Stadt, Land, Fluss

Transformative Netzwerke und schwierige Triaden in hydrosozialen Transformationsprozessen an der Rur

Abstract

Surface waters as hydro-social structures have so far been underexplored sociologically! This article aims to describe and disentangle the complexity, regionality and relationality of a hydrosocial network in the transformation process by analysing the water governance of the Rur in NRW. Integrative network theory offers the potential to identify and analyse local, hydrosocial river networks and their dynamics. The article pursues three questions regarding socio-ecological transformation processes along the river Rur: (a) Which socio-ecological constellations are involved in transformation processes? (b) Which relationships can be identified regarding transformation dynamics? (c) What roles do ecological constellations play? Using a mixed-method approach based on social network research, quantitative and qualitative data were used to identify transformation-blocking "difficult triads" and resistant water regimes as well as transformation-promoting, transformative networks. It turns out that some network compositions are much more institutionalised and materialized than others, and that ecological entities play important roles in transformative processes.