Fragmented adoption: naming the pattern
A conceptual paper naming fragmented adoption, where every sector does the work asked of it and the relationships between them stay as they were.
Accounts of adoption failure measure depth, how far a commitment reaches inside an institution. Decoupling, means ends decoupling and so on. That axis works when the commitment is one sector’s to keep.
Integrative frameworks are not. They ask sectors to change how they relate to each other, and depth cannot see whether that happened. The paper adds a second axis, scope, and names what shows up in the gap: fragmented adoption, where every sector does the work asked of it, resources it and reports it, and the relationships between them are exactly as they were. A system in that state passes every within sector test. The Welsh Act 2015 is the case it is worked through.
Written for an elective on urban and regional systems and sustainability. Drafted, with an eye on submission. It will be linked here if it is published.