G (Glen) Smith

My work is motivated by understanding how socioecological systems are managed and governed, and how this might be improved. During my masters and PhD my focus for this turned seawards. My PhD research considers how Scotland's marine spatial planning system was designed and to what extent it is transparent and participatory. 

In more recent research (BCOMAR) I sought to understand what makes coastal communities more (or less) resilient to climate change in County Cork, Ireland. And I have also researched how just and equal flood risk management inititaives are in England (a comparative study with Belgium, Finland and France), considering all sources of flooding (SOLARIS).

Through one coastal case study in the SOLARIS project I became particulalry interested in coastal climate change adaptation, and the roles of marine and terrestrial planning in supporting this. I was also able to conduct a comparative study on this topic between the southeast of England and Nova Scotia, Canada.

The two most prominent themes in my work are planning and governance. Both of these are central to just transitions. They are also useful spheres to understand and to influence the performance of socioecological systems in the context of wicked problems, stressors, and change.