Mastering the Middle:The transactional role of stewardship organizations

in post-Sandy New York

Presentation for The Urban Environmental Stewardship ConferenceUniversity of MarylandProgram for Society and EnvironmentApril 17, 2015

NYC Stewardship Network, 2010 Hurricane Sandy, 2012

James JT ConnollyAssistant Professor

Northeastern UniversitySchool of Public Policy and Urban Affairs

Dept. of Political Science

1. Background: Stewardship and NYC STEW MAP2. Current Study: Post Sandy Resilience3. Analysis: Mixed Methods4. Findings: 2 Main Points5. Conclusion

Agenda

Agenda Background

Current Study

FindingsAnalysis Conclusion

Stewardship and Ecosystem Services

Agenda Background

FindingsAnalysis ConclusionCurrent Study

Urban environmental stewards conserve,

manage, monitor,

advocate for, or educate the public

about the local environment

(Fisher et al. 2007).

STEW-MAP

~Sent survey to 2,767 groups that perform a stewardship function

~Questions focused on stewardship activities,org characteristics, geography, and networks

~572 Responses (20%)

~ 316 (11%) civic groups with valid network data

Agenda Background

FindingsAnalysis ConclusionCurrent Study

Transactive “Bridges” in Civic Networks

2. Social-Ecological ResilienceSocial structures that lead to resilient

social-ecological systems are flexible (adaptive to

change) and work across multiple scales. Cross-scale brokers that create bridging capacity are essential to building resilience.

Ernstson et al. (2010)

Agenda Background

Current Study

FindingsAnalysis Conclusion

1. Civic Organizational NetworksDense clusters of strong “bonding” ties

connected by fewer instrumental “bridging” ties. The organizations that create transactive bridges across the networks are essential in determining overall civic capacity.

Baldassari and Diani (2007)

Identify and Analyze Bridge Organizations

Stewardship organizations 2 standard deviations or above with number of “in-degree” ties and betweenness

N=704, with 316 respondents (11% of all stewardship groups)

Agenda Background

Current Study

FindingsAnalysis Conclusion

Post-Sandy Study

Agenda Background

Current Study

FindingsAnalysis Conclusion

Social Resilience

1. Vulnerability and social isolation lower organizational capacity leads to

higher levels of social isolation and lower resilience for neighborhoods

Klinenberg (1999, 2001, 2003)2. Urban Politics

Networks do not overcome power asymmetries

Pelling (2003)Cote and Nightingale (2012)

Agenda Background

Current Study

FindingsAnalysis Conclusion

Research Questions

Did the transactional role of bridge stewardship organizations increase citywide resilience in the wake of Hurricane Sandy?

Did these groups mitigate social isolation and power asymmetries?

Agenda Background

Current Study

FindingsAnalysis Conclusion

Qualitative Interviews with Bridge Organizations

~22 Semi Structured Interviews (14 Pre- and 8 Post-Hurricane Sandy)

~Interviews lasted approximately 1 hour

~Questions focused on who they worked with and in what capacity

Topics

1. History

2. Economy

3. Geography

4. Activities

5. Organizational Networks

6. Preparation

7. Funding

Agenda Background

Current Study

FindingsAnalysis Conclusion

Immediate response: Targeted according to existing network connections

“What we ended up doing was getting a list of all of our 140 local partner groups … So we looked at that list, we divided it up by area code, figured out what was needed.”

“We would give money to those groups that [had worked with us before but] were kind of secondary but helping the groups that were actually working on the rebuilding effort and just a few weeks after Sandy.”

Agenda Background

Current Study

FindingsAnalysis Conclusion

Agenda Background

Current Study

FindingsAnalysis Conclusion

Immediate response:No redundancy in social infrastructure for

vulnerable areas

Transactive Role Changes Over Time:Strong mid- to long-term response

Agenda Background

FindingsAnalysis Conclusion

A. Transform the green infrastructure supported by local groups:

“[We created] this emergency grant program post Sandy … And then … a lot more environmental trends came out like more groups wanting to build bioswale projects. Trying to prepare for the storm water runoff. Groups trying to protect their public spaces in the Sandy impacted areas.”

“Now it’s more of a focus on how can we move forward and build the resilience of the city. So we’re not just improving what was already there, but also looking to the future and thinking about how we can protect ourselves from all different types of stresses that might happen.”

Current Study

B. Address uneven concentration of institutional resources:

“There were several groups that came together for the first time after Sandy. Some groups we’d never heard of before…They’re not in [our normal] zones. And they’re coming to us saying, ‘We can do stuff, we’re going to help.’ We couldn’t turn them away.”

“That’s one thing with all of our resilience programs have brought in a lot of new partners that we haven’t previously worked with. And I think resilience just in general and the post-Sandy arena it’s just shifted the direction of work for a lot of people.”

Agenda Background

FindingsAnalysis Conclusion

C. Some reduction of power asymmetries:

“They were especially interested in places like Coney Island and… and the Rockaways, but, you know, any garden that got impacted by Sandy was much more attractive to these… corporations because then they can say, oh, yeah, we helped with Sandy recovery.”

Current Study

Transactive Role Changes Over Time:Strong mid- to long-term response

1. SOCIAL VULNERABILITY MEANS THAT RESIDENTS ONLY HAVE TOP-DOWN CENTRALIZED RESPONSE CAPACITY—NO SOCIAL REDUNDANCY

2. ROLE FOR TRANSACTIVE CAPACITY CHANGES OVER TIME

A. IMMEDIATEEnhances immediate response capacity mostly in areas with existing

connections

B. MID-TERMMitigates social isolation by adding organizational capacity to areas with thin

social resilience

C. LONG-TERMAddress some power asymmetries by bringing new resources to marginalized

areas

Agenda Background

FindingsAnalysis ConclusionCurrent Study

Conclusion