ISSR Scholars Mentor Seminar | "Introduction to the State-Reinforced Self-Governance Framework: Analyzing Adaptive and Transformative Governance Systems for Societal Resilience and Sustainability" with Daniel DeCaro

This talk will introduce key concepts and analytics for diagnosing the adaptive and transformative capacity of complex governance systems, with a focus on State power, and enablement (and constraint), of diverse democratic self-governing solutions. We will explore community land trusts as an example institutional archetype, with particular functional capacities, to address a variety of issues in housing, neighborhood development, and public goods/services. The goal of this analysis is to catalyze a conversation around the co-design and implementation (co-production) of more effective, self-governing solutions to complex social-ecological dilemmas. 

Dr. Daniel DeCaro is an Associate Professor of Psychological & Brain Sciences and Urban & Public Affairs at the University of Louisville. He directs two labs in Ostrom political economy, institutional analysis and decision, and human behavior: the Constitutional and Cooperative Decision-Making (CCDM) Lab, and the State-Reinforced Self-Governance and Adaptive Social-Ecological Systems (SRSG-ASES) Lab. Most of Daniel’s research examines institutional (e.g. legal, normative), constitutional, and behavioral foundations of societal cooperation, de/centralized governance (especially democratic systems of self-governance), and complex adaptive and transformative governance systems. He has applied his research to such domains as urban neighborhood greenspace, sustainable neighborhood development, air pollution control, coastal flooding, and built/natural resource governance (e.g., water, fisheries). Daniel teaches interdisciplinary courses in cognitive and behavioral decision science, behavioral dimensions of sustainability, and sustainable social-ecological systems. DeCaro is co-organizing a special journal issue on “State-Reinforced Transformative and Adaptive Governance of Sustainable Social-Ecological Systems."