QUANTITATIVE CASE HISTORIES OF URBAN INNOVATIONS: ARE THERE INNOVATING STAGES?

Abstract

A widely accepted ″phase theorem″ in the literature on organizational decision-making and innovation asserts that these processes occur in a series of sequential stages. The theorem was tested in a study on adoption of three types of urban innovations. For simple innovations that are borrowed with little change, the succession of stages will be moderately clear. But for organizational innovations that are originated or highly adapted, or those that are complex or uncertain, the staging sequence will appear overlapping and disorderly. Selected for study were innovations in three areas: energy conservation, energy and other resources from solid wastes, and community noise control.