Content
Introduction & Outcomes
In this second section of Module 3, we look at two other key dimensions of urban forest governance: actors and resources. With actors we mean the individuals and organisations that play a major or sometimes minor role in decision making. These actors all bring their own respective set of resources to the decision process, including for example, power and influence, knowledge, and formal or informal networks.
By the end of this topic, you should be able to:
- Define the ‘actors and alliances’ concept in urban forest governance.
- List and compare common urban forestry actors.
- Describe and debate the meaning of ‘stakeholder’.
- Describe the stakeholder analysis process.
- Discuss and critique what is meant with ‘Resources’ in urban forest governance.
- Provide examples of the different resources actors can use in urban forest governance.
Readings and Discussion Questions (For certificate learning only)
Please have another look at the book chapter by Sheppard et al. and focus on the attention the authors give to the actor and resource dimensions of governance. As the examples in the chapter show, urban forest governance is often complex, involving a wide range of actors. Now revisit the Konijnendijk (2014) chapter as well, as this discusses a gradual shift in the role of government actors in governance, towards approaches of governance with, or even without government. For some further reading about actors, stakeholders, and alliances, you can also have a look at the Vibrant Cities Lab (2019) page on building stakeholder coalitions.
Time to post another couple of questions on the Discussion form. This time we ask you to focus on actors and resources. Can you formulate some questions that e.g. relate to your own experience with the type of actors who dominate decision making? How about the importance of different resources, and power in particular?
Post-lecture Mini Quiz (For certificate learning only)
Now it’s time for you to complete an online, multiple choice topic quiz after finishing viewing each lecture for this topic. The main purpose of the quiz is to examine how well you grasp the contents for this topic. The quiz will be open-book, covering contents of the lecture(s) for the topic. You will have 5 mins to complete the quiz. Two attempts are allowed and higher mark will be saved for your grade. There will be 13 online topic quizzes throughout the course with 4-5 questions per quiz, each worth 4-5 points that collectively count for 10% towards the final grade.
When you are ready, click the link Mini Quiz 3.2 or go to left menu > Quizzes > Mini Quiz 3.2 to start taking the quiz.
Topic Summary
You have now learnt about three dimensions of governance: discourses or ‘storylines’, actors (and the alliances these can form), and resources. As you have seen, urban forest governance is becoming increasingly complex, although local government actors are usually still playing a leading role in decision making. Actors can draw upon a wide range of resources when they engage in urban forest governance. In the final section of this Module we will discuss the so-called ‘rules of the game’ of urban forest governance.
Topic Self-review (For self learning)
To review what you have learned in the topic, you are encouraged to use the following reflection questions as a study guide to do a self-review for the topic:
- How do you feel about the difference resources used by actors in urban forest governance? Are they all equally important?
- Can you describe urban forest governance in your home city in terms of the leading actors and the resources available to them?
- Have you been in the role of urban forest governance actor or stakeholder? If so, what resources did you use to influence decision making?
- Do you agree that the role of government actors in urban forest governance is changing?
Graded Assignment(s) for the Week (For certificate learning only)
None.
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