Inert Resilience and Institutional Traps: Tackling Bureaucratic Inertias Towards Transformative Social Learning and Capacity Building for Local Climate Change Adaptation

The institutional and political contexts of climate action matter. Planning and sustainability science have parallel interests in politics and institutions, particularly in institutional reforms that balance continuity and change. Our theorizing inert resilience highlights micro (individual) and meso (institutional) foundations of macro-state capacities for climate adaptation through social learning and transformative capacity building. Using survey, conversations, and participant observation in a Philippine case study, we discuss six inertia-inducing institutional traps shaping climate adaptation challenges in inert resilience contexts. Examining resource constraints, value conflicts, and colonial legacies influencing inertia, we propose pathways toward local capacity-building and social learning for climate adaptation.