Archetype Analysis in Sustainability and Land Governance Research

Archetypes depict representative patterns, i.e. similarities and differences, in socio-ecological interactions. With this generalisation, archetype analysis supports the scaling and transfer of knowledge from one place to another in a systematic way. The underlying assumption is that similarities in social-ecological conditions link to similarities in sustainability interventions.

Archetype analysis in sustainability research has been used to understand factors and processes that repeatedly determine the (un)sustainability of social-ecological systems. This includes development drivers and outcomes related to livelihood vulnerability, land use, economic development, food security, and climate adaptation, among others. Archetypes are useful to understand functional similarities and differences in a broader perspective and inform decisions that need to be made across diverse spatial scales, linking local realities with global change processes.

This working group will advance two pillars of GLP’s Science Plan 2016-2021. First, this working group will provide a platform to advance methodologies for analyzing and synthesizing recurrent patterns from contextualized case studies by using the archetype approach. Second, it will advance analysis on land governance including by building bridges to the research community of institutional analysis of the commons.