Bridging the implementation gap in sustainable infrastructure provision: Developing a systems approach to analysing infrastructure governance
The development of sustainable, resilient, and inclusive infrastructure systems is essential to achieving the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). However, traditional siloed, reactive, and construction-driven approaches to service provision are ill-equipped to address the complex challenges posed by myriad socioecological crises. There are thus mounting calls for transformative change in the way that we understand, develop and manage infrastructure in order to embed systems thinking and deliver outcomes that align with the SDGs. To target change action, context-specific understandings of extant governance barriers are required. To date, however, empirical analysis of infrastructure governance has been neglected and there are few established frameworks and tools to assist collective change efforts.
This study advocates for a participatory systems approach to analysing infrastructure governance and the barriers it poses to sustainability. Drawing on existing literature, it conceptualises governance networks as complex, multi-actor systems in which the implementation of systems thinking and sustainability principles is constrained by inter-organisational relationships and actor-specific properties. Synthesising insights from network analysis and decision context perspectives, a conceptual framework and set of visual tools for mapping the multi-layered constraints on decision-makers across governance networks is proposed. Their relevance and potential utility are explored through a preliminary case study of the regulated water industry in England.
Semi-structured interviews with four senior water sector professionals and qualitative analysis of relevant academic and grey literature were undertaken to map key actors and relationships and identify key constraints that hinder sustainability practices. A wide variety of perceived barriers were identified across all framework levels, from a fragmented network structure and siloed institutional arrangements to the processes, priorities and cultures embedded within organisations themselves. Analysis revealed that meaningful change to entrenched behaviours requires action by multiple actors, across multiple interrelated domains. This confirms the framework’s relevance for uncovering the complexity of infrastructure governance challenges and points to its analytic utility in identifying opportunities for bottom-up and top-down interventions. Further work is now required to develop it into an accessible, practical tool to support collective sensemaking and strategic planning by change agents in diverse contexts.