Shifting practices: How the rise of rooftop solar PV has changed local government community engagement

Meiklejohn, D; Bekessy, Sarah A.; Moloney, Susie

doi:10.1080/23311843.2018.1481584

Cited by 3 publications

(2 citation statements)

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“…For the emissions over which local governments have control or strong influence, climate governance practices are framed as tools to be used to influence household practices [45,51,93,108,109], but the relationship between governance and household practices runs both ways. For example, the rapid and widespread adoption of rooftop solar has disrupted meanings associated with community engagement, most notably through a shift away from using a collective social response to climate change as a motivation to personal financial gains [83]. The implications of this dynamic relationship need to be considered when crafting more effective forms of community engagement.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Engagement practices based around climate adaptation responses, such as public tree planting and citizen science projects, meet this need by introducing new practices to be performed by households. Alternatively, climate change may be positioned as a secondary meaning associated with everyday practices; for example, community engagement to encourage the uptake of rooftop solar has, more recently, shifted its emphasis to stress the financial and health benefits of solar while climate change as a motivation sits in the background [83].…”

Section: Re-craftingmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Applying a Practice Lens to Local Government Climate Change Governance: Rethinking Community Engagement Practices

2021

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Governments commit substantial time and resources engaging individuals and households to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. These approaches, based largely upon behaviour change theories, have been criticised for their limited reach and effectiveness by practice theorists who have offered an alternative approach, broadening the focus beyond individuals. While practice theory has provided valuable insights into the energy consuming activities of households it has gained limited traction as a way to analyse and inform government practices and policy making. We address this by applying a practice lens to climate change community engagement practices performed by Australian local governments. Drawing on 29 interviews with practitioners and analysis of 37 Australian local government climate strategies, we examine the bundle of practices that constitute climate change community engagement: recruitment, engagement and evaluation. We consider how these practices are situated vis-a-vis other climate governance practices (regulation, service delivery, infrastructure provision and advocacy) as well as internal local government processes. Using a practice lens reveals the weaknesses in current engagement approaches which we contend are limiting efficacy. We draw upon Spurling et al.’s conceptualisation of re-crafting, re-integrating and substituting practices to consider how climate change community engagement practices might be reconfigured to improve their effectiveness.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Re-craftingmentioning

confidence: 99%