Objects of desire: rules as boundary objects for system change in greenspace governance

Purpose

This article examines attempts to transform the funding, governance and management of municipal green spaces. It advances knowledge on what enables or prevents systemic change, focusing on the function and potential of rules within a three-year programme to “transform” greenspace management in the UK. We focus on how rules become interpretable and contestable “boundary objects” or interfaces between different actors as system change programmes are implemented.

Design/methodology/approach

Based on a longitudinal qualitative investigation of the Future Parks Accelerator programme, a system change programme that spanned eight UK locations, the article shows how attempts to rewrite the rules of public institutions fare under real-world conditions.

Findings

The research finds that participants in change programmes identify rules that are open to interpretation, test how far reinterpretation is possible and change or rewrite the way rules are applied. These processes of locating, testing and shifting depend on legitimacy and timing. This did not happen to the extent envisaged by the funders.

Practical implications

Policymakers should exercise caution over philanthropic or government funders' efforts to radically accelerate systemic change, instead embedding ambitions of paradigm shifts within the incremental, contested and continuous work of reinterpreting and realigning rules and resources through adaptive governance.

Originality/value

The article advances understanding of system change by emphasising the value of rules as malleable and contestable resources. This complements the current emphasis in public management literature on adaptive approaches to complex challenges. We question the continuing emphasis in policy and practice on rules as instrumental levers of change.