Economic crisis and social learning for the provision of public services in two Spanish municipalities

Economic crises pose challenges for the provision of public services but may also open up opportunities for social learning about how to achieve a sustainable society. The main research question addressed in this paper is: can economic crises catalyse social learning for a sustainable society? The hypothesis of the paper is that social learning emerges in association with the reduction of consumption levels that follows degrowth or with the reconfiguration of infrastructure management practices and sustainable innovation that could lead to a transition to sustainability. Following this, we empirically examine whether the crisis has led to social learning about the sustainable provision of public services in two similar municipalities in the north of Spain after the economic crisis of 2008. We develop an interpretative analysis of individual experiences of learning from the crisis using a set of qualitative interviews with individuals who were involved in key decisions about public service delivery during or immediately after the crisis. The analysis suggests that there has been a broader cultural change, which is challenging institutional models of regional development, that there has been a drive towards greater resource efficiency and that some opportunities have opened for entrepreneurs to develop sustainable innovations. The findings support the view that the crisis may have fostered learning responses that could lead to either degrowth or a sustainable transition. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

经济危机对公共服务的提供构成挑战，但也可能为如何实现可持续社会带来社会学习的机会。本文所探讨的主要研究问题是：经济危机能否促进对可持续社会的社会学习？本文的假设是，社会学习与经济衰退后的消费水平降低相关联，或者与基础设施管理实践的重新配置以及可能导致向可持续性转变的可持续创新相关联。在此基础上，我们实证研究了2008年经济危机后，在西班牙北部两个相似的城市中，危机是否导致了关于公共服务可持续提供的社会学习。我们通过对在危机期间或危机刚结束时参与公共服务提供关键决策的个人进行一系列定性访谈，对从危机中学习的个人经历进行了解释性分析。分析表明，出现了更广泛的文化变革，这对区域发展的制度模式构成挑战，出现了提高资源效率的动力，并且为企业家开发可持续创新提供了一些机会。研究结果支持这样一种观点，即危机可能促进了学习反应，这些反应可能导致经济衰退或可持续转型。（C）2015爱思唯尔有限公司。保留所有权利。