Furthering the Understanding of the Adaptation Space of Organizations: A Case Study of Adaptation to Climate Change within the Water Supply and Wastewater Sector of the Stockholm Region

The adaptation process is analyzed in terms of building adaptive capacity and implementing adaptive decisions. Theories on organizational learning and the concept of an organization’s adaptation space are used to understand the factors that influence the adaptation process and the capacity of the studied WW organizations to adapt to climate change.

A case study approach has been used and by focusing the research on four regional WW organizations – that comprise a majority of the region’s WW activities – it is argued that conclusions relevant to the region’s WW sector as a whole can be made. Semi-structured interviews with the complete management board – in three out of four organizations – and official documents and reports, are the main sources of primary data for the analysis.

The authors acknowledge the financial support of the Swedish Foundation for Environmental Research (Mistra) through the Swedish Research Programme on Climate, Impacts and Adaptation (Mistra-SWECIA) Programme.

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