The geography of sustainability transitions: Contours of an emerging theme

Truffer, Bernhard; Murphy, James T.; Raven, Rob

doi:10.1016/j.eist.2015.07.004

Cited by 249 publications

(127 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…The recent geographical turn in sustainability transitions literatures [22,23,46], however, levies three important limitations to such an approach.…”

Section: Local-global Model and Its Limitationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Assuming that experiments accumulate gradually to form a distinctive trajectory risks neglecting the contested, 'multi-interest', and political nature of the urban context [56]. Urban forms of experimentation are not framed by singular socio-technical trajectories [22]. Instead of assuming an undisputed set of shared rules as the outcomes of experimentation, we should address how distinct framings and visions are made, mobilised and contested [47,57,58].…”

Section: Local-global Model and Its Limitationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Attentive to observations that particular styles of experimentation tend to be privileged by situated institutional arrangements [33], and calls for richer accounts of how this occurs [22], our approach characterises the patterns of experimentation that emerge in different settlements. Existing typologies of experiments fall short of this task because they take individual experiments as a departing point or assume that there is a singular experimental style in a place c.f.…”

Section: Patterns Of Experimentationmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Unpacking the Formation of Favourable Environments for Urban Experimentation: The Case of the Bristol Energy Scene

2018

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Urban experimentation with sustainability has been gaining prominence in policy and academic discourses about urban transformations, spurring the creation of urban living laboratories and transition arenas. However, the academic literature has only begun examining why experimentation flourishes in particular cities, and why it conforms to place-specific styles. Meanwhile, the strategic niche management (SNM) tradition has extensively explored how protective spaces for experimentation emerge but has dealt only tangentially with why this happens in particular places. In this paper, we develop an approach for unpacking the formation of favourable environments for experimentation in specific places. We adopt an abductive research design to create a dialogue between distinct theoretical positions and one in-depth case study. Our case examines the formation of the Bristol energy scene, which hosts a variety of experimental initiatives concerning civic energy alternatives. Based on our findings, we refine the understanding of the processes shaping this experimental setting. There is value in characterising the 'genealogy' of experimental spaces and acknowledging their antecedents, path-dependencies and place-specificities. Efforts to foster urban transformation demand nuanced accounts of how places become experimental because they are not static backgrounds for experimentation.

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“…The recent geographical turn in sustainability transitions literatures [22,23,46], however, levies three important limitations to such an approach.…”

Section: Local-global Model and Its Limitationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Local-global Model and Its Limitationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Patterns Of Experimentationmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Unpacking the Formation of Favourable Environments for Urban Experimentation: The Case of the Bristol Energy Scene

2018

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“…Whether explicitly or not, experimentation as a mode of sustainability governance has arisen as the "the modernist dream of total control" has been challenged, in its place creating a "more provisional, adaptive understanding of the city … which view the city as an emergent and heterogeneous assemblage" (Evans 2016: 429). As a field of research, concerns with urban sustainability experimentation have been driven both from within urban studies (Hodson and Marvin 2009) as well as by those within the transition studies community who have begun to attend to the city as an important arena within which sustainability transitions are forged and contested (Truffer et al 2015). These factors combined have served to generate a vibrant field.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Urban living laboratories: Conducting the experimental city?

Bulkeley

Marvin

Palgan³

et al. 2018

European Urban and Regional Studies

176

127

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“…These variations in cultures, institutions, political systems, networks, and capital stocks enable the promotion of, for example, new technologies, new lifestyles, and new policies [41]. Based on the current literature presented in Section 2.1, we construct archetypical experimentation patterns for the four habitats distinguished (Figure 2).…”

Section: Synthesis: Archetypical Experimentation Patternsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Contrasting Regional Habitats for Urban Sustainability Experimentation in Europe

et al. 2018

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Abstract:The sustainability challenge requires experimentation with innovations, followed by an upscaling process towards a broader regime change in the long term. In Europe we observe various regional hotspots for sustainability experimentation which suggests that there are favorable spatial contexts. Little is known about why different kinds of experiments flourish or fail in various spatial contexts. In this paper we explore these contexts by using the habitat concept. A habitat is regarded as the configuration of favorable local and regional context factors for experimentation. To capture the diversity of these habitats we have constructed archetypical experimentation patterns. These patterns are built up of five dimensions: knowledge, governance, informal institutions, regional innovation advantages, and social learning. In a comparative case study in four city regions in Europe we find a large contrast in habitats. Countercultures play an important role, as they shape a beneficial context for experimentation through alternative ideas and lifestyles. We also find indications that it is important that a combination of several habitat factors is present, and that these factors have aligned and evolved over several years of experimentation, thus leading to a more mature habitat. The research suggests that regional stakeholders can positively influence most of the habitat factors shaping future upscaling. However, there are also some important factors, such as regional knowledge and skills, which have a path-dependent nature and are more difficult to improve in the short term.

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The geography of sustainability transitions: Contours of an emerging theme

Cited by 249 publications

References 26 publications

Unpacking the Formation of Favourable Environments for Urban Experimentation: The Case of the Bristol Energy Scene

Unpacking the Formation of Favourable Environments for Urban Experimentation: The Case of the Bristol Energy Scene

Urban living laboratories: Conducting the experimental city?

Contrasting Regional Habitats for Urban Sustainability Experimentation in Europe

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