-technical system provided by the MLP is
important for this research to give the QE a position in this theoretical framework. This gives a
better understanding how the QE project (niche experiment) interacts with its socio-technical
surroundings (mainly the regime).
Socio-technical Regimes 3.1.1
The socio-technical regime is the central level of the Multi-Level Perspective. The regime
defines the status quo, the established way of doing and thinking about things in a certain
field (e.g. the energy regime, the mobility regime, and the education regime). Regimes may
also be confined to a geographical area (e.g. the education regime in the Netherlands). A
regime consists of an interlinked set of rules, embedded in institutions. These rules and their
interdependencies give regimes their stability and account for lock-in of socio-technical
systems.
The rules in a regime provide guiding to actors who in turn reproduce this set of rules. Due to
the interrelated character, altering something in the socio-technical system will have
consequences for other rules or system functions. Existing socio-technical systems are usually
stabilized in many ways due to this manifold of interrelated rules. Transition do not come
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about easily in this context of lock-in and stability (Grin, Rotmans, Schot, 2010 pp19-21).
Change does take place, however normally in an incremental way along the lines of the
regime rules (referred to as dynamic stability).
Transitions require more radical changes. The stability of the interrelated rule-set in regimes
may however be disrupted by external pressures from the landscape. This creates tension
within the regime making the regime more adaptive to change. Then windows of opportunity
occur for niche configurations to break through allowing transitions in the socio-technical
system.
The socio-technical landscape 3.1.2
The socio-technical landscape is the most stable level in the MLP. The main character of the
landscape is that regime or niche actors do not have the capacity to change landscape
factors in the short term. However landscape factors are influenced by human action and
interaction in the long term. We can think of long-term changes (e.g. industrialization), rapid
external shocks (e.g. wars or natural disasters), and factors that do not change or very slowly
(e.g. climate). These landscape factors may put pressure on existing regimes, opening up the
regime and creating windows of opportunity for novelties. (Grin, Rotmans, Schot, 2010, pp 24-
25).
Niche innovations 3.1.3
The niche level in the MLP is the level where innovations are being nurtured. At this level
different innovation experiments are conducted. Innovation experiments are usually
conducted by dedicated actors that are willing to invest in new technologies and new
markets accepting higher costs and specific functionalities.
Niches can be considered specific application domains that protect new technologies from
the full range of selection pressures that favor the regime. On the one hand governmental
subsidies or other favorable policy may protect innovations but also growing user interest, a
strong and broad network on the development side and the emergence of a new set of
stable rules and routines provide protection. Eventually however innovations should become
independent of protection by setting clear development pathways, gradually and selectively
exposing them to normal market conditions.
The way experiments contribute to the strength and momentum of a niche depends on the
capacity of learning about an innovation, the interaction between actors and the alignment
of expectations. The Strategic Niche Management theory, discussed below, provides a
framework to analyze these processes.
Eventually elements may become aligned and stabilize into a dominant design or dominant
way of thinking. This way the internal momentum of the niche innovation increases. However
29
Raven (2006) points out that the influence of niche on regime practices is not only depending
on the strength and stability of the niche but on the relative stability between niche and
regime. Niche practices are more likely to break through when the niche is robust and when
the relating regime is weak and under pressure or when niche innovation have the capacity
to solve regime tensions.
Interactions between the levels 3.1.4
The interaction between the different levels will be summarized here. Figure 6 illustrates the
Multi-level perspective and the different interactions.
Niche innovations provide the basis for transitions. The small, diverging arrows in Figure 6
indicate there is usually a lot of uncertainty about precise form and function and there is no
stable network in the beginning of radical innovations in niches. However elements of niche
innovations may become aligned and stabilize into a dominant design or dominant concept
which increases the internal momentum of a niche innovation. These stabilized niche
practices may eventually take advantage of windows of opportunity if they occur in the
regime, resulting in new configurations and adjustments in the socio-technical regime. Niche
network and expectations are constantly being influenced by ongoing regime and
landscape dynamics, e.g. culture, existing visions, practices, institutions and networks. (Grin,
Rotmans, Schot, 2010, pp 24-25).
The socio-technical regimes are dynamically stable usually only allowing for incremental
change along the lines of existing cumulative trajectories for technology, policy, science,
industry culture and markets. As long as regimes are stable they usually pose barriers for the
diffusion of niche-innovations. Radical novelties may face a mismatch with existing regimes,
e.g. being confined to policy and regulations not suitable for the innovation, a gap between
existing and required infrastructure or user practices may not be adopted. Furthermore
regime actors may actively oppose niche-innovations.
However landscape changes may pose pressure on existing regimes creating windows of
opportunity for niche-innovations. Landscape changes may influence people’s perceptions
actions and agendas which in turn may create pressure and tensions opening up existing
regimes (represented with diverging arrows at the regime level in figure 6). This is when
stabilized niche innovations may take advantage of these windows of opportunities allowing
for adjustments in existing socio-technical regimes.
30
Figure 6: Multi-level perspective on transitions from the book of Grin, Rotmans and Schot (2010)
Socio-technical transitions to sustainable development 3.1.5
Socio-technical transitions do not come about easily. The transition potential depends on the
relative stability of the niche and the regime and the capacity of the niche to solve regime
tensions (Raven 2006). Histories of regime transformations identify difficulties breaking away
from existing practices. The literature identifies a variety of mutually reinforcing and
entrenching cognitive, social, economic, institutional and technological processes that
sustain existing trajectories of development. The success of sustainable alternatives to break
through, becoming more accepted mainstream, therefore depends on the ability to
connect and synchronize change processes at a bewildering variety of points within and
beyond the regime (Smith, 2007). Adoption of niche practices is more likely when the socio-
technical dimensions of the niche are complementing or similar to those in the regime. Smith
(2007) provides a framework identifying seven dimensions of a socio-technical regime:
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1. Guiding principles
2. Technologies and infrastructures
3. Industrial structure
4. User relations and markets
5. Policy and regulations
6. The knowledge base for the regime (a regime is the set of institutionalized rules that govern
the way of doing things in a particular field)
7. Cultural and symbolic meanings underpinning practices
These key dimension identified by Smith can be explained as follows: (1) guiding principles:
these can be understood as the most important values giving direction to practices; (2)
technologies and infrastructure: the technologies and related infrastructure used in a regime
(e.g. cars, bikes, trains and (rail)roads in the mobility regime); (3) industrial structure: refers to
the organization of what could be called the supply chain; (4) user relations and markets:
which market is targeted and how the relations with the different users are maintained; (5)
policy and regulation: illustrates the regulatory environment, policy, standards and regulations
(e.g. speed limits, safety requirements, emission fees in a mobility regime); (6) knowledge: the
type and level of knowledge and scientific disciplines applied in a regime.; and (7) culture:
refers to the culture within a regime.
Applying this framework allows us to make a comparison between the QE project and the
socio-technical regime dimensions. This analysis will expose barriers and opportunities for the
innovative aspects of QE to break through to the regime. An explanation of these dimensions
for this specific research will be discussed below in the methodology part.
Strategic Niche Management 3.2A core assumption of SNM is that innovations emerge in ‘niches,’ protected spaces which
shield them from the full range of selection pressures that favor the regime. These ‘protected
spaces,’ usually begin within networks of pioneering organizations, technologies and users
that allow for the required protection in a discrete application domain. The involved actors
here are prepared to work with specific functionalities, accept such teething problems as
higher costs, and are willing to invest in improvements of new technology and the
development of new markets. (In Smith 2007: Hoogma et al., op. cit., Ref. 3, p. 4.)
Experiments and experimental projects are particularly important in the SNM approach.
Experimentation in projects functions as important phase between initial development of
innovations and market diffusion. Experimental projects provide space for interactions
between actors and the building of social networks, learning and articulation processes (with
regard to technical design, user preferences, regulation, infrastructure requirements, cultural
32
meaning) and the articulation of expectations and visions (Geels & Raven 2006). Experiments
and projects are thus not the same. Experiments are the innovative practices and in a certain
project there may be ongoing experimentation with a certain innovation or even
experiments with different innovative technologies or concepts at the same time (e.g.
sustainable housing projects applying PV solar panels and new insulation technologies).
Experiments and innovations in SNM often refer to technological experiments and innovation.
However the theory can just as well be applied for conceptual innovations. Schot and Geels
(2008) claim that SNM was developed to serve the management of a particular type of
innovation: (1) socially desirable innovations serving long-term goals such as sustainability, (2)
radical novelties that face a mismatch with regard to existing infrastructure, user practices
regulations, etc. Concept innovation can also fit these criteria and can thus be analyzed with
the SNM framework.
A distinction is made in SNM between local socio-technical projects and a global niche level,
which consists of an emerging field or community that shares cognitive, formal and normative
rules(e.g. the emerging field of PV solar cells). The rules at the global niche level guide local
projects but leave room for local variations as local actors reinterpret and reinvent them for
local circumstances. At the local level there may be an interlocal transfer of lessons but local
projects may also provide more generic lessons that can be aggregated for use at other sites
and project variations (Raven 2008). Niche development can then be conceptualized as
progressing at two levels simultaneously: the level of projects in local practices and the global
niche level (Geels and Raven 2008). This case-study analysis of the QE project will particularly
focus on one specific local project and its fit within the local context.
SNM literature identifies three important niche dynamics that contribute to niche
development both for local projects as for a global niche:
(1) the articulation of visions and expectations;
(2) the formation of social networks; and
(3) the learning processes at multiple dimensions:
(a) technical aspects and design specifications
(b) market and user preferences
(c) cultural and symbolic meaning
(d) infrastructure and maintenance networks
(e) industry and production networks
(f) regulations and government policy
(g) social and environmental effects
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Schot and Geels (2008) have summarized the following key assumptions of SNM (Schot, J.W.,
Geels, F.W., 2008):
(1) Expectations would contribute to successful niche building if expectations were made:
(a) more robust (shared by more actors), (b) more specific (if expectations are too
general they do not give guidance), and (c) have higher quality (the content of
expectations is substantiated by ongoing projects);
(2) Social networks are likely to contribute more to niche development if: (a) the networks
are broad, i.e. multiple kinds of stakeholders are included to facilitate the articulation of
multiple views and voices; the involvement of relative outsiders may be particularly
important to broaden cognitive frames and facilitate second-order learning (allowing
change in frames of thinking); (b) the networks are deep, i.e. people who represent
organizations, should be able to mobilize commitment and resources within their own
organizations and networks;
(3) Learning processes would contribute more to niche development if they are not only
directed at the accumulation of facts and data, i.e. first-order learning, but also enable
changes in cognitive frames and assumptions, i.e. second-order learning.
Furthermore, learning by interaction has proven important in systems of innovation literature
to facilitate learning processes and mobilize resources between different stakeholders (Geels
2004)
Methodology 3.3The QE project analyzed in this research is framed according to SNM as a local project. The
QE project proposes the implementation of a new campus concept where the focus is on
sustainability, an eco-campus. Within this concept there is experimentation with different
innovative technologies for energy supply, building, education and agriculture. These are all
add-on innovations that could be adopted, or experimented with further, in existing and new
campuses. But also (local) households, farmers, and architects may gain insights from the QE
project, adopt its innovations or experiment with them.
The transition potential will follow from a regime analysis, analyzing the fit in the local context
and an SNM analysis, analyzing the management of the local project. Here the proposed
methodology of using the theory for the analysis of this project is explained.
Regime and niche comparison 3.3.1
The more distinctive the innovative practices at QE are from existing practices, the more likely
they are expected to encounter resistance and unforeseen barriers. It is therefore important
to identify the significance of differences between existing practices and the new, innovative
practices of the QE project. A comparison will be made between the education campus
regime (and related regimes) and the Quinta Esencia project. The framework by Smith (2007),
explained above, will be mobilized to compare the regime and the project.
34
This comparison will be the basis for our analysis. Such a comparison allows for the mapping
of the distinctive character of the project compared to the regime. Potential opportunities
and barriers will be identified based on the overlapping or opposing dimensions between the
regime and the project.
The seven dimensions suggested by Smith (2007) for characterizing socio-technical regimes
will be compared between conventional education-campuses in Argentina and the QE eco-
campus. Smith’s dimensions for this specific analysis can be explained as follows: (1) guiding
principles: these can be understood as the most important values giving direction to setting
up education campuses and QE; (2) technologies and infrastructure: the Quinta Esencia
project will focus on experimenting and demonstrating different technologies (and related
infrastructure). Different technologies can be identified in the building process, in the way
they use and supply energy, in food production (different from conventional agriculture) as
well as the different educational methods applied are considered different technologies; (3)
industrial structure: refers to the organization of the supply chain of QE compared to that of
other campuses; (4) user relations and markets: which market is targeted and how the
relations with the different users are maintained; (5) policy and regulation: this part illustrates
the current regulatory environment in Argentina (relating to energy, building, education and
agriculture). The current policy, standards and regulations may not be adapted to a project
like Quinta Esencia; (6) knowledge: the knowledge required for this particular project will
differ, to some extent, from the knowledge used in the regime. A different knowledge base is
needed for setting up the educational programs, the building process and for the way of
approaching agriculture; and (7) culture: there are different cultural values held by local
people and in Argentina in general about education/schooling and agriculture compared to
the values held in the QE project.
This comparative analysis will be approached from the inside out. This means that the analysis
will be based on the views and opinions of the actors related and most familiar with the QE
project. These social actors have been interviewed about how they conceive the differences
between the regime and the Quinta Esencia project. The actors have been asked about
what they think are the most important differences for all seven dimensions identified by
Smith. The different actors are primarily questioned about the fields they are most familiar
with. Architects for example have been questioned about the differences in building
practices between QE and conventional campus building. The permaculture designers
involved will be asked about the differences in agricultural practices. Local parties will be
asked about the different conceptions about schooling and sustainability in the region and
so on.
35
The interviews are the most important source offering a starting point for the analysis. The
interviews have been complemented with the analysis of project documents for further
characterization of the project. Furthermore, insight in the project has been generated by
taking part in meetings and working together with Amartya. For the regime characterization
the interviews are also complemented with literature research. However, here the answers
from the interviewees serve as starting point to point in the direction of which regime aspects
matter.
SNM analysis 3.3.1
After the comparison between QE and the regime a SNM analysis will follow. This second step
is meant to analyze the strength of the niche dynamics according to the SNM framework.
Properly managed niche dynamics are required to allow for the transfer of lessons both
interlocally and for the transfer of more generic lessons that contribute to the global niche
level. This will contribute to the strength and stability of the niche that is required to grasp the
opportunities and deal with the barriers found in the first step.
The characterization of the project, from a SNM perspective, is primarily based on interviews.
The key actors have been interviewed to monitor how they interact, learn, and share
expectations within the project’s development process. Furthermore meetings have been
attended and there has been a close interaction with Amartya and the other stakeholders
during the research. This provided feeling for the project and learning from within,
complementing the interview results. In addition available project-related documents have
been used for the analysis.
The interviews are based on the key assumptions by Schot and Geels (2008) pointed out in
section 3.2. Expectations are judged on their specificity, quality, and sharedness. The networks
are judged on their broadness and depth. Learning is assessed on three aspects (1) the
multidimensionality (see chapter 3.2 for the different dimensions), (2) the extent of second-
order learning and allowing for change in perceptions and cognitive frames, and (3) the
extent of learning by interaction.
The questionnaire was slightly adjusted for every interviewee depending on their background
and their role in the project. An overview of the basic set of questions can be found in the
appendix (first part of the interview is about the regime characterization and the second part
about the SNM analysis).
Transition potential 3.3.1
The transition potential will follow from the two analyses discussed above. First, barriers and
opportunities to break through to the regime are pointed out in the regime analysis. Second,
the projects strong and weak points in relation to its contribution to niche development are
assessed through the SNM analysis. The relative strength of niche project and regime are thus
36
analyzed. As indicated by Raven (2006) the relation between niche and regime provides
insight into the development potential of an innovation in relation to incumbent technologies
or practices, in other words, the transition potential.
Raven (2006) provides a matrix which can be used to visualize the relative stability between
niche and regime (see. This matrix will be applied here to indicate the transition potential of
the project. The conclusion chapter will summarize the regime characterization, the SNM
insights and the transition potential following from these insights.
Based on the analysis and the concluding remarks concrete recommendations will be given
to cope with barriers, to seize opportunities and to strengthen the transition potential.
Furthermore recommendations will be given directed at the research community for follow
up (prescriptive) research.
Figure 7: Relation between regime and niche stability
4 QE compared to the regime context As explained in the theory section, a socio-technical regime consists of an interrelated set of
rules in a social-technical system. Together these rules constitute the established way of doing
things in the system. In this case, we are interested in the established way of doing things in
the education-campus regime in Argentina. How are education campuses set up, by and for
whom, what technologies are being used, what does the regulative environment look like,
and so on. This section will explore the education-campus regime in Argentina and compare
it with the Quinta Esencia project.
37
The framework provided by Smith (2007) is applied for this analysis. The framework, discussed
above, provides seven key dimensions that allows us to make the comparative analysis
between the education-campus regime and the Quinta Esencia project. In this chapter,
the seven key dimension will be discussed and compared revealing potential barriers and
opportunities in each of the dimensions for QE to break through to the regime level.
Guiding principles 4.1.1
Sustainability
The main guiding principle for the eco campus Quinta Esencia is clearly sustainability.
Amartya applies the following definition of sustainability:
‘Sustainability for a society means the existence of economic, ecological, social and political
conditions, operating in a harmonious way in time and space. In time, harmony must exist
between this generation and future generations, in space, harmony must exist between the
different social sectors, between men and women, and among people and their
environment.’ (Amartya 2012)
The QE eco-campus will become a referential educational center for sustainability that works
as a model laboratory providing an environment for experimentation, exploration and
demonstration of various sustainability techniques. At the campus they promote a sustainable
way of life, in harmony with both nature and community: “ecologically viable, economically
productive, socially fair and spiritually transformative” (Amartya, 2012; Interview 3, Christian;
Interview 4, Powa).
Permaculture
In line with its sustainability vision, Quinta Esencia will comply with values of permaculture
guiding its (agriculture) practices. Permaculture has initially been developed in the mid-70s by
Bill Mollison and David Holmgrem to find solutions for a wide range of problems caused by
monoculture farming. Permaculture aims to find a balance between the long term survival of
human and nature. It is about the design of a functional system consciously imitating the
patterns and relationships found in nature, and at the same time producing food, fiber and
energy in abundance to meet local needs (Earth matters, 2012; Ecopractica 2012).
Permaculture is based in three ethical principles: care for the land, care for people and a fair
distribution of goods. The principles of permaculture are statements to take into account
when considering the inevitably complex options for the design and the evolution of
ecological systems. These principles are considered universal, although the methods of
expression vary widely depending on the situation and place. David Holmgren came up with
12 design principles that can be considered the "regulation" of permaculture. The scientific
basis of the principles of permaculture design generally lies within the modern science
of ecology and, more particularly, within the branch of ecology known as systems ecology.
38
(Interview 1, Juan and Vanessa) Conventional agriculture in Argentina is framed by
an export model of forage commodities. This model results in land degradation and an
extension of the agricultural frontier to areas of more fragile soils which until now had
sustainable agricultural models. The extension of cultivation and the vast expanse of
genetically modified organisms have unpredictable consequences for biodiversity and the
balance of ecosystems and human health. Moreover, the disappearance of local market-
oriented production, the closure of many mills, and the risk of entry into green belts of
cities, have led to a strong rural unemployment, mass migration to urban areas and
impoverishment and deterioration of the quality of life of rural residents. This model of
extension and export has deep historical roots (interview 1, Juan and Vanessa).
The sustainability character of the Quinta Esencia project will be reflected in the building
process as well. In the construction there is attention for efficient use of materials, rational use
of water and energy, alternative power production and the relation to its surrounding and
location through the use of local resources and labor. At the same time the buildings will
serve as an education tool for its users. The latter will be done through displays that will allow
the users of the building to monitor consumption of water and energy which will reveal how
to responsibly use these resources.
Local community based
Furthermore it is interesting to specifically mention the strong emphasis placed by Amartya on
benefiting the local community. The focus is on using local materials where possible, working
together with the local municipality, involving local labor and cooperating with local business
and organizations. Amartya seeks to involve and work together with these local parties
demonstrating the benefits of adopting sustainable practices. This is part of Amartya’s
sustainability vision and strategy: minimizing negative environmental impact; benefiting and
teaching the local community; thus realizing environmental, economic and social
sustainability. This local focus can be considered part of the sustainability and permaculture
guiding principles. Nevertheless, it is worth mentioning here as a separate guiding principle for
clarity and completeness.
Normally in Argentina there is little focus on sustainability issues due to a lack of political
interest discussed earlier (chapter 1.3.1 social relevance). We can see the lack of
sustainability in the building sector as well. The lack of interest in sustainability can be
illustrated in the building of public campuses in particular since this is where the building and
public sector meet. For example the campus of the University of Buenos Aires (UBA), where
the involved architects in the QE project work, is clearly build without any attention for
sustainability. All buildings of the UBA campus are noticeably energy-inefficient buildings
(interview 2, Julian Evans).
39
The education-campus regime as it is now is thus not guided by sustainability. Neither is
contracting in conventional building guided by benefitting local communities. Building, be it
in general or for education-campuses in particular is rather guided by conventional
methodologies and cost-efficiency.
An important requirement and guiding principle for education in Argentina is the provision of
education to the masses. Education is valued highly but Argentina is a country marked by
perverse inequality. This should be seen as a landscape factor influencing the regime. For this
reason the provision of education in public universities is free by law and thus subsidized by
the Argentine government. This way education is accessible to all Argentinians in public
universities. Private universities are usually more profit oriented.
Argentinian education-campus regime Eco-campus experiment ‘Quinta Esencia’
Public accessibility to everybody.
Private universities more profit oriented.
No particular interest in sustainability or
permaculture (in case of agricultural schools)
Sustainability and Permaculture
- Eco-efficiency
- Benefitting the local community
Practical learning environment
Table 4. Overview of regime and project differences in guiding principles
Analysis of barriers and opportunities
There is still a large gap to be bridged in Argentina between practice-as-usual at universities
and the kind of campus guided by sustainability and permaculture proposed for QE. The
practical learning environment proposed and the strong focus on sustainability aspects (be
they social, environmental or economic) are far from familiar guiding principles in campuses
in Argentina.
Technologies and infrastructure 4.1.2
Sustainable technologies
The sustainable character of the QE project is reflected in the different technologies used in
the buildings at the campus. First of all there will be an emphasis on passive technologies to
optimize the envelope of the buildings. The building envelope refers to the management of
the indoor environment in relation to the outdoor environment. The envelope is about
providing physical protection from weather and climate, indoor air quality (hygiene and
public health), durability and energy efficiency.
40
The management of different energy flows like heat, air and vapor play an important role in
the efficiency of the envelope. In conventional building processes buildings and rooms are
usually seen as sealed boxes. The focus is on insulation, to prevent energy transfers, in
combination with all kinds of mechanical systems for climate control. Heating systems and air
conditioning are technologies used to improve living comforts inside buildings.
For the Quinta Esencia project the aim is to improve the efficiency of the envelope as much
as possible with passive technologies. The focus is more on interaction with the environment
outside, so called bioclimatic building as reflected in the used technologies. Decent
insulation is still needed and where possible based on natural materials with low carbon
footprints. There will be attention to the positioning towards the sun, for heating and lighting
purposes. Natural ventilation systems are being integrated in the buildings. And the size and
positioning of the different rooms is important to make optimum use of heat, air, and water
flows requiring as few active systems as possible. We can think of bathrooms and kitchen
areas being close together to limit water traveling distances to limit losses in pressure and
heat.
At the same time, the buildings will serve as a demo-project for its users. Monitoring
consumption of water and energy and communicating it back to the buildings’ through
displays will encourage and demonstrate how to use these resources responsibly.
The energy supply at campus will be exclusively based on renewable energy sources. Mainly
wind and solar energy will supply the campus of its electricity needs. Solar panels will be
installed and small scale windmills will be implemented. Furthermore there will be a small
hydro-power generator to back up electricity supply in case of lack of wind and sun.
In public facilities, including universities, in Argentina, apart from some occasional cases,
there is regularly no renewable energy supply, sustainable water supply or any other focus on
more passive and sustainable technologies (to think of better use of sunlight and natural
ventilation systems). A reason is that until now power in Argentina has been subsidized, while
renewable energy sources are not. Delivering generated renewable energy to the grid is still
not regulated, and until recently, water recycling for sanitary use was not regulated neither.
These issues are subject of debate in Argentina but the high rise in energy costs related to
changing the energy subsidies in a country with high inequality makes it unlikely for such
policy to change in the short term (Interview 2, Julian Evans).
“Historically, power in Argentina has been subsidized in contrary to subsidizing renewable
energy sources. Delivering generated renewable energy to the grid is still not regulated. Until
recently, water recycling for sanitary use was not regulated also. There is a big debate on this
in Argentina. Energy would become way more expensive without these subsidies.” (Interview
2, Julian Evans)
41
Independent infrastructure
An important infrastructural difference relating to the technologies used is that the project will
not be connected to an electricity grid, neither will it be connected to gas infrastructure or
the water supply system of the municipality of Coronel Vidal. Because of the isolated location
of the project it will thus be completely reliant on its own produced electricity, heating
systems and own water supply system. Other campuses do usually connect to energy and
water infrastructure, at least in cities. The few that would not be connected to such
infrastructure would most likely rely on cheap fossil fuel based generators for their electricity
and heat supply.
Study- tool character of technology and education program
An important technological guiding principle for QE is that all technology and infrastructure
will be related to generating knowledge. To do so, each one of the energy related
technologies will be monitored by the students in order for them to be able to learn about
their consumption and compare different energy sources. The latter will be done through
displays which will inform users about the energy produced and consumed in each room. For
Amartya, the educative function of the technologies is even more important than having the
most sustainable technologies (Interview 4, Powa; Interview 3, Christian). The goal is to learn
about (the rational use of) these technologies. The technologies so to say function as study-
tools.
“sustainable technology is important but it is even more important to be able to monitor and
learn about the technologies” (interview 3, Christian)
The education program and the courses in general will have a more practical character than
in most conventional universities. Students will experience and experiment with the different
technologies on the campus. There will for example be courses related to the sustainable
production of food which students than also get to experiment with on campus.
Permacultural technology
Conventional agriculture in Argentina is based on so-called "technological packages", based
on extensive cultivation of genetically modified crops, intensive use of fertilizers, micro-
bacteria and pesticides and now also intensive rotation practices to increase performance.
This industry is heavily dependent on inputs from oil and machinery supported by fossil fuel.
Permaculture bases its strategies on deep knowledge of ecological cycles. It gives priority to
the use of the existing richness of the land to rebuild natural capital to sustain humanity. It
breaks away from monoculture and aims to refrain from- or limit the use of fossil fuels, ,
fertilizer, pesticides, and thus the exhaustion of soil and nature (Interview 1, Juan and
Vanesa).
42
Argentinian education-campus regime Eco-campus experiment ‘Quinta Esencia’
- Conventional building
- Conventional energy technologies
(mainly based on fossil fuels)
- Connection to electricity grid and
water
- Conventional
educational/pedagogical systems
- Technologies independent of
education
- Building with local, recycled, and
environmentally friendly material.
- Passive energy technologies in the
buildings and rationalized use of
energy and water
- Renewable energy supply
- Not connected to grid or water
supply systems
- More practical learning programs
with technology as education tool
- Permaculture agricultural
technologies
Table 5. Overview of regime and project differences in technologies and infrastructure
Analysis of barriers and opportunities
In terms of technologies and infrastructure, the project differs quite substantially from regular
campus set-ups and in the way it approaches agricultural practices and energy supply in the
region. However, the technological differences are substantial there are some opportunities
for the adoption of these technologies that should be remarked.
Many residents in the pampas region cope with the issue of being disconnected from the
electricity grid and the inconveniences that it brings. People now regularly rely on fossil fuel
fired generators that need to be refilled. This requires time because people have to go the
nearest gas station. In the case of the QE this is at 15km distance and for some it is even more.
Besides that, people experience the bad smell that goes with the firing of such generators
first-hand since they are usually in a barn next to their houses (Interview 3, Christian; interview
9, Florencia Saubidet).
“The generators smell really bad and it is annoying to have to go get gasoline from far to be
able to fire them.” (Interview 9, Florencia)
The generators are often only fired after dark to provide electricity for light. This way costs and
smell of firing the generators is limited. This means electrical appliances can only be used in
the evenings. For these reasons renewable energy sources may prove a welcome alternative
when proved reliable and financially viable. Amartya will have to face the challenge to
transparently demonstrate the use and efficiency of the alternatives.
43
The permaculture technologies are fundamentally different from current technologies used in
agriculture and it may prove very difficult for people to adapt to these new technologies. In
the pampas region farmers have to deal with the extensive exploitation of their soil. However
the consequences are often borne when it is too late and they may not be directly visible. As
long as current practices work for people, making them money, they are less likely to adjust
their practices. However, local farmers are to some extent aware of the long-term
consequences, but there is a lack of pressure to change (Interview 10, Patricio Laxalde). The
tension in the regime for agriculture is thus less clear than the direct consequences of using
fossil fuel based generators.
Sustainable building on the other hand is less likely to enjoy the support of local residents. It is
very different from conventional building practices with which they are familiar and
comfortable. They may even perceive some techniques as unproven, inferior technology like
building with recycled materials. There are no direct tensions in the building regime to be
recognized here.
“People in Coronel Vidal might be skeptical about building with recycled and scrap material.
They might think it is strange and unsafe.” (Interview5, Walter Wischnivetzky)
The way the education programs are being shaped (practical, experimental and interactive
with technology) is fundamentally different but not necessarily a problem for the adoption
and demonstration of the sustainability characteristics and for the lessons to be drawn from
the courses. The contrary may even be true and it may be an extra inspiring stimulus. Besides
that, the education programs will still be conform most educational standards since Amartya
will work together with other universities to set up the programs. The threat lurks however that
credibility of findings will get lost when diverging to much from conventional education.
Industrial structure 4.1.3
Local focus
As mentioned Amartya focuses on using local materials, working together with the local
community and teaching and working together with local labor when building and
implementing technologies for the campus. They wish to inspire different local partners and
collaborate with the local community where possible. Before being able to completely rely
on their own food production they will for example aim for small local producers to be
suppliers of different resources needed at the campus.
In Argentina, public universities are more likely to value cost-efficiency and “regular”
contracting procedures than appreciating potential local benefits. Amartya will always focus
on trying to find the best equilibrium between quality, ecological sustainability, and local
benefits.
44
Scale
Quinta Esencia is a private small-campus initiative aiming in the beginning for only a 40 to 50
person capacity. By far, most Argentinian students (over 70%) go to public universities and
schools. Nevertheless there are numerous private schooling initiatives (UNESCO 2012). Both
public and private schools and universities are usually of a much bigger scale then Quinta
Esencia (Interview 3, Christian, Interview 2 Julian Evans).
There are a few more regional small-scale universities (in Rio Negro and Tierra del Fuego for
example) (Interview 2, Julian Evans) that also work with sustainable architecture to some
extent. Those projects and buildings may be somewhat more related to Quinta Esencia if it
comes to the building process. Nevertheless, these universities are still much bigger than
Quinta Esencia.
The small scale proposed for Quinta may have its advantages and disadvantages. It limits the
courses that can be given and the number of people that can participate, which may have
consequences for interest and visibility. On the other hand classes will be small creating a
close relation between students and teachers which may benefit learning processes.
Furthermore “…the small scale proposed for the Quinta Esencia project, allows a
straightforward search for a low impact project” (Interview 2, Julian Evans).
Private project depending on collaborations
Quinta Esencia will not be a fully certified university or a regular school. It will rather be an
education-campus environment to be used by different parties for educational purposes
related to sustainability. Amartya as an NGO will provide the physical campus environment
and the related services. Amartya will collaborate with different other universities, schools,
and NGO’s to make use of the campus for education about sustainability.
Most universities in Argentina are public and provide free and accessible education available
to everybody in Argentina. The Argentinean government spends a high percentage (6,47 %)
of its GDP on education (Interview P. Laxalde, Télam, 2011).
By contrast, the QE campus is a private initiative, aiming to become a B-corporation, a
corporation promising to benefit both society at large as its shareholders (interview 3,
Christian). In order to make the campus financially viable the project needs to generate
money. This means it will not be able to provide the different courses freely to the different
student groups. Nevertheless, the initiators want the campus and the knowledge produced
at QE to be publicly open and accessible for everybody.
There are different ways in which they aim to combine economic viability with widespread
accessibility through offering different courses, in collaboration with different parties.
45
Collaborations with state universities (public universities) which are freely accessible.
Students will be invited to enroll in courses for free and the collaborating universities
should then pay for services delivered by the QE campus.
Different courses will be developed by Amartya for different users groups with different
access-costs. The organization would like to make access cost depending on
financial background. However, usually public universities are freely available
regardless of economic and academic background. This funding scheme is therefore
not a common policy in Argentina (González Rozada and Menendez, 2002)
Some courses will be more specifically focused at foreign students. Amartya for
example already offers a Corporate Social Responsibility course in Buenos Aires.
Through their partnership with the Scandinavian broker organization Kulturstudier, they
have a lot of Scandinavian students’ participating in this course. They would like to
offer these students the opportunity to spend 1 or 2 weeks at QE out of the total of 12
weeks, equal to a whole semester of 30 ECTS. These students will be paying for the
courses and related services like accommodation and Spanish courses.
Some 4 week courses, equal to 10 ECTS will be developed for students who would
enjoy being in the peaceful pampas region for this period of time devoted to a more
intense sustainability program. Here they will also partner with Kulturstudier to sell the
course in Norway while at the same time being accessible to Argentineans and other
international students.
There will be incomes from parties like NGOs that wish to use the campus for seminars
and conferences.
For the funding of the project partners willing to collaborate can obtain a share in the
company. To do so, the partners have to sign a legal affirmation to confirm they are sharing
the same values of Amartya and QE. This way they aim to protect the sustainable character
of the project from the start and maintain it in the long run.
Amartya only wants to work with partners that commit to similar sustainability values as they
do. Measuring the real commitment may be difficult. Their partner Kulturstudier for example is
a for-profit firm with a mission to be a responsible and sustainable company. They are working
on complying with the ISO 26.000 standard, which is a norm related to CSR entrepreneurship.
The norm has been signed by nearly the whole world but not with true commitment.
Kulturstudier wants to show it is committed to the charter(Interview 8, Hendrik). Amartya set
up a contract with norms, values, and standards partners should comply to in order to work
together or be a stakeholder.
46
Agricultural structure
Even though agriculture is not a necessary practice at education campuses it is necessary to
mention it here. Eventually Amartya aims to impact the local community by demonstrating
permaculture based agriculture practices as an alternative to current agriculture
approaches in the pampas region. For this reason it is important to illustrate the difference
between these approaches to map its transition potential.
The agricultural production model of the pampas of Argentina is based on export and is
based on the international market for inputs. This way production is left to wheat, corn,
sunflower and soybeans, other quality products disappeared and have made place for
commodities each time more based on genetic modification and monoculture.
The cost of seeds, the cost of pesticides, the type of machinery used and the fact that
lands are being alienated from their owners, leaving them to seed pools, causes a
continuously more indebted production economy(Interview 1, Juan y Vanesa and Fundacion
Plan 21, 2012).
Quinta Esencia proposes to establish a cyclical production structure for agro-ecological
management. In order for the ground to be more stable, healthier, more fertile and more
productive, the design aims to increase biodiversity and base itself in the complex processes
of flora and fauna systems. They aim to rebuild the soil and create favorable microclimates.
The habitat and natural communities are examples of how to develop resistant and resilient
systems. The design includes afforestation, seeding and intensive planting, creating an
ecological succession that, in its diversity, is indicative of the biological capacity and
resilience of the land, contributing to an efficient management of the systems. Furthermore,
permaculture emphasizes the process of redesign to start with the individual and the
household as generators for changing the culture of the community.
47
Argentinian education-campus regime Eco-campus experiment ‘Quinta Esencia’
• Cost-efficiency valued over local
benefit and ecological impact
• Universities are big and mostly public
• strong local focus and contracting
based on ecological and social
sustainability values
• QE is a small private initiative (working
with public partners)
• Partners should commit to existing
(international) standards for
sustainability (like CSR ISO standards)
• Agricultural practices are not an
intrinsic part of education campuses
• Agricultue based on export market
and monoculture (fossil fuel intensive)
• Proposes permaculture approach
with cyclical production structure
based on local communities and
habitat.
Table 6. Overview of regime and project differences in industrial structure
Analysis of barriers and opportunities
The terms of the industrial structure Quinta Esencia again differs substantially from regular
campuses. However the aim is not to demonstrate that other campuses should be set up
completely according to the structure of QE. It rather wants to demonstrate the different
sustainability practices to be adopted elsewhere. In this respect some comments should be
made referring to the industrial structure.
The public character of most universities has its up and down sides. The clearly positive aspect
is that education is freely accessible to everybody. On the other hand the Argentinean
schooling system is vulnerable to the economic situation of the country which has been
unstable over the last decades. The economic situation of the country may thus affect the
quality of education. Furthermore the public nature of universities has resulted in little work
done on maintenance on buildings, negatively affecting the sustainability of the buildings in
terms of energy efficiency (Interview 2, Julian Evans).
The obvious disadvantage for Amartya is that it is dependent on its partners, in particular the
public partners to make some courses freely accessible to all Argentinians. Such a
collaboration is important for Amartya to be credible as a social enterprise and to reach
different user groups, including less wealthy ones.
48
The permaculture approach proposed is fundamentally different from the current agricultural
structure. As mentioned, people may have to deal with the long-term consequences of
current agricultural approaches. Nevertheless these consequences are not always obvious in
the short-term and therefore people are not confronted with direct tensions in the regime. This
makes it hard for permaculture practices to be more widely adopted.
User relations and markets 4.1.4
The school campus is intended to provide educational services and hospitality to different
user groups. It is important that the sustainability message and experience is open to
everybody. That is why accessibility is a strong focus point. Different age groups and both
foreign and national students will be targeted.
There will be ‘Study Abroad’ programs at Quinta Esencia that are being set up in
collaboration either with broker-institutions for students or in collaboration directly with other
universities and schools (see chapter 4.1.3). It is likely that in first instance Quinta Esencia’s
main user group and starting point for Amartya will be Scandinavian students from
‘Kulturstudier’ (see chapter 1.6). Eventually Amartya aims to focus on more diverse user
groups strongly including local students. Nevertheless the collaboration with Kulturstudier will
be an important starting point for the campus since there is already a strong connection and
they already developed market demand.
The campus will also be accessible for Argentinean high-schools for field trips and school-
excursions. Furthermore the place will be open for ecotourism and seminars and conferences.
Conventional education-campuses, at least public ones, as mentioned several times are
accessible to everybody. Foreign students are usually also accepted even though these are
often asked to pay.
Argentinian education-campus regime Eco-campus experiment ‘Quinta Esencia’
• Local student market and to some extent
foreign students.
• Open and accessible to everybody
• Wide variety of user groups, from
different ages and different countries.
• Should be open to all.
Table 7. Overview of regime and project differences in user relations and markets
49
Analysis of barriers and opportunities
The differences in user-groups being addressed are not conceived that fundamentally
different. Besides that addressing a wide variety of user groups is a good strategy in inspiring
as many different people as possible about the sustainability aspects and innovations at work
at the campus. There is no reason to see this approach of user groups as a difference
threatening the adoption and further development of the sustainability aspect demonstrated
at QE.
Policies and regulations 4.1.5
There are policies and regulations from different fields relevant for the development of the
Quinta Esencia project influencing the likeliness its sustainability aspects will be adopted or
experimented with further. Relevant policies and regulations relate to building regulation on
sustainable building, sustainable (energy) technology regulation, and education policies.
Here the ones that are considered most important from the points of view of the actors
involved in the project will be discussed.
Building regulations
For the building industry and architecture, there are no local Argentinean sustainable rating
systems such as the American LEED or the British BREEAM systems. In Argentina, regulations
can be defined as soft if it comes to meeting sustainability requirements and many of them
are not compulsory (Interview 2, Julian Evans). This indicates there is no pressure on actors
involved in the building sector to make expenses on making buildings more sustainable.
Amartya can still apply for international rating systems like LEED or BREEAM with the purpose
of showing they will score well on these internationally recognized systems. Since Amartya
wants to build an exemplary project, they aim for the highest possible targets within these
rating systems which far exceed the obligatory requirements in Argentina. They actually try to
even go beyond LEED and BREEAM. In the Quinta Esencia project they put a strong emphasis
on the local social structure and plan to include that in the building process of the campus.
LEED and BREEAM, on their side, do not take local social contexts into account and thus do
not allow to measure architectural decisions in this respect. LEED and BREEAM focus primarily
on environmental friendly building materials and systems mainly based on availability in the
US and UK markets (interview 2, Julian Evans). Consequently it will pose a challenge to
convert these systems measurements locally, combining environmental and social
sustainability. The best rated materials in these systems may not be conceived sustainable if
imported from far U.S. or European markets when local substitutes are available. However,
demonstrating that the architectural choices made for QE actually go beyond well
recognized systems such as LEED and BREEAM will be a very hard to accomplish. According
to Julian Evans, architectural decisions are the most difficult to measure and at the same time
the most important. Path-dependent decisions allow architects to follow a certain path to
50
obtain the most sustainable results. While LEED and BREEAM focus on prescriptions, they are
not grounded in following a path to the best solutions (Interview 2, Julian Evans).
Energy policy
Furthermore, it has already been pointed out that conventional fuels in Argentina are
subsidized, For example natural gas is the main energy resource for buildings in Argentina.
Since 2002, subsidies have kept the prices of this fuel between 9 and 26 times lower than
regular prices in other countries (Gonzáles, 2009). This poses an enormous barrier for
renewable energy sources. Delivering generated renewable energy to the grid is still not
regulated. Until recently, water recycling for sanitary use was not regulated neither. These
regulations make it more costly and complex to exclusively rely on clean and renewable
energy sources (Interview 2, Julian Evans).
Educational policy and regulations
With respect to setting up courses for Quinta Esencia, they will have to comply to national
regulations. When working together with Argentinean partner universities, they will have to
commit to Argentinean educational standards. Amartya and the architects involved are all
very familiar with educational standards in the country. All architects and Christian from
Amartya are professors at the University of Buenos Aires and thus know the criteria for courses.
Furthermore Christian has been one of the main actors involved in setting up the ‘Corporate
Social Responsibility’ course Amartya offers in collaboration with the UBA. From being
involved in this process he is also familiar with the certification process for courses. From the
interviews with Amartya and the architects (Interview 2, Julian Evans; Interview 3, Christian;
and Interview 6, Carlos Levinton) it seems there is no reason to assume why the educational
policy in the country would negatively affect the lessons to be taught about sustainability at
QE.
There will also be courses developed in collaboration with European partners such as
Kulturstudier. These European partner need to take European educational regulations into
account. QE therefore for example needs to make sure the credit systems comply with those
used by their European partners. Amartya is already experience in working with European
credit systems and working with European partners. Furthermore their partner Kulturstudier has
15 years of experience in setting up such collaborations. Kulturstudier claims that it will be
easier finding partner for QE than for most of the other courses they have developed abroad
due to its practical and inspirational character. “I expect it to be way easier to find university
partners for QE than many of the other programs we set-up” (Interview 8, Hendrik
Heggemsnes).
51
For Amartya there is a specific opportunity related to higher education structure associated
with the established and declared socially engaged mission of universities in Latin America.
‘Radical university reform promoted by students in 1918 in Argentina and later extended to all
of Latin America, declares that all universities have a third social mission in addition to
teaching and research called “extension.” Extension is defined as the direct interaction of the
University with its environment in response to the demands of society’ (Stephens, C.J. et al.,
2008). So far this extension mission had limited attention and financial and institutional support
and has traditionally been operationalized as the unidirectional transfer of knowledge to less
privileged classes. Amartya has the opportunity here to demonstrate this extension mission
can be taken further. Through interaction with policy makers they may possibly get support
on a redefinition, re-envisioning, and implementation of the existing “extension” mission. They
can demonstrate and aim to enable support for two way interactions between education
institutions and society in ways that allow education institutions (universities in particular) to
play a distinct role as a change agent toward a more sustainable society (Stephens, C.J. et
al., 2008).
Organizational and business policy
Locally, so far QE has encountered one regional policy that could potentially pose an
obstacle for projects like this, in particular in relation to the small scale agricultural practices
proposed. By law, in the region an area of productive land cannot be divided in pieces
smaller than 200 hectare (interview 5, Walter Wischnivetzky). The size of the portion of land
intended for QE property will only be 30 hectares parted from the land owned by the
Saubidet family. However, through close interaction with the municipality and a strong
emphasis on the potential benefits for the community the municipality and Amartya resolved
to make an exception for the project. However, similar small-scale projects will also encounter
this kind of policy. This policy illustrates how the pampas region of Argentina is customized to
large scale feedstock and agriculture activities for which larger fields of land are usually
required to make it profitable business.
Argentinian education-campus regime Eco-campus experiment ‘Quinta Esencia’
• Lack of sustainable building
regulations
• Subsidized fossil fuels
• Social, ‘extension mission’ for higher
education (however with little
commitment)
• Local (land) policies are not adjusted
to small scale initiatives
• Wishes to comply to LEED and
BREEAM and even go beyond
• Requires supportive renewable
energy policy
• Requires policy adapted to small
scale agricultural activities promoting
local initiatives
52
Table 8. Overview of regime and project differences in policies and regulations
Analysis of barriers and opportunities
The lack of sustainable building regulations in Argentina causes a lack of pressure on this
sector to change towards more sustainable building. The regulatory regime does allow for
sustainable approaches but it does not give guiding to sustainable improvements.
The highly subsidized fossil fuel industry is an obvious threat to the widespread dissemination of
renewable based energy sources. These policies however are hard to influence.
Local policies so far are not offering a suitable environment for small-scale permaculture
practices. However on the local level there may be possibilities to get around such policies.
The hassle of doing so however poses a barrier for the adoption of such practices.
Knowledge 4.1.6
Building and energy supply
The normal knowledge base for building a campus (in Argentina) is that of conventional
architecture. For Quinta Esencia the knowledge base will be grounded in sustainable
architecture including bioclimatic building (making use of natural resources like the sun and
rain through passive systems for heating and water supply), eco-architecture (making use of
natural materials, also known as bio-architecture) and knowledge about renewable energy
supply.
Knowledge related to energy efficiency and environmental conservation is way more
pressing for the QE project than it would be for other campuses building projects. Knowledge
is required to integrate these things on the three levels considered important by the involved
architects: design, construction and post occupancy (Interview 2, Julian).
Additionally, the campus itself will be a place where knowledge will be generated about
sustainable practices in agriculture, building, technology, management and business. This will
be done through a methodical monitoring process of the different important dimension of
the project. In this respect a co-evolving situation between knowledge and practice is
created.
Knowledge on collaborative courses
Different courses will be developed for QE. Different disciplines are coming together at the
campus both in the development of courses as in the actual physical space. The most
important thing here is not the different sustainability disciplines that will be proposed but
more the methodology on how to work together on developing the courses, how to
efficiently make the students interact and the knowledge created on site. Different specialists
will be needed but what might be the most important is their willingness to consider their
disciplines in an interdisciplinary manner and being open to discourse with other disciplines.
53
Knowledge on permaculture
The project will be finding much of its inspiration for practices in permaculture knowledge. In
principle, permaculture was developed as an "integrated and evolving system of perennial
plant species and animals useful to man". A more current definition of permaculture is "the
conscious design of landscapes that mimic the patterns and relationships found in nature,
while generating plenty of food, fiber and energy to meet local needs". People, their
buildings and the ways in which they organize their lifestyle are of central importance
in permaculture. This way, the vision of permaculture as permanent or sustainable agriculture
has evolved to that of a permanent or sustainable culture. At this point permaculture
integrates knowledge of primary and pre-industrial cultures and scientific disciplines like
ecology, topography, microbiology and social ecology, among others. However, more
precisely, permaculture is about using systems thinking and design principles as organizational
structure for implementing the vision set out above(Interview 1, Juan and Vanesa).
Argentinian education-campus regime Eco-campus experiment ‘Quinta Esencia’
• Conventional architectural
knowledge
• Normal course requirements
• Sustainable, bio-climatical building
and eco-architecture
• Collaborative courses
• Knowledge about permaculture
Table 9. Overview of regime and project differences in knowledge
Analysis of barriers and opportunities
The knowledge base in conventional architecture is not yet adjusted to the way of building
proposed for Quinta Esencia. Differences are substantial and there is no pressure on the
current building regime to adjust the knowledge base. Quinta Esencia nevertheless will
demonstrate the possibilities of this way of building that may be adopted and adjusted by
enthusiasts.
The knowledge required on setting up collaborative courses is a fundamental requirement.
Amartya and even more its partner Kulturstudier are already experienced in collaborating
between different parties to set up interdisciplinary courses. This is important for knowledge
spillovers between different disciplines about different dimensions of sustainability. So even
though the approach will be fundamentally different from mainstream course set-ups it
provides opportunities for the diffusion of sustainability lessons.
The knowledge on permaculture is fundamentally different from the deep rooted knowledge
on conventional agricultural communities and cultures. Like mentioned for the industrial
54
structure in agricultural communities (chapter 4,1,2) there is not a direct pressure visable in the
current agricultural regime even though there are clear negative consequences in the long-
run. This poses a challenge for knowledge on permaculture to become more widely spread.
Culture and symbolic meanings underpinning practices 4.1.7
The permaculture design of Quinta Esencia contrasts with the values, beliefs, and agricultural
uses and practices of the area. Conventional agriculture responds to the values
and beliefs of the current unsustainable consumer society. In the pampas region the cultural
mindset might be even less set to sustainability, first of all because there are other more
pressing issues (like poverty and food provision) and second of all because they are not
provided with an environment, knowledge and resources that allow rural communities to
change towards more sustainable behavior.
The education culture at QE will also differ from conventional school culture. The strong focus
on the demonstration character and on becoming a living lab for the students brings along a
different education culture. Students will interact more with the technologies and methods
under study. A “conventional” university is not that much associated with this living lab
culture.
Furthermore, students with similar interests will intensively live together on a small campus
space. In most Argentinian universities students do not live at campus, there are however
some exceptions. Especially in rural areas more people live at campuses like at the
Agricultural school ‘Nicanor Ezeiza’ located nearby QE.
Argentinian regional values and local
education
Eco-campus experiment ‘Quinta Esencia’
• Conventional agricultural values and
practices
• No knowledge , skills and focus on
sustainable practices
• Normal education culture (not that
much focused on experimentation)
• Students live at home
• permaculture culture contrasts with
conventional agriculture
• Strong focus on sustainability
• Strongly collaborative and
experimental education culture
• Students living together intensively at
campus
Table 10. Overview of regime and project differences in culture and symbolic meanings
Analysis of barriers and opportunities
Permaculture is significantly different in its cultural values from the culture locals are used to.
Besides that the popular conceptions of permaculture like the gardening systems or the
contra cultural lifestyle can be considered both strengths and weaknesses for the
understanding and appreciation of permaculture(Interview 1, Juan and Vanesa) In case of
55
little regime pressure, which is the case here, the interest for such alternative approaches may
be limited. However, through interaction with locals, proposals will be studied that can be
realized for neighbors in the zone to bolster sustainable farming practices (interview 1, Juan
and Vanesa).
The different culture created at campus amongst students being part of a living lab will
diverge substantially from usual campus culture. The different kinds of education culture may
prove attractive to different parties. For a show-case project the proposed living lab culture
seems an obvious choice to be able to demonstrate and show new, innovative sustainability
practices.
Conclusions regarding regime barriers and opportunities 4.2The regime characteristics are clearly very much diverging between normal education-
campuses in Argentina and the Quinta Esencia project. However, for some sustainability
aspects and practices of QE it may be more difficult to enter and change the regime than
for others.
With regard to the agriculture practices there are significant differences. The technologies
used based on natural systems and resources, the industrial structure that far more focuses on
local production, and the knowledge required about ecosystems and related designs for QE
are contrary to practices in the regime. These rather focus on the use of fertilizers, pesticides,
and fossil fuel based machinery and they aim at the international market, based on
knowledge to optimize these technologies and markets. Furthermore, local policies are not
adopted to change to small-scale, local-based permaculture practices. The status quo is
maintained through existing policies like the subsidies on fossil fuels. These things cause a lack
of direct pressure on the current agriculture regime. Nevertheless, the long-term
consequences of unsustainable agriculture are familiar to farmers allowing for some interest in
alternative practices. When permaculture can be demonstrated as a working alternative it
may very gradually prove to be adopted by local farmers. This is likely to be a gradual long-
term proces.
The renewable energy technologies and water management systems, that are to be seen as
add-on technologies to be demonstrated, do also differ substantially from the technologies
used in conventional campuses. In the local context some regime tension has been
detected because of the disadvantages related to the use of fossil-fuel based power
generators. This poses opportunities for these technologies to be adopted and implemented
more widely locally. On a bigger scale the Argentinean context is not suited for a widespread
rollout of renewable energy technologies and further development of these technologies. A
lack of political support and policy favoring fossil fuel power through harsh subsidies, pose an
adverse environment for renewable energy technologies.
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The educational structure also differs a lot from conventional universities or schools. This
however does not necessarily affect the transition potential of the course content. It is rather
the collaborative structure that is decisive to attract people and to realize knowledge
spillovers between QE and other education institutions and people. The differential character
here may even be attractive for partners to provide their students with an additional
experience to the existing education curriculum. It is not the practical way of approaching
education that is aimed to be adopted elsewhere it is rather about enthusing people about
the course content.
In the building sector we cope with a stable regime. Conventional knowledge and the
related use of material and technology has gained acceptance and the market is adjusted
to the conventional practices. The bioclimatic and eco-architecture approach proposed for
the building of the QE campus is significantly different and is not expected to gain fast
acceptance by both users as by the industry. Existing, standard systems and regulations are
not adjusted to this more sustainable approach. The market for these technologies is so far
limited to an elite of environmentally aware first movers, that are willing to invest in these
technologies.
5 SNM analysis The interested here is in the success of the QE project from a Strategic Niche Management
perspective. Particular interest is in the likeliness for the sustainability concept of QE, and the
associated innovative aspects, to be adopted elsewhere or provide input for further
development. SNM allows for analysis of the processes (1. articulation of expectations, 2.
social-network building, and 3. learning processes) that contribute to the transfer of lessons
learned from this particular project. If these processes are strong, further adoption and
experimentation with the innovative eco-campus concept and related sustainable
technologies and practices is more likely.
The SNM analysis in this chapter allows to pinpoint the strengths and weaknesses of the
project from an SNM perspective. Based on this analysis and the earlier regime analysis the
transition potential will be distilled. Thereafter, recommendations are given to improve the
transition potential.
Network 5.1The building of social-networks is one of the three main pillars of SNM. First, a brief introduction
is given of the main stakeholders involved in the Quinta Esencia project and what their role
and activities are within the project. Subsequently, other possible relevant local actors that
have not yet been included in the project are mentioned. Then the structure of the network,
which is relevant for the transfer of lessons, is discussed.
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Involved actors 5.1.1
Amartya
As the principle actor Amartya is the executor and director of the Quinta Esencia project.
Amartya is an Argentinian NGO that aims to promote sustainability in Argentina. The
organization is mainly active in the field of education, but also works on other projects (e.g. a
consumer platform for sustainable products). Organizers offer students sustainable
experiences in different ways by offering for example volunteer work, in which students get
the opportunity to get hands-on experience in different sustainability practices. Furthermore,
they offer Spanish courses and a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) course in Buenos Aires.
Quinta Esencia is initiated by Amartya as a way to demonstrate the opportunities and impact
of sustainable technologies in agriculture, architecture, and education. It will be an
education center where students can learn about sustainability in different fields and
experience and experiment with sustainable technologies and permaculture.
In the network, Amartya can be seen as the broker between all involved parties. The
organization connects the different stakeholders involved and is in charge of establishing
general meetings to maintain interaction between them and move the project forward. In
chapter 5.3, on ‘learning’, the workings of this interaction and the learning processes flowing
from them will be discussed in more detail.
Plan 21
Plan 21 is an Argentinian NGO based in Buenos Aires involved in different activities to
encourage sustainable behavior in Argentina. The organization has been approached by
Amartya to carry out base-line studies concerning the project’s socio-technical,
environmental and bio-climatic context. Its activity has involved consultancy primarily,
through rapports analyzing the area’s water supply, the biodiversity and the social history as
well as the current situation around the project site. It has been the first time for Plan 21 to do
such consultancy work. In order to fulfill the job, the organization contracted biologists and
ecologists.
Plan 21 is an independent NGO with no previous bounds with Amartya. As an NGO involved
in promoting sustainability they are however considered part of a small group of practitioners
in Argentina that favors sustainability and tries to promote sustainable practices.
Grupo GED (Galuzzi - Evans - D´Andrea)
GED is a group of 3 architects (i.e. architect project manager Pedro Galuzzi, sustainability
architect Julian Evans, and a landscape architect Marcelo D’Andrea) that take care of the
concept and development of the main building of the campus, the SUM, including a general
use-room and the classrooms.
58
The group has been chosen for the development of the SUM through a tendering process in
which different architect groups have competed to get contracted for this job. The group is
also likely to tender for the development of the campus’ student hostel.
Julian Evans, the sustainability architect, is a researcher at CIHE (centro de investigación
hábitat y energía) and works at Corporacion America, which is involved in substantial work
on sustainable architecture, in particular in developing airports. He is the author of the book
Sustentabilidad en Arquitectura (2010).
Carlos Levinton
In addition to the GED group, Carlos Levinton is another architect involved. He initiated the
Centro Experimental de Producion (CEP), a small research laboratory at the UBA where
building materials and commercial products are constructed out of scrap and recycled
materials. As an architect, Levinton is involved in the construction of the supervisors’ house for
the Quinta Esencia campus.
Levinton is well known in Argentina for the building of eco-houses, using discarded material in
his buildings and his CEP research centre. He is also reckoned for building disaster relief
housing (treehugger, 2005). Amartya approached him to demonstrate one of his eco-houses
at campus for the supervisor’s family to live in.
Kulturstudier
Kulturstudier, a Norwegian academic institution, already has strong connections with
Amartya. Kulturstudier develops academic programs abroad that reflect the cultural and
local environment the foreign students live in. The Norwegian institution has 15 years of
experience developing programs in countries like India, Nicaragua and Ghana
(www.kulturstudier.no). In Argentina, Buenos Aires, Kulturstudier offers a Spanish course and a
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) course; both run through Amartya. Christian Tiscornia,
president of Amartya, serves as the academic coordinator for the CSR course in Buenos Aires.
For Quinta Esencia Kulturstudier will help to find partners for developing and selling the
courses that reflect the core disciplines of Quinta Esencia. Courses could relate to
architecture, permaculture, green business (like CSR or green MBA) or energy. Kulturstudier
will look for an academic coordinator for the courses that can help develop the content of
the courses. When the course content has been developed Kulturstudier will approach
possible academic partners, i.e. relevant universities in Scandinavia with similar fields of
research, to become partners of QE and give their students the opportunity to go to QE.
Kulturstudier presents itself as a future user of Amartya’s campus too. They will eventually be
making use of accommodation and the services for the students provided at the campus.
Kulturstudier sees the campus as a unique and promising project which it is eagerly to use in
59
the future. The experimental character and hands-on academic experience provided by the
campus is much in line with Kulturstudier’s aim and strategy of providing their students high-
level academic and cultural experiences (Interview 8, Hendrik).
Powa Herrera Girard
Powa, a co-founders of Amartya takes part in the NGO’s directors commission. He represents,
moreover two other organizations that are expected to help improve the QE project’s
visibility: he is founder and executive director of gazz.tv and implicate.org, companies
involved in video making and communication. Closely involved in the QE project within
Amartya, Powa mobilizes people and resources from his other organizations.
“I am not only Gazz, or implicate or Amartya, I am involved as a person in QE and use
different resources and skills from different organizations in my work”(Interview 4, Powa)
Permaculture designers
The role of permaculture designers, Vanesa Viudes and Juan Lagomarsino
(ecopractica.org.ar), is to provide a comprehensive assessment about ethical principles and
permaculture design and to generate a master plan of permaculture related to architecture,
landscape, environment, education, and food production. They consult and work together
with the different actors to integrate their contributions and to elaborate on descriptive and
more specific technical documents. They are tasked to make sure QE will be something more
than just the sum of its parts and help create a coherent design as the key characteristic of
the QE project. They will thus be involved in the revision of many aspects of the project: the
sustainable energy technologies and water supply, the design of the campus environment,
the agricultural practices, defining eco-tourism and the educational philosophy. Furthermore,
they are involved in developing of the educational programs related to their knowledge of
permaculture in the form of courses and workshops.
Pablo Balestra
One of Christian’s youth friends, Pablo Balestra, will become the supervisor of Quinta Esencia.
This means he will be living with his wife and young son in the demonstration house
developed by Carlos Levinton. They will take care of various maintenance activities both in
the house and at the campus and will be responsible for welcoming and guiding students
and professors at the campus. Most importantly, however, they are expected to demonstrate
a sustainable way of living in their house at the campus. At the house they will be
demonstrating how to be self-sufficient, relying only on renewable energy sources and
organic food supply. As a close friend this actor is dedicated to making the project succeed
but might be biased in not taking a critical position towards Amartya. So far Pablo however is
only involved in meetings concerning the specifications of the house he will be living in.
60
Municipality Coronel Vidal
The municipality of Coronel Vidal, the nearest town to Quinta Esencia, is an important actor in
providing local resources like labor and machinery. Furthermore, collaborating with the
municipality is important in creating a connection to the local community. Walter
Wischnivetzky, the secretary of public works serves as an important link in this respect and is
already collaborating on the project. He will help providing machinery, making it freely
accessible because the authorities believe the project will also be in the municipality’s
interest.
Secondary agricultural school Nicanor Ezeiza
Located some kilometers away from the project site, the Nicanor Ezeiza school should be
perceived a relative outsider, or a regime insider, because the school is not directly involved
in the project’s development. There has been a first meeting, in which Amartya presented its
plans for Quinta Esencia to the director of the school, Patricio Laxalde. Amartya envisions the
school to serve as an important partner in the near future. The school is involved in providing
education on different agricultural practices. The school lacks, however, more general
courses such as English-language instruction. Its experience in agricultural practices can be
useful for Amartya to learn from. Furthermore, the school also produces its own food. Given
Amartya’s self-sufficiency goal, QE and the school can learn from each other in this respect.
The Saubidet family
The Saubidet family owns Tierra Fiel, the land on which the campus will be built. The three
persons in charge are Florencia Saubidet, Miguel Rigorio Saubidet and Martin Saubidet,
respectively the mother and two uncles of Christian and Eduardo Tiscornia from Amartya. This
family has provided 30 hectares of land as a gift for Amartya to develop QE on.
Possibly relevant local actors 5.1.1
In its base-line study rapport provided for Amartya, Plan 21 (2012) indicated a set of possibly
relevant local actors to take into account for future development of the project. These actors
may prove useful for strategic partnerships or consultancy and advice. The following actors
have been identified:
The owners of the farms and rural enterprises relevant both for society in general
(economic, social and environmental), and for tourism;
Given the importance of the coastal zone throughout Mar Chiquita and the
environmental problems related to the coast, ‘The Association for the Promotion of
the Wellness of Mar Chiquita’ is an important actor for the research they do on their
particular subject, and other aspects of the environment;
61
The organization “Mar Chiquita natural”, is an organization constantly active in taking
care for the natural resources in Mar Chiquita.
Following up on the importance of natural resources, and here in particularly coastal,
the “Provincial Agency for Sustainable Development of natural resources” and the
“Coordination Unit for Integrated Coastal Management” are important public actors.
The “Unión Vecinal de la Costa de Mar Chiquita”, should be considered an important
actor as they provide and participate in discussions on coastal issues in the
municipality. Also important in taking part in these discussions are: ‘La Caleta’, ‘Union
Vecinal de la costa’, ‘Vecinos auto convocados de Camet Norte’ and ‘Vecinos auto
convocados de Santa Clara del Mar’;
Because of its importance in terms of services provided (electricity, internet, funerals
and bottled gas) and the spread of responsibility for taking care of the environment
(communication in their magazine: “Ahorra con energía: el uso responsable,
beneficia tu economía y el cuidado del medio ambiente”), the Cooperative
‘Arbolito’, is presented as a relevant player. In May 2011, it launched its institutional
magazine in order to maintain the link with the community through permanent
information "... becoming aware of certain problems that affect the daily functioning
of the cooperative on top of knowing the social and institutional direction that
stimulates the entity.”, “…the dedication of the workers and employees, their skills,
entrepreneurship and news towards other destinations ... ", and" ... reporting the
requirements to request for services, receive and respond to complaints or queries ... "
The entity is displayed as " ... a solidary institution caring because it seeks to foster
community development through their daily work of providing electric services urban
and rural ... " (Fundacion Plan21, 2012.a)
Network structure 5.1.2
Social networks are likely to contribute more to niche development, if (a) the networks are
broad, i.e. multiple kinds of stakeholders are included to facilitate the articulation of multiple
views and voices; the involvement of relative outsiders (as seen from within the project) may
be particularly important to broaden cognitive frames and facilitate second-order learning
and (b) the networks are deep, i.e. people who represent organizations, should be able to
mobilize commitment and resources within their own organizations and networks.
Broadness of the network
The focus in the project so far is primarily on the development and construction part of the
campus. The social network of the project reflects this and consists mostly of parties that are
directly involved in the development of the plans of the campus and its buildings.
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On this development side actors from different disciplines are included. Different architects,
each with their own expertise are included; permaculture specialists for agricultural practices
and developing the practical and philosophical master plan integrating all disciplines;
Amartya as main idea developer, providing input on the envisioned end result and on how to
realize sustainability aspects; and Pablo Balestra, the envisioned supervisor for the campus,
providing input on how he envisions the house in which he and his family will live.
Furthermore, the NGO Plan 21 is involved to make environmental and social baseline studies.
And Kulturstudier, Amartya’s Norwegian broker partner, is involved on the part of developing
courses for QE and in brokering between Scandinavian university partners.
Even though actors from different disciplines are included, the project’s network is not
considered a broad network. Most actors can be considered part of an elite that values
sustainability. Even though most actors did not know each other in advance they have
formed a strong bound due to their shared interest in sustainability. All actors somehow have
some background in sustainability issues and should be considered regime-outsiders because
regular regime practices in Argentina do not resolve around sustainability. The involved actors
may thus be biased in their enthusiasm about the project while regime-insiders may be more
skeptical. Some of the actors however do work within conventional education-regime
institutions: all architects and Christian are for example professors at the UBA.
Besides this core group of actors there are however very few actors involved to provide
information, insights, or consultancy services. There should be actors that are not directly
involved in the project development that provide valuable information based on a more
distant relation. All actors involved now can be considered regime-outsiders that share a pro-
sustainability vision. There is a lack of actors providing different views, particularly views from
regime-insiders could be useful to provide their vision on the development of a project like
QE. The other way around the inclusion of regime-insiders may prove valuable for QE by
getting regime-insiders involved and interested in the proposed sustainability innovations. This
may take away regime-barriers through generated interest within the regime. Attracting first-
movers in a regime is therefore crucial. Furthermore, there is a complete lack of inclusion of
actors from other eco-school projects that operate at the global niche-level. These actors
could provide valuable insights for QE to be adopted. Also users and (local) beneficiaries,
crucial in defining their preferences, are not yet included in the network.
Here we will make a distinction between the already strong core of actors directly involved in
the development of the project and a yet to be developed cloud of actors around this core
that consists of regime-actors, actors from other eco-campus projects at the global niche-
level, and users.
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Figure 8: Core and cloud network division
The municipality of Coronel Vidal and the secondary agricultural school Nicanor Ezeiza are
the only actors thus far identified as important regime-insiders. These actors are not part of the
core network directly involved in the development, but rather considered part of the cloud.
The collaboration with the municipality so far consists of several meetings between Amartya
and the municipality. The contact person from the municipality is Walter Wischnivetzky,
secretary of public works. While working as the municipality’ secretary of public works, he is
also in charge of a local labor corporation. The municipality has already committed to
contributing to the project by supplying machinery and labor (however only committed
orally). Although the municipality might not have too many (financial) resources to support
the project, it is an important door-opener to further community involvement.
The collaboration with the school is still limited: there have been two general meetings with
Christian and Patricio Laxalde, the director of the school so far. The school, however, is
envisioned as an important partner for the future.
Deepness of the network
A deep network means that the involved actors can provide and mobilize commitment and
resources within their own organizations and networks. Here, some examples of the different
resources brought in by the different actors will be discussed to demonstrate the deepness.
Kulturstudier as a provider of students from Scandinavia constitutes an important partner in
realizing connections with other academic partners in Scandinavia. Through Kulturstudier
Amartya has access to an user group expected to bring in financial resources for the project
but also a partner to collaborate in establishing courses and developing them further with
other partners. Besides that Kulturstudier wants to commit to the ISO 260006, a CSR standard
as a socially responsible corporation. Nevertheless, its business is to make students fly all over
the world in order to take courses abroad which is not very sustainable. Collaborating with
6 ISO 26000 is a standard that prescribes how to improve corporate social responsibility
Core of actors directly involved in the
design and development processes
Cloud of regime-actors, users and, actors at
the global niche-level that can provide
valuable information or take-down regime
constraints.
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Quinta Esencia allows them to improve their credentials in this respect and allows them to cut
down their ecological footprint through the different sustainable practices going on at the
campus. For this reason Kulturstudier has a vested interest in becoming a stakeholder and
committing financial resources in the project as well.
Powa owns two companies related to media and communication besides being one of the
co-founders of Amartya. He helps financing the project privately and mobilizes material and
people from his other companies to promote QE.
Christian Tiscornia, director of Amartya, contributes with personal financial resources, time
and effort. Besides that the part of land from ‘Tierra Fiel’ provided for the QE project is a gift
from his family.
The architects and the permaculture designers involved are independent actors with diverse
networks in their relative fields which they claim to be able to mobilize for QE.
“we have a broad network of followers that are likely to be willing to contribute knowledge
for QE” (interview 1, Juan and Vanessa)
Besides their enthusiasm for the project they have interests in participation for their portfolios.
The Municipality of Coronel Vidal sees opportunities in this project and believes it can
contribute to the social and economic situation of the area. In turn they make machinery
and labor accessible. Walter Wischnivetzky himself is personally enthusiastic about the project
and can help obtain acceptance in the local community since he is also in charge of the
local labor union(Interview 5, Walter Wischnivetzky).
All actors are fully committed to the sustainability message of Quinta Esencia and are
somehow involved in businesses related to social or environmental sustainability. For most
actors there is more a strategic incentive for their involvement than a financial one. The
financial compensations are often just a requirement to be able do the job rather than the
most important motivation. Most actors (like the architects and permaculture designers) have
the opportunity to be involved here in a project that will serve as an attractive showcase
project for their businesses.
The core-group of the network of actors can be considered relatively deep. The actors are
either directors or owners of their own organizations or they are at least high up in the
hierarchy of their organizations (in case of Walter of the municipality). They have access to
networks in their respective fields and can mobilize social and financial capital. All feel
dedicated to the project and are capable and willing to bring in a variety of resources.
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However, the network size is still limited to a core group. Most actors are already involved in
sustainability issues in some way and thus feel dedicated and are willing to contribute in a
variety of ways. The involvement of more regime-actors, building a cloud around the already
existing core, will provide insights in possible tensions that may not yet be visible within the
current network. Involving regime-insiders challenges regime-actors to think outside the box
and take notice of sustainable alternatives to current practices. These actors may hamper
fundamental sustainability aspect when they are involved to deeply and get too much of a
saying in the development processes. However involving them on a more distant basis
challenges them to broaden cognitive frames and facilitate second-order learning. This may
contribute to taking away regime-barriers in the future. The involvement of regime-actors
could contribute to more acceptance and commitment from incumbent regime players. We
should thus conclude that deepness is not enough. The combination of a deep and broad
network is required for this project to be successful and its sustainability practices to gain
interest and acceptance.
Expectations 5.2
In this sub-chapter first the vision, mission and objectives as formulated by Amartya are put
forward. Later in this chapter the quality and articulation of expectations is discussed, to what
extent they provide guiding and to what extent they are shared among the different
involved actors.
Vision, mission, and objectives 5.2.1
The vision should provide the project’s overall direction. The mission refers to how to get there
and describes the purpose and the basic principles that guide the actions of involved actors
and partners. Developing a mission statement entails defining the “who,” “what,” “why,” “for
whom,” and “how” of your social enterprise. An objective is an end result, often referred to as
a “target” in development literature and proposals. Objectives serve as quantitative
measures within a fixed time frame that propel your social enterprise toward accomplishing its
mission. Regardless of type, objectives must be SMART (Sutia Kim Alter 2000):
▲ Specific — well-defined and clearly stated
▲ Measurable — quantifiable or absolutely calculable
▲ Achievable — realistic under the circumstances
▲ Relevant — supporting accomplishment of the mission and contributing to realizing the
vision in the long term
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▲ Time bound — time based (corresponding to the period of the business plan)
Here the vision, mission and objectives as formulated by Amartya (2012) are pointed out. The
distinction between these three levels however remains somewhat unclear and do not live up
to the definitions as indicated above. The Vision does provide the direction in which to go.
The mission however does not provide a direction of how to go there and the objectives are
not SMART.
Figure 9: Vison, mission, objective scheme
Vision
Quinta Esencia will be a referential educational center for the creation of a sustainable
culture: ecologically viable, economically productive, socially fair and spiritually
transformative.
Mission
‘The Eco-Campus Quinta Esencia will be an educational center for sustainability that works as
a model laboratory and which promotes a sustainable way of life, in harmony with both
nature and community.
General Objective
Educate individuals with regards to a paradigm shift towards a sustainable future.
Specific Objectives
Develop a global reference education center dealing with sustainability
Produce, teach, and disseminate information related to sustainability
Experience a sustainable lifestyle
Promote integration within the community
Promote sustainable-architecture and clean energy
Develop an ecotourism circuit
Promote biodiversity and a connection with nature
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Promote eco-social businesses related to the eco campus
Promote eco-agricultural practices
Sharedness, specifity and quality 5.2.2
Strategic Niche management prescribes that expectations would contribute to successful
niche building if expectations were made: (a) more robust (shared by more actors), (b) more
specific (if expectations are too general they do not give guidance), and (c) have higher
quality (the content of expectations is substantiated by ongoing projects);
Expectations about user base
In general no problems are expected in finding the first users. The first users are actually
already there via the connection with Kulturstudier. The collaborate CSR course between
Amartya and Kulturstudier is the first user-base course, where students get the opportunity to
go to QE.
Furthermore, the organizers do not expect too many problems in finding other students from
Scandinavia via Kulturstudier to attend courses at Quinta Esencia. Universities in Norway are
usually keen on working with Kulturstudier. Kulturstudier allows universities in Scandinavia to
connect to local universities and organizations abroad which is in the interest of universities on
both sides. The universities get the opportunity to exchange staff and knowledge.
International and interdisciplinary relations that make it easier to apply for research funds.
Kulturstudier makes local teachers meet with those from Scandinavia to create human
interaction instead of distant connections; this profits the relation between universities.
Kulturstudier claims that the cultural differences are least big in Argentina of all the countries
they have programs in. This is something thing that makes it easier for students to go there.
Kulturstudier is expected to be a key player in the project for the first 5 to 10 years. They
provide a start for Quinta Esencia to market itself in Europe. Amartya is expected to benefit
from the student and university network of Kulturstudier while from the other side Kulturstudier
can use the facilities of the Eco-campus. There is thus a mutual benefit. Kulturstudier is also
expected to become a shareholder reserving space for its courses at the QE campus
(Interview 8, Hendrik Heggemsnes)
To attract local students in Argentina still a lot of work needs to be done. There are already
strong connections with the university of Buenos Aires since Christian is a teacher at the UBA
as are all the Architects involved in the project. Nevertheless, they can not only rely on
students from the UBA and they will have to look for more partners and promote Quinta
Esencia more widely in the region and the country. Amartya claims it is not the right time yet
for widely promoting Quinta Esencia since there is no campus yet nor are the courses
developed yet(interview 3, Christian and interview 4, Powa). The focus is now on developing
a sustainable and inspiring campus which will be an important selling point for the courses at
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the campus. Market research however might prove valuable in an early stage already.
Amartya itself recognizes it will be a challenge to make QE widely accessible to Argentinian
students too. “We know there is still a lot of work to be done. The courses need to be
developed, we need to look for university partners and we have to find out how to set up
scholarships. We are however working on this together, step for step, with great enthusiasm”
(Interview 3, Christian)
Impact on local community and society
The people involved in the project development have self confidence in their ability to
impact the local community or the society at large. There are various ways in which they
expect to impact the local community: as an exemplary space, as a sphere of interrelation
and exchange of knowledge and as a model to be replicated in other places and under
other conditions (Interview1, Juan y Vanesa). Furthermore they will provide local employment
to construction workers (Interview 4, Powa).
The project’s stakeholders are still very much in phase of focusing on the building process and
creating a master plan including buildings, landscape philosophy and value of the project. In
this process, issues are projected for the local community. This however happens without
deep involvement of the community itself except through the municipality as mediator.
Collaboration and interaction with the local community is required in such a process.
These issues thus far get secondary attention. The organizers claim that the time is not yet ripe
for extensive involvement of local players. They expect it to be strategically more appealing
for the local community to develop possible collaborations once the building has begun and
they have something concrete to show. That is why the building process of the key-actors is
their primary focus in these first stages. However the interaction with the local community
may prove particularly valuable in these early phases. This way preferences of the local
community can already be that should be taken into account in the building process.
The impact on the local community is difficult to measure. The main measure is how to
transfer knowledge to different social groups in the region. How this impacts the region should
be discussed among the different involved stakeholders, including groups from the local
community. Plan 21 made a base-line study, by sketching out what the social context looks
like nowadays. Follow up studies may provide insights on the impact of the project.
Comparison with view from local parties
The director of the local agricultural school, Patricio Laxalde, while claiming to share
Amartya’s philosophy, does not share the same ideas about what should be emphasized in a
rural sustainability project like Quinta Esencia. There are for example some differences in what
is concerned sustainability in agricultural production. These differences are discussed in the
next paragraph. The conceptualization of sustainability may thus substantially differ between
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actors involved in the project and local people or other regime-actors. Expectations will differ
and need to be communicated to be able to take them into account in the development
process. Clear communication may prevent misconceptions but is however not a surrogate
for participation. My interview with Patricio Laxalde from the local agricultural school has
proven particularly illustrating in this respect.
The differences between QE and the local agricultural Ezeiza school in approaching food
production and possible benefits for the local community is illustrated by their different
interpretations of sustainability. First, there is quite a fundamental difference between QE and
the Ezeiza school in what they perceive to be sustainable agricultural production. The Ezeiza
school almost completely relies on food produced within the school to provide for the
students. Most students stay at the school from Monday untill Friday and thus have breakfast,
lunch, and dinner at school. For Quinta Esencia a similar situation is envisioned also relying as
much as possible on own food production. However, there are differences in how both
envision sustainable production processes. First they have a different perception about the
use of agrochemicals. As an experienced agricultural school director, Patricio Laxalde claims
a certain reliance on such chemicals is unavoidable. He nevertheless recognizes there is a
limit to the use of such chemicals to minimize impacts on the soil. The soil quality is measured
regularly; he claims the soil is in a state of equilibrium by the way in which the school practices
its food production. This is his-and the school’s-definition of sustainable production. According
to Patricio Laxalde there is a trade-off between the environmental impact and costs and the
yields. Amartya promises to lift sustainability on a higher level. Its mission is to be independent
of agrochemicals, which it believes is unsustainable because the sector represents a polluting
and unsustainable production chain.
Furthermore, there is a different perception about whether meat should be produced at
school. Meat consumption is deeply rooted in Argentinian culture. Argentina is famous for its
meat consumption and meat quality. At the Ezeiza school meat is therefore part of almost
every meal. The school also breeds and slaughters its own animals. Besides meat being a
typical part of Argentinean meals, the director of the school claims it is necessary to comply
to certain nutritional values. Amartya plans no meat production at school. Meat will be part
of the meals at QE but to a lesser extent. QE is expected to collaborate with local parties for
meat provision. The organization claims to be confident in their ability to comply to nutritional
values while having less meat consumption at school(Interview 1, Juan and Vanesa). They
will not produce meat to demonstrate meat is not needed daily. The meat industry is
conceived one of the most polluting industries in food provision.
The practices of Ezeiza are closer to those of the local people. Amartya will be more
fundamental in sustainability aspects, which is part of wanting to be a demo-project.
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However Patricio Laxalde pointed out that Amartya should take into account possible
resistance of the local community to such a fundamentalist approach (interview10, Patricio
Laxalde). For Amartya, the school should be a useful strategic partner that is experienced
with local practices and familiar with local expectations.
Another important issue raised (Interview 10, Patricio Laxalde) is accessibility to education
and the knowledge provided at Quinta Esencia. Since Quinta Esencia will be a private
initiative there is concern that the courses provided will only be accessible to those who can
afford to pay for it. This is an important issue in a country like Argentina that subscribes to
equal access to education but is also characterized by stark social and economic inequality.
All public universities like Ezeiza are freely accessible to all Argentinean students. Amartya’s
Quinta Esencia will not be a fully certified public university with degree granting abilities, but
rather a school offering courses. Amartya on the one hand puts an important emphasis on
benefiting the local community and on the other hand there is a need to generate money to
keep the campus running. Amartya tries to solve the situation by charging foreign students for
some courses at Quinta Esencia, through international broker- and university partners. For
local students the organization wants to create a different system, based on scholarships and
partnerships to offer local students access to the courses of Quinta Esencia too. Collaboration
needs yet to be established with more universities and other (governmental) institutions. This is
a crucial step in being able to “compete” with the free Argentinian public universities.
Sharedness of expectations
Overall there is a very strong shared believe in the project among the actors involved in the
developmental phase. The project corresponds with many of the disciplines, ideas, and
values of the different actors involved. This is considered the main strength of the project. The
initiators have managed to build a network of actors who are very enthusiastic and
dedicated to the sustainable mission of the project. There is a relatively good relation among
them and so far they share the vision, mission and objectives set out by Amartya. (see
chapter5.2.1). However the vision mission and objectives are still very general and may
become more challenging when they are made more specific. Most actors did not know
each other in advance, however, they are all part of a relative small group of people active
in sustainability issues. Since the sustainability world is still a small world these people know to
find each other through their networks relatively fast and have a shared interest.
Beyond the relatively small project network, few locals and regime actors are involved with
which it shares expectations. Expectations may be less shared with regime-actors as
demonstrated by the example of the local agricultural school. So far these regime players
seem to have a different concept of sustainability. Visions and expectations might thus differ
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among stakeholders. This however is only visible to a limited extent due to the lack of regime-
actors involved.
Specificity of goals
Even though global project objectives have been decided upon by Amartya there is a need
for taking this further. A clear definition and communication of the project’s purpose has two
important outcomes. First, it allows all the actors to get a better view of what to expect and
how to align their expectation and visions for future guidance. Second, it provides a tool to
attract additional actors.
Benchmarking is emphasized in the project, many actors point out that the capability of
monitoring impact is more important than meeting hard measures. Putting figures on certain
things might not always be useful; the interviewees believe it is more important to first make
sure there is a good process in place (Interview 2, Julian Evans).
Regulations, rules, and measurements are all important. When it comes down to the making
of decisions, the GED architects emphasize it is most important that choices are made based
on rational considerations of how to obtain the best, most sustainable overall project results
and solutions. Rational design choices need to be imbedded in a certain context and are
depending on other choices. An example is placing taps, urinals and showers closer together
to have fewer pipes so less power is needed for pumping water around. These rational design
process may not be easily expressed in figures and numbers. For this reason it is hard to make
expectations more specific when applying such an approach. The definition of “rational”
design choices however is somewhat vague. What one actor conceives rational may not be
conceived rational by other actors. For this reason it is important to specify directions and
objectives more among the stakeholders.
The project developers are trying to develop methodologies to track the progress they are
making in different respects: ecologically, economically, and socially. In the ecological sense
a greater diversity of plants, carbon capture and more animal diversity are things they wish to
measure. Each year, they plan monitoring by Plan 21 that will be working together with
students to map and visualize the impact on the different ecological indicators. It is
recommended to develop a course or a part of a course around this kind of monitoring.
Measuring the social impact may be more difficult to benchmark, even if Plan 21 will be
involved here.
Even though the focus is much on processes and progress better articulation of expectations
might be required in the near future to provide guidance to actors both within the project as
beyond.
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‘There is still a lack of specific goals. We are however working on it together’ (interview 2,
Julian Evans)
Kulturstudier, for example, would like to have some numbers on how much it will cost per day
per student. This allows them to take the following steps in their process of finding academic
partners (Interview 8, Hendrik Kulturstudier). By making such a cost estimate, other things need
to be clarified, such as costs for infrastructure, labor at the campus, and food. All these
aspects need to be worked upon in the near future. Then there are the architects who would
like some more specific information about the courses and the uses of the buildings, which
might prove useful to take into account in the design process. Working on the specificity of
the expectations of different costs at campus and different uses of the campus would allow
for more feedback by the different involved actors and would provide more guiding.
Quality of expectations
The quality of expectations refers to the extent they are based on previous experiences and
lessons from similar projects and experiments.
The Quinta Esencia eco-campus concept will be the first in Argentina, perhaps even in South
America. Different eco-campuses are built globally, providing a global-niche level. However,
there is a lack of attention for these projects. In fact no actors from such projects are
involved. This means there is a lack of available best practices and learning and adopting
lessons from the global-niche level. This way, the initiators fail to allow for substantiation of
expectations by other projects.
However, many smaller aspects in the building process, in realizing permaculture practices
and in setting up courses can be compared to earlier experiences of the actors. All involved
actors have experience in their respective fields of work. Their experiences provide them with
a view on what to expect from this particular project. Expectations may thus be substantiated
through individual experiences of the involved actors.
In general however the quality of expectations is low, especially due to the lack of inclusion
of actors and information from other eco-campus projects. Furthermore, the expectations
thus far are based on a relatively small group of actors.
Learning 5.3Here the seven dimensions as indicated by Schot and Geels (2008) pointed out in section 3.2
will be discussed. Furthermore the extent to which there is second order learning to enable
changes in cognitive frames and assumptions and learning by interaction will be discussed.
Learning on different dimensions 5.3.1
Here the different dimensions of learning pointed out by Schot and Geels are discussed. At
the moment it is still difficult to be able to say something about some of the dimension of
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learning. The most important actors have just started working together and the campus
construction needs to start. Learning processes are gradually evolving in the development
process of the campus and some dimensions will be learned about more later on in the
project.
(a) technical aspects and design specifications
With regard to specific technical aspect there is not yet any learning going on. Learning
about technical aspects will start when the actual building of the campus begins and when
the new technologies are going to be implemented (e.g. the building of the supervisor’s
house with local material). With regard to the design specifications plans for the design are
being aligned only between the core group of actors involved. There is lack of learning from
users because there are no users included in the articulation of design specifications yet.
(b) market and user preferences
There is widely shared confidence among all actors they will encounter few problems in
marketing the project and in finding users. The unique and inspiring character of the campus
is believed to attract a wide variety of users. Kulturstudier claims to be experienced in finding
students for courses like those that will be given at QE and they have a good feeling about
finding users for QE. They even believe it will be easier to find students for QE than for most
other courses they have due to the project’s uniqueness. Hendrik from Kulturstudier claims
that it will also be easier to convince the right academic institutions that share the values of
Amartya because of its experimental nature and uniqueness. These academic partner
institutions have nothing to lose in the development progress of the campus and as soon as
the campus is a fact it will be a more interesting and inspiring place to collaborate with
(Interview Hendrik).
However, there is a lack of learning from these potential users. Kulturstudier, the only partner
on the user-side so far, still needs to find an academic coordinator and a university partner
for this project(interview Hendrik, Kulturstudier). So far it is not yet clear who the university
partners will be and what their or the students’ preferences will be. Potential users (e.g.
students, professors, and partner universities) are not yet approached about their potential
preferences.
The focus so far is mainly on the building of the campus and coming up with a master plan
within the core group of involved actors. In this phase, Amartya is not interested in involving
users.
Some proposed technologies used however, like natural, passive ventilation, and heating
systems, require specific tasks from the users of these technologies. Users should be informed
about how to properly use these technologies because they differ from conventional
heating, air-conditioning and user practices. User interactions then are crucial in articulating
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preferences and comfort standards. These preferences need to be articulated before starting
the building process to be able to be taken into account.
A lesson learned on the user side so far refers to the distant location of the campus.
Kulturstudier recognizes the distant location as a challenge. The organization believes that
there is a select group of dedicated students, that could stay 6 weeks at QE since there is
very little to do in the area outside the campus. Kulturstudier claims that it is reasonable to
assume that their regular students will only like to stay 2 weeks at most (interview 8, Hendrik).
So far you could say these are still expectations but at least the lesson is learned that the
length of stay is something to be taken into account for the set-up of the courses.
(c) cultural and symbolic meaning
Already different expectations have been identified between local community and the core
group of the project. The example of the Ezeiza school and their conceptualization of
sustainability diverging from that of Amartya indicates differences in symbolic meaning.
Through the collaboration with local parties there are many cultural values and symbolic
meanings that can be learned from.
(d) infrastructure and maintenance networks
The distant location of the QE campus has been an obvious choice for three reasons. First of
all it reflects the image the project needs to carry out. It is believed to be an inspiring,
isolated context that reflects the connection with nature, where people can come to study
and be amidst people with similar ideas (Interview Powa). Second the land has been family
property and has been a gift which provided a financial incentive for building the campus in
the pampas region nearby Coronel Vidal. Third the available fertile land in a rural community
is important to be able to experiment different agricultural practices, being able to produce
food and benefit a local rural community.
However the location has been an obvious choice, the distant location may bring along
infrastructural issues. Due to the location the campus will not be that easily accessible since it
is situated in the countryside, in the pampas area of Argentina. Especially the last 15 km of dirt
road to get to the campus may pose problems since these roads can become inaccessible
for a few days after heavy rainfall.
Furthermore they are not connected to electricity or water infrastructure. Such a connection
might prove useful as backup for the renewable energy sources and own water systems. To
what extent this infrastructural context will actually be problematic will become clear when
people start coming to campus. For now there is no learning on this aspect yet.
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(e) industry and production networks
Most learning thus far is on the dimension of industry and production networks. This concerns
the group of core actors involved in this startup phase of the project the most. Here some
trade-offs, and difficulties have already been identified
Trade-off between involving the right people within Amartya and money funds
Learning processes over distance
Finding financers
It may not be easy to find funding for the project because it is a relatively small university
which is not that easily accessible and not in the most visible place. Financers are more likely
to finance a very visual project that a lot of people have access to rather than a project far
away in the rural areas of Argentina.
Furthermore the project, at least in the starting phases, focuses much on international
students which also may pose a barrier for finding local financing. In order to attract local
financers the local benefit should be very clear.
Trade-off between money and project phases
The GED architects would benefit from working on a complete project (including both the
SUM and the hostel) instead of working on it in phases. Now they are firstly working on phase
1, the SUM, and then comes phase 2, the hostel. The project is now starting to concentrate on
phase 1 and later the second phase will folow. This is being done for economic reasons
because Amartya does not have the money yet to contract the GED team for both phases.
Besides that they want to see how the collaboration goes in the first phase before committing
to a second phase. The Architects however prefer working on the whole project instead of in
phases. They claim this provides them more insights in the project as a whole, which makes it
easier to adjust building characteristics. Furthermore they claim it will be easier to assure
obtaining LEED certification for the project as a whole which in turn would benefit the project.
Nevertheless Amartya simply does not have the financial resources to contract the GED
group for the whole project at once. Besides that they like the idea of working in phases and
waiting on the first results of phase one before committing to a second phase.
University status
Another issue raised is that it may prove difficult in Argentina to obtain university status
recognition (Interview Fabian Roman, plan 21). QE itself will not be a university but it wishes to
collaborate with university partners on the courses that will be given at the campus. Quinta
Esencia focuses much more on experimentation then in a regular university. This should be
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recognized by settled institutions as a proper form of education before wanting to
collaborate. This might prove difficult since there is such a substantial difference. Besides that
many of the sustainability courses may be relatively new scientific fields that need to gain
acceptance.
Money, people trade-off
It is recognized by Christian from Amartya that there are new people needed within Amartya
to work on the Quinta Esencia project. In the current phase of the project more people are
starting to work together and visions and plans are becoming clearer and more specific. This
reveals the work to be done for the near future. The workload for Amartya is likely to increase
a lot in this near future.
So far only Christian, Eduardo and Powa have been involved in the Quinta Esencia project
from Amartya. They are responsible for the general ideas for the project and have initiated
the project start and created the team of people that is now involved in the project.
However all three of them are occupied with different programs within or outside Amartya.
Christian is the overall director that needs to keep track of all the different programs and
activities running through Amartya. He is occupied with meetings with people from all these
different programs and new partnership meetings. Eduardo also has different functions within
Amartya (e.g. management of student housing). Powa runs two companies next to his
involvement with Amartya. Overall these three people thus have limited time and can only
partially focus and dedicate their attention to Quinta Esencia.
Amartya relies to a great extent on volunteers that help out with work within the organization.
Amartya commits to a philosophy of not accepting money from any corporate organizations
in order to demonstrate how they can be financially independent. Besides that it is a way of
protecting their credibility and sustainability values. Due to its limited financial resources
Amartya works with a lot of volunteers and only a small staff. This reliance on volunteers on
the one hand offers a lot of free knowledge and skill but on the other hand these people only
stay for a limited amount of time. This means that generated skills and tacit knowledge are
also leaving the organization and arethus being lost. Thus far it seems that the gained
information by each individual volunteer cannot be properly obtained by the core staff
through reports and papers. The reading and understanding of the work from the volunteers
requires too much time and effort by the staff.
Quinta Esencia will become an increasingly important part of the business for Amartya in the
coming years. For this reason the project will require more attention in the near future and will
have to involve at least one more staff-member within Amartya dedicated to the project.
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An extensive project like this won’t be able to run only on the current three people from
Amartya and some volunteers. In order to manage the different processes, like working on
different indicators, keeping track of work done by different volunteers and dealing with
communicating the project there needs to be at least one more staff member involved.
Someone that is well familiar with Amartya, its vision and practices and that is trusted by the
team. One more person at the core of Amartya could already give the project a relevant
boost, since such a person could at least work with two more volunteers, giving them proper
attention to gain new insights and getting substantially more work done. However Amartya
does not yet have the financial resources to be able to involve an extra staff member.
(f) regulations and government policy
According to Julian Evans is that there is not yet any governmental incentive for sustainable
architecture. Due to the subsidies on conventional energy sources renewable alternatives are
relatively expensive which makes this project expensive too. Cutting down subsidies for power
use should be a starting point in this respect. This would allow sustainable practices to prosper
further in Argentina.
Furthermore they encounter the issue of current rating systems for environmental friendly
building that do not take into account the social context. In the Quinta Esencia project they
want to show a good score on international rating systems even though they feel such
systems do not properly take into account the context of buildings. They aim to demonstrate
to go beyond these systems by more closely involving the local context. This requires a good
definition of how they are going to show these things and this should be communicated in an
early phase.
There have already been lessons learned about local policies not being fit for small-scale
(agriculture) production project like mentioned in the regime analysis. However through their
collaboration with the municipality Amartya has been able to avoid the inconvenient policy.
(g) social and environmental effects
The main thing recognized by the actors involved is that there will be a variety of trade-offs
between different dimensions of sustainability (i.e. social, environmental, financial). We can
think of the following examples:
- Most efficient technology versus expenses and locally produced knowledge
- Most “green” building materials versus expenses and local material
- Working together with local farmers versus completely pesticide independent
This way there are many trade-offs between sustainability aspects, money, reliability,
efficiency etcetera. There is no learning yet on which aspects of sustainability (e.g. local
benefit or environmental efficiency) should be valued higher and how this should be done.
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There is also for example a trade-off between interfering with nature and the community by
placing the campus on fertile productive land. This productive land however is needed for
the educational purposes of being able to experiment on such land with sustainable
practices. Here Amartya has the point of not negatively impacting the environment (soil,
biodiversity, water supply) high on the agenda. They want to monitor the environmental and
socio-economic impact of land-use for agriculture as it is now vis-à-vis that of the campus.
Learning by interaction 5.3.2
So far the contact between Amartya and the other actors is very close and there is mutual
trust between the actors which is a crucial step in facilitating a process of learning between
each other. The involved actors have different backgrounds and bring in information from
different disciplines. So far interaction between these different people goes well and different
ideas and expectations are being discussed together. In general all actors involved are very
satisfied about the interaction in the project. In the interviews with the key-actors few issues
have been put forward. It has however been mentioned that interaction with people outside
the core could be stepped up.
Meetings
In May 2012 the different core actors involved in the development of QE started coming
together. Before that most of the involved actors mainly only had contact with the people
from Amartya.
The 2nd of May there has been an overall meeting where all the involved key stakeholders
came together to get to know each other and introduce their role in the project. All core
project-actors as introduced in the network chapter above were at this meeting except for
the people from Kulturstudier since they are situated in Norway. Those recognized as regime-
actors, the cloud, (the municipality and the Ezeiza school) were not part of this meeting.
The 9th of May there has been a second meeting with all the involved stakeholders. This
meeting revolved around the presentation of the buildings from the architects. On the one
hand Carlos Levinton presented his house for the supervisor and on the other hand the group
of GED architects presented their SUM, the general use building for the campus. Besides the
different architects getting information about each other’s work these presentations were
mostly focused on the permaculture designers that are going to make a master plan
integrating these different parts making the project more holistic.
The 22nd of May the permaculture designers presented a set-up of the master plan for the
landscape design of the campus. In the months following may different actors will come
together on a regular bases.
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Interaction
In the beginning some actors were interested in stepping up the interaction with other actors
involved in the project. Nevertheless after the first meetings all the actors are now more
closely in contact already and they can contact each other independently without
Amartya.
Through the interaction between the different actors there is already more valuable learning
going on. So far the interaction between the different architects has been recognized as
valuable by all architects involved. Furthermore the interaction with the permaculture
designers is appreciated for providing the group of architects with a more soft, ideological,
but practical, view on the process.
First they are collaboratively forming the final concept for the house for the supervisor that
Carlos Levinton is in charge of. Furthermore the first building phase of the GED architects is
being discussed regarding the SUM. The second building phase, for the eco-hostel will follow
later. It remains to be seen, based on the progress of the first phase whether it will be the
same team of architects that will be contracted for the development of the eco-hostel.
Even though the most important connections have been made in the core group, GED thinks
it would be more productive to work together in an earlier stage with some more actors. GED
would like to get more involved in the development of the courses now to better grasp some
of the ideas. This is important in understanding the occupancy of the building, the way it will
be used. The teachers involved in the courses could help define requirements needed that
have to be taken into consideration for the design. There should therefore be more working
on the expectations of the uses of the building. Closer interaction on this subject with
Amartya could benefit the building processes. There is good interaction already but the uses
of the building remain somewhat unclear (Interview 2, Julian Evans).There are different
possibilities for meeting the requirements for each building. It is however dependent on how
different uses of the buildings will be formulated in order to make decisions. This should be
discussed with other actors, particularly users like teachers and students to get insight in to
what extent they think to need certain facilities in certain buildings.
We can conclude that interaction is just starting to evolve in the core-group of actors and
that interaction with a cloud of the network is still very limited. Nevertheless learning by
interaction is reckoned as important. Processes and methodologies of interaction are valued
by the project developers as more important in the learning process than having hard
measures. Powa claims it is important to take time to properly align expectations and visions
to be able to deeply understand each other. On the other hand too much interaction can
become chaotic and confusing. (Interview Powa and Carlos Levinton).
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‘…in a project like this you need to be careful you do not end up with too much negotiation
and sometimes hard steps forward need to be taken’ (interview 4, Powa)
Second order learning 5.3.1
Second order learning is important to allow for the reframing of visions and expectations to
make sure there is a common ground for these vision among the stakeholders. Second order
learning here would also refer to the inclusion of regime-actors to articulate their vision about
a project like QE.
As mentioned there is still a lack of inclusion of regime actors. Within Amartya and among the
other actors involved in the core of the project there is however a strong recognition of the
importance of second order learning. Even though second-order learning is limited still there is
future potential when regime-actors are being included.
Powa claims that the amount of people involved in the project will be a measure of success
for the project. The more people on board the more momentum the project will have.
However there should be care that the right people are being brought aboard with the right
values and at the right time (Interview Christian). The logos and alliances that will be
attached to the project need to be standing for something and need to add value to the
project. Asking the different involved stakeholders in two years from now how important
Quinta Esencia is to them may be a very important way of measuring its impact. If the project
is strategically important for the actors involved that is a success factor for the project.
(interview Powa)
6 Conclusions This chapter will conclude by answering the research question based on the conducted
regime and SNM analysis. First the two first sub-questions will be answered by providing the
conclusions with regard to the regime and SNM analysis respectively. The answers to these
two sub-questions together provide the answer to the main research question with regard to
the transition potential of the QE project.
Conclusions regarding the regime 6.1First the main conclusions concerning the regime analysis are discussed here answering the
first sub-question:
How can the current education-campus regime (in Argentina) be characterized and
what are its barriers and opportunities for the ‘Quinta Esencia’ project?
For the understanding of the education-campus regime and the barriers and opportunities it
poses for the Quinta Esencia project relevant aspects from different regimes have been
discussed. For the transition potential of the innovative aspects of the Quinta Esencia project
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not only the adoption in other education campuses but also local adoption by farmers,
households, the building industry and the energy industry is important.
Within the education-campus regime there are several innovative aspects we distinguish
building practices, energy technologies, agriculture practices, and educational content and
methodology. For each of these innovative aspects we can conclude the following
regarding the regime stability.
With regard to the building methodologies we cope with a very stable regime. There is lack of
focus on sustainability issues in the policy and regulatory context causing a lack of pressure
on improving the sustainability of existing methodologies. Furthermore there is an expected
lack of local skills, knowledge and acceptance to deal with the building methodologies
proposed for QE. This means the QE project faces a stable building regime affecting the
buildings in the education-campus regime.
The energy technologies proposed by QE face some regime tension on the local level in rural
areas that are not connected to an electricity grid. Due to the inconvenience of the current
fossil fuel based generators that are now often used people are more likely to accept
alternatives if proven convenient and affordable. Wider adoption of these technologies
beyond distant rural areas however may prove more difficult due to a complete lack of
policy incentives. The strong subsidies on conventional energy sources is a strong pillar for the
current energy regime. Quinta Esencia thus still faces a stable energy-regime putting its mark
on education-campuses that are connected to the grid.
The agricultural approach based in permaculture is fundamentally different from
conventional agriculture in the region. Conventional agricultural skill, knowledge are not
adopted to these new approaches and cultural values do not promote sustainability. Besides
that there is no direct tension visible in the agricultural regime even though there is awareness
about long-term disadvantages. We thus conclude there is also a stable agricultural regime
being faces by Quinta Esencia. Agricultural practices however are not part of all education-
campuses and thus do not account for a lot of campus.
Even though the proposed educational methodology differs from that in the education-
campus regime it is not expected to pose a barrier for the spread of the course content of QE
courses. The more practical and experimental approach proposed may well fit in the already
existing regime and prove complementary and inspiring.
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Conclusions regarding SNM 6.2Here the main conclusions are given concerning the SNM analysis to answer the second sub-
question:
How can the current ‘Quinta Esencia’ project be characterized from a SNM
perspective?
With regard to the SNM processes dynamics a crucial element is the still relatively narrow
network. The core-group of the network already mobilizes some of the required resources
necessary for the project development. However there is a lack of relative outsiders and
regime-actors in the network. There is so to say no cloud providing resources and insights from
the regime, or other similar projects.
Expectations so far are being shared among the core-group of stakeholders. However the
expectations are not being made specific and thus provide a lack of guiding. Also the
expectations are based on a relative small group of actors and do not allow for insights from
regime-actors or actors involved in similar projects. Expectations are for this reason thus far of
low quality.
Learning processes are just starting to take shape and there is thus far only learning on a
limited range of dimensions. This is understandable due to the beginning phase of the project.
A strong point is the shared interest and willingness to collaborate and interact within the core
group of actors. However there is limited learning from regime-actors and other actors
involved in similar projects in the global-niche. Learning and interaction processes are
however valued highly by the core stakeholders in the project and are expected to gain
proper attention. Due to the lack of interaction with regime-actors and actors involved in the
global niche there is thus far limited second-order learning to allow for the revision of
cognitive frames.
Transition potential 6.3The two conclusions regarding the regime and SNM analysis above allow us to answer the
main research question:
What is the transition potential of the ‘Quinta Esencia’ project (in Argentina) and what could
be improved?
The transition potential for QE will be illustrated according to the diagram used by Raven
(2006) to indicate relative regime and niche stability. This diagram is illustrated below. The
regime stability in the education campus regime can be considered high. The innovative
aspects of the QE project thus face a stable regime that is not susceptible to change.
The strength of the project dynamics from an SNM perspective is still weak. However there is
still room for a lot of improvement with respect to the SNM dynamics of network formation,
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expectation articulation and learning. Recommendations for improvements will be discussed
in the next chapter. These recommendations are meant to give guidance to upgrade the
transition potential of the innovative eco-campus concept and its related innovative aspects.
If there would not be any improvements regarding these SNM processes the QE project (and
its innovative aspects) would end up on a dead-end street according to the Raven (2006)
diagram. However if improvements are being made in an early phase to strengthen the local
project strength the innovative aspects could move into the area of promising technologies
(or in this case promising technologies, methodologies and concepts). The energy
technologies may even prove problem solvers in the local context due to the indicated
tension in the regime with current fossil fuel based generators.
Main conclusion is that there still is a lot of work to be done in order for the project to be able
to actually have some potential impact beyond the project itself. By improving the SNM
dynamics and moving in the area of “promising technologies”, the potential will be improved
to take advantage of windows of opportunity when regime tensions occur. So far the regime
is however stable and there is little tension. In the following chapter more specific
recommendations to upgrade the transition potential will be given.
Figure 10: Indication of the transition potential for different sustainability aspects
educational methods and content
building technologies and methodologies
agriculture technologies and methods
energy technologies
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7 Recommendations In this final chapter recommendations for Amartya are given to improve the transition
potential of the Quinta Esencia project. Thereafter recommendations for the transition
community will be discussed. These recommendations contribute to answering the third and
fourth sub-question.
Recommendations on project management 7.1Recommendations will be given here for the project management, Amartya in particular,
based on the three main pillars of SNM: network, expectations and learning. This way we
answer the third sub-question:
How can Amartya improve the project’s sustainability transition potential, following
from the regime- and project insights?
Since Amartya still stands at the very beginning of the projects development they have the
opportunity to significantly improve the project processes seen from an SNM perspective.
Most importantly will be the broadening of the network. The broadening of the network in an
early phase allows for interaction, learning and the sharing of expectations with regime-
actors, users and actors involved in the global-niche.
Network 7.1.1
The broadening of the network requires primary attention by the project managers. In the
already strong core only trustworthy strongly committed organizations should be and are
included. However beyond the core of the project a cloud of a wide range of actors that are
not directly involved in the development of the project should be included to provide their
experiences, visions and expectations and to challenge them for second-order learning.
Figure 11: Core and cloud of the network
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In the cloud regime-insiders should be included so they can be challenged for second-order
learning. Inclusion of regime-insiders allows them to learn about the sustainability practices at
QE that are fundamentally different from their business as usual. In the future this may make it
easier to deal with regime barriers. Second, more stakeholders, particularly on the user side
are to be included to articulate their preferences. Thirdly actors operating on the global
niche-level should be included to adopt lessons and learn from their best practices. This way
the managers would allow for substantiation of expectations by other projects.
The following potentially interesting regime-insiders are recommended:
1) policy makers on different levels:
Local municipality of Coronel Vidal (already in contact)
Ministry of education in Argentina7
Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation8
The government on different levels should be seen as regime-insider. The above mentioned
actors are interesting to lobby for adjusting policy and regulation;
2) local producers
Local producers are also regime-insiders and could become potential partners. Their inclusion
and the articulation of their preferences and expectations is required since it is the aim to
benefit the local community. Walter Wischnivetzky may prove a valuable connection in
helping to approach these local producers;
3) different kinds of local institutions:
The Associaltion for the Promotion of the Wellness of Mar Chiquita
Mar Chiquita natural
Provincial Agency for Qustainable Development of natural resources
Unión Vecinal de la Costa de Mar Chiquita
Cooperative ‘Arbolito’
The abovementioned regional organizations identified by Plan 21 are potentially interesting
regime-actors to be involved in the cloud. Early inclusion challenges them for learning from
the QE project and the other way around. For their respective fields of work see section 5.1.1);
4) Companies and labor organizations involved in related industries (e.g. agriculture, the
energy sector, building and education).
The relevant companies and labor organizations that could benefit Amartya should still be
identified. However regime-companies may prove useful to be challenged to think about the
7 The ministry of education (Ministerio de Educación) www.me.gov.ar
8 The ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (Ministerio de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación
Productiva) www.mincyt.gov.ar
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alternative sustainability practices proposed at QE. This way they will be challenged for
second-order learning.
On the user-side they should start including:
5) different university partners
The management should start looking for potentially interesting university partners to be
addressed. Other universities can help to ensure public and political acceptance, they are
crucial to mobilize scholarships in order to be able to provide courses to locals for free, and
they provide a user-base. Furthermore, university partners can also be seen as important
regime-insiders;
6) possibly relevant professors and students
In this phase the inclusion of potential users (i.e. students and professors) in the cloud to define
building specificities and preferences is important. Such preferences should be articulated
before starting the building process. Defining who the users will be is important to be able to
include them in this early project development phase. This should start right now already. If
users and professors are included later they will not have any saying in the building process,
which makes it more difficult for the architects to define building characteristics and above
all they may eventually not be optimally adopted to user preferences. There should thus be
working on the formulation of the uses of the building together with students and professors.
With regard to the global niche level the management should involve:
7) Actors involved in other eco-campus projects
The international sustainable campus network (ISCN)9
Eco-schools10
Actors involved in other eco campus projects may prove valuable to learn from and improve
the quality and substantiation of expectations through other projects. The abovementioned
organizations could provide a first step in the direction of finding relevant actors.
So it is important to step up the involvement of more actors in the project to increase possible
success which is also recognized by different stakeholders. (interview 10, Patricio Laxalde,
interview 2 Julian Evans, Interview 3, Christian, Interview 4, Powa).
Furthermore an extra person is needed within Amartya as soon as possible that will be
operating in the core. The financial trade-off is a problem here but there is definitely need for
9 www. .international-sustainable-campus-network.org
10 http://www.eco-schools.org/
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an extra person. The communication of the global project goals and visions is done and is a
very important step but somebody needs to be deeply involved in the project and take
things further. An extra dedicated person could work on more specific uses of the buildings,
marketing the project further, looking for possibly interesting partners and other stakeholders
to be involved. This person could also take track of the work of more volunteers to be
involved. A clear job definition for the people involved in Amartya could benefit them by
reducing unnecessary broad and vague job functions and helps to focus on specific tasks.
Expectations 7.1.2
Expectations need to be made more specific in the core process development group. This
way possible frictions between the different stakeholders will become clear and more
possible barriers can be identified, eventually concessions need to be made but not all trade-
offs are yet visible. Starting to make the expectations more specific in an early phase reduces
the likeliness to have to take steps back in later phases and will limit the likeliness to encounter
real problems between actors. So far expectations are shared in the hard core of the network
but this might change when expectations become more specific. The formulation of more
specific expectations should therefore not be delayed too much. Furthermore, the inclusion
of more actors in the cloud of the network will allow for insights in to what extent expectations
are shared with regime-insiders, users and global-niche actors that are not directly involved in
the project’s development. The inclusion of global-niche actors is specifically important to
substantiate expectations from other eco-campus projects and improve the quality of
expectations on the niche level.
Concrete recommendations:
- rearticulating the vision, mission and objectives with the core group of actors
- Make objectives ‘SMART’(see chapter 5.2.1)
- Start articulating more specific uses of the building (e.g. estimated consumption with
regard to electricity, water, heat etc, the course content and required building
material) and include users in the process
- Start monitoring user expectations about buildings and related technologies (e.g.
passive ventilation, renewable energy sources)
- A first set up of which courses are expected to be given should be made available to
everybody in the core-group of actors. This could benefit a clearer definition of the
uses of the buildings and looking for related professors and university partners.
- Define the amount of expected students and where they will be coming from
- For the internal management of Amartya a schedule of expected partners and the
resources they will provide might prove useful, so progress of partner inclusion can be
tracked.
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- A more elaborate time schedule will provide more guidance for the different involved
actors. There should be clear communication on how realistic the schedule is and it
shouldn’t be too strict but strict enough to provide guidance.
- Expectations at the global-niche level should be articulated for substantiation of
expectations. The first important step here is to connect to other projects or
organizations like eco-schools.org or ISCN.
- Expected costs and prices for different user groups (e.g. foreign students or local
university partners providing scholarships) should be articulated. This information is
important for negotiations with potential university partners and marketing. Costs will in
turn depend on:
o cost of infrastructure and transport
o Cost of food
o Cost of accommodation
o Payment of teachers
o Etc.
Learning 7.1.3
First of all learning could be improved on a lot of dimensions. Here the specific steps that
could already be taken and that are crucial in this beginning phase of the project are
pointed out. Then the importance of interaction to mobilize learning processes is pointed out.
Learning on different dimensions
Learning from users is already important at this stage of the development processes. The
inclusion of users will prove useful for learning on the market and user preference dimension.
This also relates to learning about design specifications and related required technical
aspects that are to some extent depending on these user preferences. There is too little work
on different building options so far. It may be smart to consider different design options
referring to different user requirements. This way you avoid very time-consuming re-design
processes or confronting interactions between actors because they do not agree on the only
available option.
In order to get the financing right Amartya can already start defining which institutions
(universities, governmental, and other organizations) could be helpful in setting up
scholarships. These actors can then be addressed to start learning processes on the difficulties
of developing such scholarships. The QE market will depend on the accessibility of these
scholarships and it is important for Amartya to get the provision of their services right for an
affordable price.
A beginning should be made with more closely defining the course content. So far the first
phase of defining the general idea of the project has been done. Now there is need to
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define the more specific uses and the course content. The design specification of the
buildings will be dependent on the uses of these buildings and thus depend on the courses.
By including professors related to the courses more clear definitions of uses of the campus
can be formulated. The course content is also decisive for which universities are likely to be
partners and thus allows for learning on the industry and production networks. Developing a
course resolving around the measurement of social, environmental and economic impact
could prove valuable for learning on this subject. The knowledge gained in such a course
can then immediately be adapted for measuring the campus’ impact.
Already a first step has been taken for learning about social and environmental affects by
setting up the base-line studies by Plan 21. However still many trade-offs can be thought of
between finance and realizing environmental and social sustainability. These trade-offs
require further specification of sustainability goals. The core-group of actors should start
working on specifying the most important sustainability requirements, and how they want to
measure and demonstrate results. Which certifications are they going to use for example and
how important is certification in relation to social relevance. As pointed out there may be a
trade of between obtaining the best building requirements for LEED and BREM and actual
best options perceived from a local context. Since they want to go beyond standard systems
they should work on demonstrating how they do this.
Interaction
The interaction with regime-actors is still limited and should be stepped up. Different regime-
insiders could be relevant for learning on different dimensions and challenging them to take
notice of alternative sustainability practices. Policy makers on different levels could provide
information about regulation and policy. Policy makers may help dealing with barriers in the
regulatory system or pinpointing windows of opportunity that may occor. Industry-actors are
important to provide regime-insights and could serve as possible change-agents from inside
the regime when there is mutual learning for them about the project as well. Different local
organizations and action groups could be useful to mobilize public support and learning
about market opportunities, threats and preferences.
Interaction with actors at the global-niche level may prove particularly interesting for learning
about other projects. Best practices and lessons in particular contextual situations may prove
valuable input for the QE project. The other way around it is very important for the transition
potential of the project that lessons obtained in the QE project can be translated to the
global-niche level. The different sustainability aspects applied at QE in their particular context
will generate lessons that may prove valuable for the global-niche to build upon.
The already existing interaction with regime-actors, the school and the municipality, pose an
opportunity that should be profited from. Amartya could start lobbying towards the
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municipality for sustainability in the community. More sustainable enterprises are likely to
mutually benefit each other in attracting similar people to the area and expanding the
market. Furthermore, Amartya can use the knowledge and connections of the municipality
to further expand its network.
Amartya should start measuring success by involvement of actors and their dedication to the
project. The more people will be involved in the dedicated core and in the cloud of the
project can be a measurement of success for Quinta Esencia. By monitoring how important
different stakeholders perceive the project an identification of the strength and success of
the project is obtained. Amartya could already monitor the involved stakeholders in the
minutes of different meetings.
Lesson for transition community 7.2In this final section the lessons learned from this analysis for further research will be discussed.
Recommendations will be given for the transition community based on the experience of this
research. This contributes to answering the last sub-question:
What can we learn from this case study for the strategic management of niches and
experiments?
First of all the insights provided by SNM in combination with MLP, have proven appreciated by
the project developers of QE. The identification of regime barriers and opportunities and
pointing out relevant points of improvement concerning the processes of learning,
articulation of expectations and network formation thus seem to have prescriptive purpose.
‘.. it helps to pinpoint and remember us which aspects still require attention and why they are
important’ (interview 4, Powa)
A few lessons can be drawn from this research, in particular for the use of SNM for prescriptive
analysis of transition experiments. Some limitations of the current literature have been
identified in applying the theory for prescriptive analysis of this particular case-study.
Relating processes to project phases
First, an issue encountered for using the SNM approach is that it does not provide guiding for
management processes in time. The broadness of the network, including regime-actors, users,
and actors from the global-niche is recognized as important in SNM. During the interviews it
became clear that these things were recognized by the involved stakeholders as important
too. The issue of when to involve whom however remains unclear in SNM literature. With
respect to expectations different actors are required to formulate and develop different
expectations. This is an evolutionary processes evolving in time, however, some general work
could be done on certain levels of expectations that need to be articulated in different
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phases of transition experiments. For learning processes the same counts. Some of the
learning dimensions prove less relevant in the beginning phase of projects like is the case in
QE. These learning processes will however become more prominent in later phases. In which
phases, what processes become important is something that may require more attention in
SNM.
The stakeholders involved in the Quinta Esencia project pointed out that they perceived it
important to include different users and possible partners in different phases of the
development process. Some phases have to be developed with particular actors before
including others or starting next phases.
‘The focus now is on including key partners to help build the boat. Then when the boat is built
others can hop on to help sail the ship’(Interview 3, Christian)
Limits to interaction processes
With regard to interaction processes SNM emphasizes the importance of interaction between
different stakeholders in order to communicate different expectations and facilitate learning
among stakeholders. The interaction with regime-actors may prove particularly important to
provide the opportunity to deal with possible regime-barriers. However the stakeholders
involved in the QE project indicate there may be a counter-side to interaction processes.
They recognize the importance of interaction with different parties but at the same time they
warn for the limit to such interaction processes to be fruitful.
‘…in a project like this you need to be careful you do not end up with too much negotiation
and sometimes hard steps forward need to be taken’ (interview 4, Powa)
There is also a limited to how deeply certain actors should be involved. This also relates to the
previous point of including different actors in different phases in the development process.
There is for example a trade-off associated with the inclusion of regime-insiders. On the one
hand the (early) inclusion of regime-insiders offers the opportunity to help deal with regime
barriers and gain acceptance of the innovation within a regime. On the other hand inclusion
of regime-insiders may limit second-order learning due to a bias by regime concepts and
practices. SNM does not give guidance for when or how deeply such regime-insiders should
be included.
Distinction between core and cloud of projects
For prescriptive project based SNM analysis to provide input on management processes it
may prove useful to make a distinction between a core-group of stakeholders involved in the
direct development, and a cloud of relative outsiders.
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I propose a distinction between a core-group of stakeholders for the most important
development processes and a cloud of stakeholders that are being consulted and informed
on different issues that have less saying in the development process. Such a distinction could
benefit SNM research in understanding to what extent certain actors should be included.
For example if regime-insiders would be included in the core they could delay learning
processes and limit second-order learning more. A more distant relation based on providing
clear information to regime-insiders, consulting them on certain issues, and providing them
with feedback does provide valuable insights on both sides without allowing regime-insiders
to take part in the decision processes and hamper sustainability goals.
With regard to the sharing of expectations some expectation are for example only destined
for the core development group, while more general lesson may prove valuable for the
global-niche community. For learning processes the same accounts, learning processes with
regard to developing and setting up a project may differ from lessons that are valuable for
the global-niche community for further experimentation.
Measuring the alignment of expectations, and learning processes on these two different
levels allows to make a distinction between those learning processes important for setting up
the project with a core-group, and the processes that are more important for regime-actors
and global niche actors to facilitating niche creation and regime break-troughs.
The latter is what SNM focuses on primarily. The distinction may prove particularly illustrating
for project managers to distinguish between the processes and actors important for the basic
project set-up, and the process that contribute to niche formation and facilitate opportunities
in regimes. The distinction may also help to protect sustainability goals with a strong-core
network and distinguishing it from actors that should be included on a more distant level.
Figure 12: Core and cloud network division
Core of actors directly involved in the
design and development processes
Cloud of regime-actors, users and, actors at
the global niche-level that can provide
valuable information or take-down regime
constraints.
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8 References Amartya, 2012, QUINTA ESENCIA – Escuela de Sustentabilidad
van den Bosch, S., 2010, Transition Experiments, exploring societal changes towards
sustainability
Caniëls, M.C.J., Romijn, H.A., 2006, Strategic Niche Management as an Operational Tool for
Sustainable Innovation: Guidelines for Practice.
Caviglia, O.P., Andrade, F.H., 2010, Sustainable Intensification of Agriculture in the
Argentinean Pampas: Capture and Use Efficiency of Environmental Resources
Earth matters, 2012, http://www.earth-matters.nl/35/permacultuur/
Ecopractica, 2012, http://www.ecopractica.org.ar/que_es_permacultura.htm
Fundacion Plan21., 2012.a, Consultoría Inicial Proyecto Quinta Esencia (A. Contexto social, económico, cultural, ambiental y turístico) Fundacion Plan21., 2012.b, Consultoría Inicial Proyecto Quinta Esencia (B. Análisis de fertilidad de suelos, calidad de agua y fijación de Carbono) Fundacion Plan21., 2012.c, Consultoría Inicial Proyecto Quinta Esencia (C. Informe de biodiversidad vegetal y animal, caracterización de los ecosistemas y datos climáticos) FVSA, 2005, Situación Ambiental (FVSA) http://www.fvsa.org.ar/situacionambiental/pampa.pdf
Geels, F.W., Raven, R.P.J.M., 2006, Non-linearity and expectations in niche-development
trajectories: ups and downs in Dutch biogas development (1973-2003)
Gonzáles, A.D., 2009, Energy Subsidies in Argentina Lead to Inequalities and Low Thermal
Efficiency González Rozada, M., Menendez, A., 2002, Public university in Argentina: subsidizing the rich? Economics of Education Review, Volume 21, Issue 4, August 2002, pages 341-351
Grin, J., Rotmans, J., Schot, J.W., 2010, Transitions to Sustainable Development, New
Directions in the Study of Long Term Transformative Change, New York, New York, USA:
Routledge
Ministerio de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación Productiva, 2012, www.mincyt.gov.ar
Ministerio de Educación, 2012, Educación de calidad para una sociedad mas justa,
portal.educacion.gov.ar
Raven, R.P.J.M., 2006, Towards alternative trajectories? Reconfigurations in the Dutch electricity regime, Research Policy, 35, 2006, pp. 581–595.
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Raven, R.P.J.M., 2008, The contribution of Local experiments and Negotiation Processes to Field-level Learning in Emerging (Niche) Technologies Romijn, H., Raven, R., de Visser, I., 2010, Biomass energy experiments in rural India: Insights
from learning-based development approaches and lessons for Strategic Niche Management.
Environmental science & policy 13, Elsevier, 2010, pp. 326-338
Schot, J.W., Geels, F.W., 2008, Strategic niche management and sustainable innovation
journeys: theory, findings, research agenda, and policy.
Smith, A., 2007, Translating Sustainabilities between Green Niches and Socio-Technical
Regimes
Stephens, J.C., Hernandez, M.E., Román, M., Graham, A.C., Scholz, R.W., 2008, Higher
education as a change agent for sustainability in different cultures and contexts.
Sutia Kim Alter, 2000, Managing the Double Bottom Line: A Business Planning Reference
Guide for Social Enterprises.
Télam. 2011, Boudou: “We shall use 6.47% of the GDP for education, only 2% for the debt”
(Télam. National News Agency of Argentina. March 1, 2011)
Treehugger 2005, The TH Interview: Argentinean Architect Carlos Levinton,
http://www.treehugger.com/culture/the-th-interview-argentinean-architect-carlos-levinton.html
UNESCO, 2012, Enrolment in tertiary public and private insitutions
http://stats.uis.unesco.org/unesco/TableViewer/tableView.aspx?ReportId=3563
Interviews:
Interview 1. 2012, Juan and Vanessa (permaculture designers, website: ecopractica.org.ar)
Interview 2. 2012, Julian Evans (Architect representing GED group)
Interview 3. 2012, Christian (Amartya)
Interview 4. 2012, Powa (Amartya/implicate)
Interview 5. 2012, Walter Wischnivetzky (secretary of public works of the municipality of
Cor. Vidal)
Interview 6. 2012, Carlos Levinton (designing architect for the house of the supervisor of the
campus)
Interview 7. 2012, Fabian Roman (founder and director of the NGO ‘plan21’)
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Interview 8. 2012, Hendrik Heggemsnes (Director of Kulturstudier)
Interview 9. 2012, Florencia Saubidet (landowner ‘Tierra Fiel’)
Interview 10. 2012, Patricio Laxalde (director of agricultural-school ‘Nicanor Ezeiza’)
Interview 11. 2012, Pablo Balestra (supervisor going to live in the house designed by Carlos
Levinton)
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9 Appendix
Regime questions
What are the main guiding principles for building an education-campus? (eg. What is found most
important; cost efficiency, liable contractors, amount of student throughput and thus capacity?)
What kind of technologies and infrastructure are being used? (To think of use of building materials,
energy supply, water management and food supply)
What does the industrial structure of education-campuses look like? (type of contracting, main
actors in constructing, importance of construction costs, top-down vs bottom up approach?)
What users relations and markets are dominant in incumbent universities and schools? (Who do
they target and how are relations maintained?)
Do you know about any policy and regulation shaping the education-campus regime? (eg. R&D and
financing schemes)
Which knowledge provides the most important guidance for building a campus? (knowledge about
building cost efficiently, building environmentally friendly, safe building, inspiring building?)
How would you describe the culture in education campus building? (Is it a typical market
culture/very much regulated/ aimed at profit/ a typical public-/private service/top-down?)
Are there any other regime rules or characteristics (cognitive, regulatory and normative) that are
of particular importance? (Are there any dominant actors, in what way, or any other concerns)
How and to what extent is the current regime of building campuses (un)sustainable ecologically,
economically and socially?
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Questions about project dynamics
visions, expectations and alignment.
What purpose is there for you to take part in the project, economically, strategically or voluntary
(doing good for the community or the environment). What are your visions and expectations?
What do you expect from the sustainability of the eco-campus (again in ecological, economic and
social terms) and how does this relate to the sustainability of the incumbent campuses?
Do you feel your goals and expectations will be reached, to what extent and in what time span,
what is the basis for your assumptions? (are they specific?)
To what extent do you feel goals/aims and expectations are shared in general between you,
Amartya and other actors, how do you communicate these goals between each other? (are they
robust?)
Is there a management of expectations strategy, i.e. is a method applied to communicate
expectations and align them?
Are there any issues you would like to mention that make it difficult to share or align expectations
or possible recommendations to improve this?
Networks
With whom do you have most direct connections, and how frequent is the contact between you?
What do these relations consist of, is there only one-way contact, or is there interaction between
the different parties?
Do you feel the network of the project is broad, i.e. does it include multiple kinds of stakeholders
to facilitate the articulation of multiple views and voices?
Who of the involved actors, if any in your opinion, are the real promoters of sustainability and are
there actors involved that will maintain the sustainability character for the project.
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Does the project include relative outsiders (policy makers on different levels, actors and
entrepreneurs from other projects and powerful industries )?
Do you feel that people who represent organizations, are able to mobilize commitment and
resources within their own organizations and networks (i.e. a deep network)? In which
organizations may this be lacking?
Are end-users incorporated in the project?
Learning
What facts and data do you collect in the project, are you sufficiently equipped in terms of money,
resources and knowledge to do so(first-order learning and learning by searching)?
What is learned about in the project, what are the specific learning objectives? In relation to the
regime what do we learn about, guiding principles, technologies, industrial structure, user relations
and market, policy and legislation, knowledge, culture?
What is learned about sustainability in particular and is learning about sustainability a core
objective: i.e. the impact of the project in terms of sustainability; how to realize sustainability; how
sustainability is defined in this project; which trade-offs there are?
Are new ways of achieving goals being explored, are proper resources available to do so (tech
guiding, scientific theory, standards/regulation, not too hostile environment, possibility of making
mistakes and learning from them) (ie. learning by searching)?
While working on the project have you come across things that could be done better, if so are you
in a position to make changes, who else is, do you get the opportunity to tell them, and do they
take your advice into account? (learning by doing)
Do you share interest with others involved in the project, and who is closest to you in thinking,
distance, rules they live by and competition? Is there a lot of openness or disclosure in the
network? How does this affect learning, what could be improved? (Learning by interacting)
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If information is not easily shared or accessible from other actors due to distance (geographically
or in communication) in the network does there exist an intermediary that can link people?
What do you feel you have learned being involved in the project thus far? Besides facts and data
are there changes in your perceptions and assumption about the project, schooling or
sustainability? How have these come about?
Is there learning from beyond this particular project, from actors of other projects , policy makers
etc?
Are there any other issues you would like to mention or emphasize that limit or facilitate learning
in the broad sense or for you in particular in this project?