The challenges facing resource management, including transboundary river basins, have become increasingly complex, requiring more holistic readings of governance processes that encompass a range of formal and informal collaborations between diverse actors. Innovation and transformative governance changes hold potential for addressing the increased complexity and multi-scaled nature of the challenges facing the world’s shared rivers. However, significant research gaps exist around this application in practice. This dissertation asks the following questions: Is governance of transboundary waters changing to integrate a more diverse set of actors beyond centralized governments? If so, what is the role of non-central state actors in contributing to innovations and transformative changes to transboundary water governance processes? In working towards answering these questions, the study explores the case of the Columbia River Treaty (North America) and the Lesotho Highlands Water Project (Southern Africa). This study has the following objectives: first, to determine the type of power, albeit conceived from a Euro-western perspective, that non-central state actors mobilize to engage in transboundary water governance processes, and assess if the power these actors mobilize is contributing to changes in governance. Second, to conceptualize the on-going bordering processes for transboundary water governance, and evaluate whether non-central state actors are shaping these processes. And, third, to identify which non-central state actors are involved in transboundary water governance, and examine whether and how these governance systems are becoming more polycentric. This dissertation is composed of five chapters, three of which have been prepared as standalone articles for submission to academic journals. Broadly, the dissertation findings suggest that changes to governance of transboundary waters, away from state-centric processes, may be emerging in some areas, such as the ability of non-central state actors to exercise and mobilize different forms of power to shape water governance processes. Findings illustrate that a clear distinction between international and national processes is no longer sufficient to address transboundary water governance challenges and issues. Further, findings illustrate that some non-central state actors have power and influence in these transboundary water governance processes. However, these insights also highlight that centralized government authority for transboundary waters remains, and evidence of the emergence of polycentric governance systems at the international scale is limited. / Graduate / 2019-04-30

This study develops a model of collaboration choice among city governments. The theoretical model suggests that collaboration is a function of transaction costs that vary with different institutional arrangements utilized in cities, as well as the degree of competition between cities. This study argues that cities facing high transaction costs and high competition are less likely to participate in collaboration and to participate less deeply. Underlying these environmental factors are resource factors that create incentives for cities to collaborate for efficiency gains, which affect both the decision to collaboration and the depth of collaboration. Eleven hypotheses are presented to explain why cities choose to participate in collaboration in the first stage of the analysis and how deeply they collaborate in the second stage. Utilizing a Heckman model of this two-stage process, I find broad support for a number of variables that measure each of these theoretical constructs.

No description available.

Disaster risk reduction (DRR) is an important strategy for preventing the consequences of climate change. The Sendai Framework states that all countries need to implement national strategies for DRR, which Sweden has not yet done. The scientific problem is partly that there is a lack of research on DRR in welfare countries, and partly that Sweden's municipalities' strategies to control risk reduction are relatively unexplored. The purpose of the paper is therefore to contribute to filling these knowledge gaps, and to map and evaluate Sweden's municipalities' governance work with DRR, to examine whether the municipalities follow the same guidelines or whether the work is carried out completely differently in all municipalities. The study is conducted with a theoretical framework based on the Sendai framework, polycentric governance and disaster risk governance. The method used is qualitative thematic content analysis, where Arjeplog, Gävle, Gothenburg, Helsingborg and Ljusdal's governance documents are analysed based on the theoretical framework. The results showed that the five municipalities internally govern DRR relatively well, where the main shortcoming, however, is that no municipality uses DRR as a concept. The conclusions are therefore that municipalities need to include DRR more in their governance documents, to make beneficial and deficient factors visible. Governance between municipalities and at different levels is also in need of further development and research.

Continued water scarcity, flooding, pollution and urbanisation, especially in developing countries, have signified the necessity of renewed exploration of the most appropriate approach to water management. This approach should aim to meet the water requirements in the changing world in a sustainable way. Reviewing the different water approaches that have emerged in the developed countries during the last decades suggests that Adaptive Water Management (AWM) could provide a sustainable route to address the existing complex problems of urban water management through the future. The purpose of this study was to determine whether AWM could be applied to Greater Tehran in order to maximise sustainability and deal with the future uncertainties. The AWM characteristics of polycentric governance, institutional flexibility, and public participation were used to assess the adaptability of the existing water management. The research findings showed that, despite the lack of adaptability in the current Greater Tehran water management, there are positive attitudes towards adaptability among water professionals and the public. The research findings emphasised that the AWM application could be promoted by more participation in various levels of institutional structure. This thesis suggests that if the concept of AWM is applied to Iran, it has the potential to have a significant influence in the current/future water management by promoting technical and institutional performances simultaneously.

No / Adaptive Water Management (AWM) could provide a sustainable route to address the existing complex problems of urban water management such as continued water shortage and flooding through the future. The AWM application could be a new alternative path in water management especially in developing countries which suffer from common weakening features such as unreliable infrastructure and poor institutional organisations. The AWM distinguishing characteristics such as polycentric governance, organisational flexibility and public participation are considered for feasibility study of the AWM implementation. The paper investigates whether AWM could be applied to a developing-country city in order to deal with future uncertainties of water supply/demand. The required data was collected from the water professionals of Tehran Province Water and Wastewater Company (TPWW Company), which is in charge of water supply and management of 12 million people of the Province. The key elements of AWM performance are transformed to a multi criteria decision model of Analytical Hierarchical Process (AHP) in order to facilitate quantification of the influence of corresponding qualitative elements derived from semi-structured interviews held in the Company, and for further analysis of urban water managers' views in a structured way. The research findings show that despite the lack of structural adaptability there are positive attitudes towards inter departmental communication and linking to the external decisive actors such as the Company's consumers. As a generalising result, the AWM concept would be applicable to the similar developing-country cities particularly located in the Middle-East region while simultaneously promoting technical and institutional performances.

This study is generally concerned with the assumption that the contemporary global flows of people, capital, and commodities, which accelerated dramatically in the age of globalization, have significant impacts on the land use patterns of global cities. With this assumption, the study further questions in the context of polycentric US metropolis, whether or not the distribution of transnational advanced producer service firms define a new form of centrality, in which the traditional central business districts and suburban centers differ from each other in terms of spatial clustering patterns and sectoral distributions of transnational advanced producer service firms. Spatial clustering patterns of advanced producer service firms are evaluated according to high-rise and high-density criteria. In ten selected cities, clusters of advanced producer service firms and high-rise office buildings are identified through the Nearest Neighbor Hierarchical Clustering Method in CrimeStat. To define the polycentric US metropolis, the research employs Lang et al's (2006) classification of metropolitan office space. The results show significant differences between former manufacturing belt cities and Sunbelt cities. / Ph. D.

This thesis considers the applicability of 'new governance' techniques within the field of emerging biotechnologies. Through three contrasting case studies I construct an argument in favour of new governance, contending that the qualities of this regulatory trend (flexibility, reflexivity, nuance, open discourse, and participation - 'regulatory desirables' ) have much to offer the regulation of emerging biotechnologies. The first case study examines the existing European and international regulatory frameworks for genetically modified organisms (GMOs). This case study explores the role of (bio)ethics within the regulatory process through each progressive stage: design, operation, and assessment. The regime's failure to provide adequate space for ethical reflection, and the limited role of ethics throughout the regulatory process prompts a proposal for an alternative approach that recognizes the multiple contexts in which regulation operates, and is able to accommodate the socio-ethical nuances of the GMO products being assessed. This case study analyses a traditionally structured regulatory framework. It exemplifies a number of qualities that I consider undesirable in the context of regulating biotechnologies: inflexibility, lack of reflexivity, lack of nuance within the regime, absence of ethical discussion, absence of participation from all interested/affected parties. In the second and third case studies I show how these 'regulatory undesirables' can be addressed through new governance techniques. The second case study focuses on the international regulation of stem cell research; I propose developing a polycentric, principles-based regulation (PBR) regime. The third case study centres on the international governance of the gene synthesis industry; here I recommend adopting a risk-based regulation (RBR) approach. In both these fields, voluntary, interdisciplinary, international organisations have collaborated to produce guidelines, codes, protocols, standards, and statements addressing matters of practice. I argue that these 'soft law' documents form the ideal starting point for the development of more sophisticated regulatory regimes in both fields. Furthermore, I argue that the informal organisations producing these documents are, in certain instances, best placed to step into the role of 'regulator' due to their in-depth, inside knowledge of the field, and network. Thus, I collapse the regulator-regulatee distinction held in traditional, 'command and control' style systems, as these organisations typically include those who would traditionally be seen as the 'regulatee'. Each case study considers the nuances of context vis-à-vis the regulatory approach advocated. I conclude by engaging in a comparative analysis of these three case studies, drawing out the qualities, characteristics and considerations that I regard as essential to the construction of responsible, facilitative governance frameworks across the field of emerging biotechnologies. I conclude that new governance is best suited to achieving these (aforementioned) 'regulatory desirables'.

Compliant mechanisms offer several design advantages which may be exploited in prosthetic joint research and development: they are light-weight, have low cost, are easy to manufacture, have high-reliability, and have the ability to be designed for displacement loads. Designing a mechanism to perform optimally under displacement rather than force loading allows underlying characteristics of the swing phase of gait, such as the maximum heel rise and terminal swing to be developed into a prosthetic knee joint. The objective of this thesis was to develop a mechanical add-on compliant link to an existing prosthetic knee which would perform to optimal standards of prosthetic gait, specifically during the swing phase, and to introduce a feasible method for increasing proprioceptive feedback to the amputee via transferred moments and varying surface tractions on the inner part of a prosthetic socket. A finite elements model was created with ANSYS to design the prosthetic knee compliant add-on and used to select the geometry to meet prosthetic-swing criteria. Data collected from the knee FEA model was used to apply correct loading at the knee in a SolidWorks model of an above-knee prosthesis and residual limb. Another finite element model was creating using COSMOSWorks to determine the induced stresses within a prosthetic socket brought on by the compliant link, and then used to determine stress patterns over 60 degrees of knee flexion (standard swing). The compliant knee add-on performed to the optimal resistance during swing allowing for a moment maxima of 20.2 Newton-meters (N-m) at a knee flexion of 62 degrees. The moments applied to the prosthetic socket via the compliant link during knee flexion and extension ranged from 5.2 N-m (0 degrees) in flexion, to 20.2 N-m (62 degrees) in extension and induced a varying surface tractions on the inner surface of the socket over the duration, thus posing a possible method of providing proprioceptive feedback via surface tractions. Developing a method for determining the level of proprioceptive feedback would allow for less expensive and more efficient methods of bringing greater control of a prosthesis to its user.

Regioner har alltid funnits. Det har stått för det intermediära, en funktion mellan det lokala och det centrala styret. Den geografiska omfattningen har varit allt från länsindelningar till stora internationella eller kulturella regioner. Historiskt sätt, kan regioner vara funktionella, administrativa eller kulturella. När Sverige övergick till att bli ett industrisamhälle, blev regioner en viktig utgångspunkt för att förändra de nationella näten. För att förstå regioners utveckling, kan vi dela upp den i nyregionalism och gammal regionalism. Den gamla regionalismen innebar att staten hjälpte regioner att utvecklas genom att ge dem statliga bidrag. Detta var en process under 1960-1980-talet. Nyregionalismen, som kom därefter, utgjordes av att regioner fick större makt att själva förändra sin situation. Samtidigt i världen, började en in-ternationaliseringsprocess att märkas allt tydligare. Ekonomin i världen, påverkade även ekonomin i Sverige. Det lokala och det globala påverkade varandra och regioner började konkurrera globalt. Regioner styrdes inte längre av bara staten, utan av flera aktörer. Regioner skapas med hjälp av olika drivkrafter, samt de möjligheter som finns förankrade på platsen. Samtidigt som de måste drivas av en tro på sig själva och våga satsa på det de tror på. Ett annat sätt att förstå samhällsutvecklingen är genom Törnqvists uppdelning av regionalisering och globalisering. Regionalisering förutsätter att regionala eller lokala band gör att verk-samheter och människor binder sig till vissa platser. Globalisering innebär tvärtom att verk-samheter och människor är beroende av sin stora rörlighet och ett nätverk utan gränser. Både globalisering och regionalisering påverkas av suveräna stater, nätverk och självmedvetna regioner (som har kraft att styra sitt eget område, utan en Superior makt). Ohmae talar för att världen idag består av regioner och överstatliga/suveräna stater. Vi har ingått en andra globaliseringsfas, där världen är gränslös och digital. Även om regioner idag påverkas av landets lagar för att kontrollera människor och varor, så att samhället upprätthåller säkerhet och ord-ning. I regioner måste det finnas noder, där den globala världen knyts ihop och människor kan träffas i verkligheten. Regioner måste dessutom vara flexibla för att kunna anpassa sig efter den globala utvecklingen. En region är en social konstruktion som skapas genom människorna som vistas dagligen i den, samt hur de som ser den utifrån. Dess identitet skapas genom det sätt som den särskiljer sig från andra regioner. Enligt Soja förstår vi regioner ge-nom dess formation i landskapet och inte genom dess historia. Ett sätt att förstå regioner är genom att se dem som en polycentrisk urban region. Det vill säga, som ett stort geografiskt område med flera centrala punkter som gör att området hänger ihop, utan att någon punkt/nod dominerar. Genom områdets gemensamma resurser och till-gångar, blir den polycentriskt urbana regionen en starkare global konkurrenskraft. Ett sätt att stärka regionen är internt genom dess infrastruktur. De starka förbindelserna bygger bland annat upp regionens ekonomiska och sociala nätverk. Det har hävdats att det inte kan finnas polycentriska noder, utan att det alltid måste finnas en central punkt i samhället. Exempelvis måste det finnas centrala noder i ett globalt nät-verk. Linköping/Norrköping utgör ett undantag. Där har två lika stora storstäder gått ihop och börjat skapa sig en identitet genom att marknadsföra sig som Sveriges fjärde största Stor-stadsregion. Städerna har tidigare drivits av en stor konkurrenskraft sinsemellan, men har på senare tid börjat inse värdet i att arbeta tillsammans och därmed bilda ett flerkärnigt centrum i regionen. Detta för att åstadkomma en starkare konkurrenskraft, inte bara mot andra städer och storstadsregioner i Sverige, utan även internationellt och globalt. Tillsammans utgörs de båda kommunerna av ungefär 250 000 invånare och 22 300 dagliga in- och utpendlare. Norrköping har växt mycket tack vare att de fick utlokaliserat en del av Linköpings universitet för ungefär tio år sedan. Studenterna i staden har lyft fram industrilandskapet och attraherat både kultur och företag. Utbildning och infrastruktur är enligt många det som skulle utveckla Linköping/ Norrköpingsregionen bäst. Ett utvecklat transportnät skapar grunden till den funktionella regionen. Därför behövs infrastrukturen i Sveriges nya storstadsregion stärkas. När de fysiska nätverken fungerar, är det även möjligt att skapa en fullt integrerad arbetsmarknad i regionen. Därför är det viktigt att projektet med att binda ihop Norrköping och Linköping med en snabbtågsförbindelse, den så kallade Ostlänken, genomförs. Ostlänken är en del av både Europakorridoren och den nordiska triangeln. Den stöds till viss del av medel från EU-fonden Transeuropeiska nätverket – transporter (TEN-T), vars uppgift är att förbättra inf-rastrukturen i Europa (se bilaga 1-3). Ostlänken ska bli 15 mil lång, byggnationen planeras att starta 2010-2015 och vara klar 2025-2030 (se bilaga5). Med den här studien vill jag visa att Ostlänken är en viktig förutsättning för att regionen i Linköping/Norrköping ska kunna bli en bärkraftig Storstadsregion. / In Sweden during the 1960s to 1980s, regions became an important aid to arrange a more uniform distribution of work. The northern parts of Sweden had lost ten thousands of job opportunities in a period of five years. The government decided to react and supported the northern regions, and this was the start of regional development in Sweden. Since then regional development has become more of a bottom up issue where regions are believed to have an ability to change their position by themselves, even if they still are very affected by different authorities like the European Union. Today regions are often understood as policy areas in-between the local and central government. But according to Ohmae, we have also entered a second global stage, which means that the world is increasingly dependent on digital technologies and in some respect less depend-ent on traditional borders. At the same time, the rate of urbanisation is speeding up in many places. This has brought about the development of various forms of metropolis and polycentric regions. There are different kinds of polycentric regions, such as the functional which is a region that is made up of good communication abilities. This could be physical infrastructure such as railroads. As an empirical example of this, I have chosen to examine the visions concerning a polycentric region in Sweden, i.e. the new region uniting Linköping and Norrköping. In the summer of 2006 this urban space was officially recognized by Nutek, the Swedish Agency for Economic and Regional Growth, as a potential new urban region. Both city regions have started a co-operation which strives to identify the two cities as a twin-city. The essay concludes that for the region to become an attractive and integrated new polycentric region, it is essential to develop functional commuting opportunities, such as the vision of the railway communication Ostlänken.