“Climate adaptation and mitigation require new, alternative modes of governance, with shared responsibilities between public and private actors.”

Research focus: Sustainable Urban Development, Climate Adaptation, Environmental Governance, Water Governance, Science Policy Interfaces

Peter Driessen has been a full professor of Environmental Governance at the Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development since 2004. He is head of the research group Environmental Governance. Driessen is currently - amongst other things - working on finding new governance strategies for climate adaptation and for countering soil subsidence in the Dutch lowlands.

Contributing to the debate on sustainability governance

Driessen's research contributes to the scholarly and political debate on sustainability governance, by analyzing interventions that have the potential to make governance outcomes more congruent with sustainability goals.

His research addresses a long-standing theoretical and empirical concern of ‘what works where, when and why’. Special attention is given to institutional, legal, and social conditions that may foster sustainable development.

Governance arrangement effective, legitimate and efficient

The research takes as a presumption that governance arrangements that aim to enhance sustainable development should not only be effective, but also legitimate and efficient. By reflecting on particular practices, insights are gained in the conditions under which various modes of governance are successful or unsuccessful. His research covers practices such as climate adaptation, sustainable urban development and water management. Furthermore, his research interests include new modes of interactive governance and science-policy interactions.

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