Since more than 20 years the NIÖ network met annually to present current research, related to inspired by or officially questioned by New Institutional Economics = NIÖ. At the heart of this informal, but nevertheless persistent and fruitful network sits the concept “Institutions of Sustainability” (IoS) (Hagedorn et al. 2002, Hagedorn 2003, 2008). Meanwhile many members of the network have ventured into new directions, disciplines and organizational contexts. Therefore we aim to take stock of the diverse intellectual developments and conceptual innovations related to institutions governing sustainability endavours. This will take place by presenting latest research, but also by articulating the shared ancestry in institutional analysis and by carving out the pathways of how collective and individual thinking has evolved. Thus, we aim to widen the perspectives and at the same time articulate the important influences of Commons research, Environmental Economics, Feminist Political Ecology, Multispecies approaches, Degrowth, Polycentricity among others.

• Where do we place ourselves in the meanwhile more differentiated field of institutional analysis or beyond?
• How do we relate to IoS and to what further fields and emerging topics do we relate?
• How has this hybridity inspired how we conceptualize?
  • human-nature relationships
  • properties of the resource
  • characteristics of actors
  • property rights
  • governance regimes?

With this workshop we aim at outlining trajectories of thinking about institutions and sustainability, look out for the emergence of schools and tentatively aim at charting the evolving landscape of institutions of sustainability.

Martina Padmanabhan & Ariane Götz

Hagedorn, K., Arzt, K., & Peters, U. (2002). Institutional arrangements for environmental cooperatives: A conceptual framework. In K. Hagedorn (Ed.), Environmental cooperation and institutional change: Theories and policies for European agriculture. (pp. 3–25). Cheltenham and Northampton: Edward Elgar.

Hagedorn, K. (2003). Rethinking the theory of agricultural change in an institution of sustainability perspective. In G. van Huylenbroeck, W. Verbeke, L. Lauwers, I. Vanslembrouck, & M. D’Haese (Eds.), Importance of policies and institutions for agriculture (pp. 33–56). Gent: Academia Press.

Hagedorn, K. (2008). Particular requirements for institutional analysis in nature-related sectors. European Review of Agricultural Economics, 35, 357–384.