Zora Kovacic
Datos Biográficos
| ID | 173484 |
|---|---|
| NOMBRE | Zora Kovacic |
| NOMBRES | Zora |
| APELLIDO | Kovacic |
| FIRMA | KOVACIC Z |
| AFILIACIONES | Universitat Autonòma de Barcelona |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-0911-9273 |
| VERIFICADO | Sí |
| TOTAL DE OBRAS | 27 |
| TOTAL DE CITAS | 97 |
| TOTAL COMO AUTOR | 27 |
| TOTAL COMO EDITOR | 0 |
| PRIMER AÑO DE PUBLICACIÓN | 2015 |
| AÑO MÁS RECIENTE DE PUBLICACIÓN | 2026 |
| ÍNDICE H | 5 |
Principles for just and effective systemic risk governance
Non-Technical Summary We are in a polycrisis – the entanglement of crises across multiple, interconnected global systems such as climate, health, and finance – that interact to produce harms significantly greater than the sum of their parts. We propose that, to mitigate and adapt to this polycrisis, strong systemic risk governance is required, and that just and effective governance requires principles. Principles help us to identify common values…
Guiding principles for modelling-based papers published in Futures
Implementing the twin transitions
The “twin transitions” of the European Green Deal are arguably a case of public funding directed at “mission-oriented innovation”. In this paper, we critically discuss state-funded innovation through the lenses of critical studies of technology and innovation. We map NextGenerationEU funds deployed to implement the “twin transitions” in the Spanish energy system. Our results show that (i) the twinning of digitalisation and the energy transition i…
Troubled environmental governance in the age of the “twin” green and digital transitions
Problematizing post-normal science in the Global South
In post-normal science (PNS), the emergence of extended peer communities (EPCs) is a key process to deal with problems involving high uncertainty, high stakes, disputed values, and urgent decisions. However, the challenges and opportunities related to the emergence of EPCs in contentious territories—such as many across the Global South—are poorly understood. Therefore, we conducted an investigation to address two research questions: (1) Are there…
The twin green and digital transition
This paper contributes to the literature that critically engages with the so-called 'twin green and digital transition' by assessing the twin transition as a policy discourse. Our research question is: why and how is the twin transition legitimised and implemented in the European Union (EU) despite recognised pitfalls and uncertainties? The analysis is based on interpretative text analysis of high-level EU policy documents about the twin green an…
The more things change, the more they stay the same
This editorial lays out the core themes of the special feature and provides an overview of the contributions. It introduces the main argument, namely that the promises of far-reaching change made by recent bioeconomy policies are in fact strategically directed at avoiding transformative change to existing societal arrangements. Bioeconomy discourse showcases technological solutions purported to solve sustainability ‘problems’ while sustaining eco…
Post-normal science in practice
Post-Normal Science (PNS) emphasises the need for scientists and policy-makers to iteratively co-analyse and learn together, as part of an extended peer community. However, the roles and implications for scientific experts when interacting with policy-makers are not well understood. Informed by insights from science and technology studies (STS) on modalities of interaction and the multiple potential roles of experts, we reflect on our experiences…
Institutionalising interdisciplinarity in PhD training
Interdisciplinary research is gathering increasing support from sustainability scholars, however, there is little dialogue between scholarship on interdisciplinarity and interdisciplinary environmental science education. The aim of this paper is to take stock of the insights of studies of interdisciplinary research to inform environmental research and education. We take as our case study a research centre in Spain, which created an interdisciplin…
Spaces of informality and the governing of slums
Governing informality through representation
Striking the balance
We look at how concepts of uncertainty and complexity undergo a series of balancing acts when moving between scientific research and policy. By questioning the prediction and control framework, uncertainty and complexity create both opportunities for new policy framings to emerge and challenges to the current role of institutions. We identify three balancing acts. First, there is the challenge of acknowledging the limits of the govern-ability of …
Building capacity towards what? Proposing a framework for the analysis of energy transition governance in the context of urban informality in Sub-Saharan Africa
There is an emerging scholarship that criticises the conceptualisation of urban informality from a deficit view and emphasises that informality constitutes a way of life, a practice in its own right. We argue that energy is part of the informal way of life and that energy transitions need to take into account the specificities of urban informality when used for policy. Acknowledging energy practices is necessary to improve the justice of energy t…
Food, energy or biomaterials? Policy coherence across agro-food and bioeconomy policy domains in the EU
The European Union (EU) envisions a shift towards a bioeconomy to address challenges such as reducing dependence on non-renewable resources, managing natural resources sustainably and food security. As a result, biomass will become an increasingly important resource in the bioeconomy. This will require careful and sustainable management especially because biomass comes from a wide variety of economic sectors and is governed by different policies.…
Indicator development as a site of collective imagination? The case of European Commission policies on the circular economy
In recent years the concept of the circular economy gained prominence in EU policy-making. The circular economy promotes a future in which linear ‘make-use-dispose’ cultures are replaced by more circular models. In this paper, we use the concept of sociotechnical imaginaries to ask how an imaginary of circularity has been assembled and stabilized, which imaginative resources were drawn on, and how goals, priorities, benefits and risks haven been …
Towards Measuring the Informal City
The rapid growth of urban informal settlements, or slums, poses a particular challenge for balancing developmental and environmental goals. In South Africa, high levels of inequality, poverty, and unemployment contribute to widespread migration. The influx of migrant workers to cities, however, is rarely matched with adequate housing and infrastructure, resulting in the formation and growth of urban informal settlements. Despite the persistence o…
Mediating household energy transitions through co-design in urban Kenya, Uganda and South Africa
Complexity, uncertainty and ambiguity
Energy security is an ambiguous concept. Growing academic interest has aimed at defining, conceptualising and measuring energy security, often through indicators. Energy policy in the European Union (EU) is not concerned with energy security's ambiguous conceptualisation, nor does it use energy security indicators, but it refers consistently to security as one of its primary aims. In this paper, by analysing the use of energy security both in sci…
The role of metrics in the governance of the water-energy-food nexus within the European Commission
Recent years have witnessed a growing interest in the water-energy-food (WEF) nexus in both academia and policy. This concept draws attention to the link between different environmental and societal domains, and potentially entails substantive shifts in governance processes. As a consequence, policy-makers and scientists have started to develop metrics to make these interactions and ‘trade-offs’ visible. However, it is unknown if current framings…
Interrogating differences
Unravelling narratives of water management
Conceptualizing Numbers at the Science-Policy Interface
Quantitative information is one of the means used to interface science with policy. As a consequence, much effort is invested in producing quantitative information for policy and much criticism is directed toward the use of numbers in policy. In this paper, I analyze five approaches drawn from such criticisms and propose alternative uses of quantitative information for governance: (i) valuation of ecosystem services, (ii) social multicriteria eva…
The lose - lose predicament of deforestation through subsistence farming
Conceptualising slum in an urban African context
Investigating science for governance through the lenses of complexity
This paper assesses the contributions of complexity theory to post-normal science. The oversupply of facts in science for governance is explained as a matter of complexity, defined as irreducible pluralism in the knowledge base. The paper shows how complexity provides an interface to engage with the multiple facts of science through three different examples. First, water narratives are used to show how different scales of analysis produce contrad…
Interrogating differences
Conceptualising slum in an urban African context
Indicator development as a site of collective imagination? The case of European Commission policies on the circular economy
In recent years the concept of the circular economy gained prominence in EU policy-making. The circular economy promotes a future in which linear ‘make-use-dispose’ cultures are replaced by more circular models. In this paper, we use the concept of sociotechnical imaginaries to ask how an imaginary of circularity has been assembled and stabilized, which imaginative resources were drawn on, and how goals, priorities, benefits and risks haven been …
Complexity, uncertainty and ambiguity
Energy security is an ambiguous concept. Growing academic interest has aimed at defining, conceptualising and measuring energy security, often through indicators. Energy policy in the European Union (EU) is not concerned with energy security's ambiguous conceptualisation, nor does it use energy security indicators, but it refers consistently to security as one of its primary aims. In this paper, by analysing the use of energy security both in sci…
Probing uncertainty levels of electrification in informal urban settlements
The twin green and digital transition
This paper contributes to the literature that critically engages with the so-called 'twin green and digital transition' by assessing the twin transition as a policy discourse. Our research question is: why and how is the twin transition legitimised and implemented in the European Union (EU) despite recognised pitfalls and uncertainties? The analysis is based on interpretative text analysis of high-level EU policy documents about the twin green an…
The more things change, the more they stay the same
This editorial lays out the core themes of the special feature and provides an overview of the contributions. It introduces the main argument, namely that the promises of far-reaching change made by recent bioeconomy policies are in fact strategically directed at avoiding transformative change to existing societal arrangements. Bioeconomy discourse showcases technological solutions purported to solve sustainability ‘problems’ while sustaining eco…
The role of metrics in the governance of the water-energy-food nexus within the European Commission
Recent years have witnessed a growing interest in the water-energy-food (WEF) nexus in both academia and policy. This concept draws attention to the link between different environmental and societal domains, and potentially entails substantive shifts in governance processes. As a consequence, policy-makers and scientists have started to develop metrics to make these interactions and ‘trade-offs’ visible. However, it is unknown if current framings…
Unravelling narratives of water management
Investigating science for governance through the lenses of complexity
This paper assesses the contributions of complexity theory to post-normal science. The oversupply of facts in science for governance is explained as a matter of complexity, defined as irreducible pluralism in the knowledge base. The paper shows how complexity provides an interface to engage with the multiple facts of science through three different examples. First, water narratives are used to show how different scales of analysis produce contrad…
The unresolved controversy over nuclear power
Mediating household energy transitions through co-design in urban Kenya, Uganda and South Africa
The lose - lose predicament of deforestation through subsistence farming
Food, energy or biomaterials? Policy coherence across agro-food and bioeconomy policy domains in the EU
The European Union (EU) envisions a shift towards a bioeconomy to address challenges such as reducing dependence on non-renewable resources, managing natural resources sustainably and food security. As a result, biomass will become an increasingly important resource in the bioeconomy. This will require careful and sustainable management especially because biomass comes from a wide variety of economic sectors and is governed by different policies.…
Conceptualizing Numbers at the Science-Policy Interface
Quantitative information is one of the means used to interface science with policy. As a consequence, much effort is invested in producing quantitative information for policy and much criticism is directed toward the use of numbers in policy. In this paper, I analyze five approaches drawn from such criticisms and propose alternative uses of quantitative information for governance: (i) valuation of ecosystem services, (ii) social multicriteria eva…
Implementing the twin transitions
The “twin transitions” of the European Green Deal are arguably a case of public funding directed at “mission-oriented innovation”. In this paper, we critically discuss state-funded innovation through the lenses of critical studies of technology and innovation. We map NextGenerationEU funds deployed to implement the “twin transitions” in the Spanish energy system. Our results show that (i) the twinning of digitalisation and the energy transition i…
Post-normal science in practice
Post-Normal Science (PNS) emphasises the need for scientists and policy-makers to iteratively co-analyse and learn together, as part of an extended peer community. However, the roles and implications for scientific experts when interacting with policy-makers are not well understood. Informed by insights from science and technology studies (STS) on modalities of interaction and the multiple potential roles of experts, we reflect on our experiences…
Institutionalising interdisciplinarity in PhD training
Interdisciplinary research is gathering increasing support from sustainability scholars, however, there is little dialogue between scholarship on interdisciplinarity and interdisciplinary environmental science education. The aim of this paper is to take stock of the insights of studies of interdisciplinary research to inform environmental research and education. We take as our case study a research centre in Spain, which created an interdisciplin…
Governing informality through representation
Striking the balance
We look at how concepts of uncertainty and complexity undergo a series of balancing acts when moving between scientific research and policy. By questioning the prediction and control framework, uncertainty and complexity create both opportunities for new policy framings to emerge and challenges to the current role of institutions. We identify three balancing acts. First, there is the challenge of acknowledging the limits of the govern-ability of …
The unresolved controversy over nuclear power
Probing uncertainty levels of electrification in informal urban settlements
The lose - lose predicament of deforestation through subsistence farming
Conceptualising slum in an urban African context
Investigating science for governance through the lenses of complexity
This paper assesses the contributions of complexity theory to post-normal science. The oversupply of facts in science for governance is explained as a matter of complexity, defined as irreducible pluralism in the knowledge base. The paper shows how complexity provides an interface to engage with the multiple facts of science through three different examples. First, water narratives are used to show how different scales of analysis produce contrad…
Unravelling narratives of water management
Conceptualizing Numbers at the Science-Policy Interface
Quantitative information is one of the means used to interface science with policy. As a consequence, much effort is invested in producing quantitative information for policy and much criticism is directed toward the use of numbers in policy. In this paper, I analyze five approaches drawn from such criticisms and propose alternative uses of quantitative information for governance: (i) valuation of ecosystem services, (ii) social multicriteria eva…
Towards Measuring the Informal City
The rapid growth of urban informal settlements, or slums, poses a particular challenge for balancing developmental and environmental goals. In South Africa, high levels of inequality, poverty, and unemployment contribute to widespread migration. The influx of migrant workers to cities, however, is rarely matched with adequate housing and infrastructure, resulting in the formation and growth of urban informal settlements. Despite the persistence o…
Mediating household energy transitions through co-design in urban Kenya, Uganda and South Africa
Complexity, uncertainty and ambiguity
Energy security is an ambiguous concept. Growing academic interest has aimed at defining, conceptualising and measuring energy security, often through indicators. Energy policy in the European Union (EU) is not concerned with energy security's ambiguous conceptualisation, nor does it use energy security indicators, but it refers consistently to security as one of its primary aims. In this paper, by analysing the use of energy security both in sci…
The role of metrics in the governance of the water-energy-food nexus within the European Commission
Recent years have witnessed a growing interest in the water-energy-food (WEF) nexus in both academia and policy. This concept draws attention to the link between different environmental and societal domains, and potentially entails substantive shifts in governance processes. As a consequence, policy-makers and scientists have started to develop metrics to make these interactions and ‘trade-offs’ visible. However, it is unknown if current framings…
Interrogating differences
Indicator development as a site of collective imagination? The case of European Commission policies on the circular economy
In recent years the concept of the circular economy gained prominence in EU policy-making. The circular economy promotes a future in which linear ‘make-use-dispose’ cultures are replaced by more circular models. In this paper, we use the concept of sociotechnical imaginaries to ask how an imaginary of circularity has been assembled and stabilized, which imaginative resources were drawn on, and how goals, priorities, benefits and risks haven been …
Building capacity towards what? Proposing a framework for the analysis of energy transition governance in the context of urban informality in Sub-Saharan Africa
There is an emerging scholarship that criticises the conceptualisation of urban informality from a deficit view and emphasises that informality constitutes a way of life, a practice in its own right. We argue that energy is part of the informal way of life and that energy transitions need to take into account the specificities of urban informality when used for policy. Acknowledging energy practices is necessary to improve the justice of energy t…
Food, energy or biomaterials? Policy coherence across agro-food and bioeconomy policy domains in the EU
The European Union (EU) envisions a shift towards a bioeconomy to address challenges such as reducing dependence on non-renewable resources, managing natural resources sustainably and food security. As a result, biomass will become an increasingly important resource in the bioeconomy. This will require careful and sustainable management especially because biomass comes from a wide variety of economic sectors and is governed by different policies.…
Spaces of informality and the governing of slums
Governing informality through representation
Striking the balance
We look at how concepts of uncertainty and complexity undergo a series of balancing acts when moving between scientific research and policy. By questioning the prediction and control framework, uncertainty and complexity create both opportunities for new policy framings to emerge and challenges to the current role of institutions. We identify three balancing acts. First, there is the challenge of acknowledging the limits of the govern-ability of …
The more things change, the more they stay the same
This editorial lays out the core themes of the special feature and provides an overview of the contributions. It introduces the main argument, namely that the promises of far-reaching change made by recent bioeconomy policies are in fact strategically directed at avoiding transformative change to existing societal arrangements. Bioeconomy discourse showcases technological solutions purported to solve sustainability ‘problems’ while sustaining eco…
Post-normal science in practice
Post-Normal Science (PNS) emphasises the need for scientists and policy-makers to iteratively co-analyse and learn together, as part of an extended peer community. However, the roles and implications for scientific experts when interacting with policy-makers are not well understood. Informed by insights from science and technology studies (STS) on modalities of interaction and the multiple potential roles of experts, we reflect on our experiences…
Institutionalising interdisciplinarity in PhD training
Interdisciplinary research is gathering increasing support from sustainability scholars, however, there is little dialogue between scholarship on interdisciplinarity and interdisciplinary environmental science education. The aim of this paper is to take stock of the insights of studies of interdisciplinary research to inform environmental research and education. We take as our case study a research centre in Spain, which created an interdisciplin…
Problematizing post-normal science in the Global South
In post-normal science (PNS), the emergence of extended peer communities (EPCs) is a key process to deal with problems involving high uncertainty, high stakes, disputed values, and urgent decisions. However, the challenges and opportunities related to the emergence of EPCs in contentious territories—such as many across the Global South—are poorly understood. Therefore, we conducted an investigation to address two research questions: (1) Are there…
The twin green and digital transition
This paper contributes to the literature that critically engages with the so-called 'twin green and digital transition' by assessing the twin transition as a policy discourse. Our research question is: why and how is the twin transition legitimised and implemented in the European Union (EU) despite recognised pitfalls and uncertainties? The analysis is based on interpretative text analysis of high-level EU policy documents about the twin green an…
Implementing the twin transitions
The “twin transitions” of the European Green Deal are arguably a case of public funding directed at “mission-oriented innovation”. In this paper, we critically discuss state-funded innovation through the lenses of critical studies of technology and innovation. We map NextGenerationEU funds deployed to implement the “twin transitions” in the Spanish energy system. Our results show that (i) the twinning of digitalisation and the energy transition i…
Troubled environmental governance in the age of the “twin” green and digital transitions
Economics (20 obras) · Political science (17 obras) · Sociology (16 obras) · Business (10 obras) · Geography (10 obras) · Computer Science (9 obras) · Corporate governance (9 obras) · Economic growth (7 obras) · Engineering (6 obras) · Informal settlements (6 obras)