Integrating Triple Helix and Sustainable Transition Research for Transformational Governance

Abstract The critical literature review discusses the principles of Participation and Interconnectedness underlying the Triple Helix Model and Learning and Adaptation in the Sustainable Transition Model for their relevance in governing urban climate change adaptation. In this new framing, a secondary literature analysis of Barcelona’s struggle against air pollution is exemplified as a wicked problem caused by diverse stakeholder interests and their different sustainability concepts in socio-economic and environmental development. The paper offers a new perspective on sustainable, transformative pathways in cities which run on participative and adaptive governance principles. The backwards integration into the underlying principles of the meta-theories illustrates the value of triple helix and transition research and the benefit of their integration for examining and designing sustainable transition pathways.