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"Policy is What We Make of It": An Interpretive Study of Governance in an Urban Watershed

Samanta, Aritree

Abstract Details

2017, Doctor of Philosophy in Urban Studies and Public Affairs, Cleveland State University, Maxine Goodman Levin College of Urban Affairs.
This study explores the governance of an urban watershed using a combination of interpretive approach and resilience framework. The key idea within resilience and social ecological systems (SESs) discourse is to link 'human systems' (e.g. communities, society, economy) with 'natural systems' (e.g. ecosystems, biophysical elements) and to understand the interconnections and feedbacks between these systems. Under resilience thinking SESs (e.g. urban environmental) are viewed as complex adaptive systems, therefore, adaptive governance is key for maintaining long-term sustainability of these systems. With this study, I examine the case of the Cuyahoga River in Northeast Ohio, an urban watershed with legacy pollution and water quality issues, which in the recent times has also been recognized as an icon in water management. To do so, I conducted an interpretive analysis using a combination of political ethnography, interpretive phenomenological analysis (IPA), and social network mapping. Specifically, I conduct a characterization and analysis of an urban watershed, bringing the resilience and SES frameworks to the study of urban SESs. I also develop a conceptual framework for analyzing urban watersheds based on SES dynamics and resilience attributes that are critical for building adaptive capacity, explicitly focusing on governance and management influences. Further, I explore what the networked approach to watershed governance in the Cuyahoga River watershed mean to the governance actors in terms of building long-term adaptive capacity. I suggest that using approach and through continued dialogue and discourse, governance actors create and bind policy meanings that overtime transforms governance. I suggest that the lessons drawn from this study will provide insights for watershed managers, public agencies, and non-governmental organizations to enhance their long-term capacity-building mechanisms and processes that support watershed planning, policy development, implementation and decision-making.
Wendy Kellogg, Ph.D. (Committee Chair)
Nicholas Zingale, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
Nancy Meyer-Emerick, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
Heidi Gorovitz Robertson, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
375 p.

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Citations

  • Samanta, A. (2017). "Policy is What We Make of It": An Interpretive Study of Governance in an Urban Watershed [Doctoral dissertation, Cleveland State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=csu1495195765314439

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Samanta, Aritree. "Policy is What We Make of It": An Interpretive Study of Governance in an Urban Watershed. 2017. Cleveland State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=csu1495195765314439.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Samanta, Aritree. ""Policy is What We Make of It": An Interpretive Study of Governance in an Urban Watershed." Doctoral dissertation, Cleveland State University, 2017. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=csu1495195765314439

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)