An idea whose time has come : an innovation perspective on Marine Spatial Planning

Abstract: This study considers the emergence of Marine Spatial Planning as a tool for ecosystem-basedmanagement using an innovation diffusion perspective that combines elements of classical diffusionof innovations theory with a consideration of individual and networked agency and cross-scaledynamics in the context of a social-ecological systems perspective. The main findings are that thediffusion of Marine Spatial Planning does not follow a linear, technologically deterministic process asindicated by many diffusion of innovation studies but instead the diffusion process can becharacterised by a hybrid diffusion system that cascades over a series of phases and where individualsembedded in informal networks play a key role in driving the emergence of Marine Spatial Planningacross scales.This study provides a valuable contribution to considering how the study of innovation and diffusiondynamics could be applied to provide explanatory power when considering innovations that gobeyond being technological that might emerge in the context of addressing challenges facing linkedsocial-ecological systems at the global level and thus assist in resolving the mismatches between thescale of ecological processes and the governance of ecosystems to ensure an ongoing delivery ofecosystem services. These innovations are also important to study in the context of innovation being acatalyst for transformation of marine social-ecological systems to a more sustainable trajectory.