A transitions perspective on coastal sustainability

Morrissey, John; Heidkamp, C. Patrick

doi:10.4324/9780429463723-2

Cited by 7 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 1 publication

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“…Resource exploitation: The demand for resources for renewable infrastructure is rising steeply [8], raising challenges for environmental sustainability-e.g., due to potential high impacts of resource extraction and processing [6,131]-and social sustainability-e.g., due to slave and child labour and the displacement of indigenous people [124,132]. Conversely, opportunities include developing more equitable ownership and business models.…”

Section: Circular Economy-related Challenges and Opportunities In Offshore Windmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Framework and Baseline for the Integration of a Sustainable Circular Economy in Offshore Wind

Velenturf

2021

Energies

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Circular economy and renewable energy infrastructure such as offshore wind farms are often assumed to be developed in synergy as part of sustainable transitions. Offshore wind is among the preferred technologies for low-carbon energy. Deployment is forecast to accelerate over ten times faster than onshore wind between 2021 and 2025, while the first generation of offshore wind turbines is about to be decommissioned. However, the growing scale of offshore wind brings new sustainability challenges. Many of the challenges are circular economy-related, such as increasing resource exploitation and competition and underdeveloped end-of-use solutions for decommissioned components and materials. However, circular economy is not yet commonly and systematically applied to offshore wind. Circular economy is a whole system approach aiming to make better use of products, components and materials throughout their consecutive lifecycles. The purpose of this study is to enable the integration of a sustainable circular economy into the design, development, operation and end-of-use management of offshore wind infrastructure. This will require a holistic overview of potential circular economy strategies that apply to offshore wind, because focus on no, or a subset of, circular solutions would open the sector to the risk of unintended consequences, such as replacing carbon impacts with water pollution, and short-term private cost savings with long-term bills for taxpayers. This study starts with a systematic review of circular economy and wind literature as a basis for the coproduction of a framework to embed a sustainable circular economy throughout the lifecycle of offshore wind energy infrastructure, resulting in eighteen strategies: design for circular economy, data and information, recertification, dematerialisation, waste prevention, modularisation, maintenance and repair, reuse and repurpose, refurbish and remanufacturing, lifetime extension, repowering, decommissioning, site recovery, disassembly, recycling, energy recovery, landfill and re-mining. An initial baseline review for each strategy is included. The application and transferability of the framework to other energy sectors, such as oil and gas and onshore wind, are discussed. This article concludes with an agenda for research and innovation and actions to take by industry and government.

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Section: Circular Economy-related Challenges and Opportunities In Offshore Windmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Framework and Baseline for the Integration of a Sustainable Circular Economy in Offshore Wind

Velenturf

2021

Energies

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“…Container ships differed greatly from their predecessors by increasing the efficiency of transporting cargo while generating new jobs that also led to a spatial and environmental shift in the locations of ports. Along the Eastern Seaboard of the United States, the spread of container terminals has driven new economic opportunity at specific harbors, leading to growing uneven spatial development (Morrissey & Heidkamp, 2019). A series of smaller New England towns including Portsmouth (New Hampshire), New London (Connecticut), and Newport (Rhode Island) exemplify this uneven spatial development.…”

Section: Theoretical Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Thus, the initial niche innovation of the container underwent a process of maturity that resulted in uneven spatial development and livelihood opportunities (Morrissey & Heidkamp, 2019). An innovation's shift from niche to maturity is well illustrated by the multi‐level perspective (MLP) transitions approach (Geels, 2012; Nykvist & Whitmarsh, 2008), in which a successful niche innovation is subsumed into the socio‐technical regime, resulting in change of varying degrees, potentially leading to transformation of the socio‐technical landscape itself in some cases.…”

Section: Theoretical Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Enacting a just and sustainable blue economy through transdisciplinary action research

Heidkamp

Garland

Krak

2021

Geographical Journal

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To enact a just and sustainable blue economy, one must consider all the actors involved in its shaping. This paper argues that a quintuple helix approach to stakeholder engagement – involving government, academia, the business community, and civil society – and an inclusive transdisciplinary action research (TAR) methodology are promising avenues with which to do so. Embracing critical pragmatism as a foundational framework, key ideas from three strands of research are consolidated: (1) the recent work on the geographical dimension of socio‐technical sustainability transitions; (2) the literature on just sustainabilities and just transition; and (3) action research and transdisciplinary approaches to problem solving. This allows for the reimagination of a common future for the blue economy that is developed through a different kind of democratic process driven and informed by co‐learning, and shared experiences. By adopting a transdisciplinary action research approach, actors from different disciplines and spheres of experience can gain a better mutual understanding and find commonality through the open door of collaboration. The theoretical argument presented in this paper is illustrated by a vignette of an ongoing TAR project at Southern Connecticut State University, which outlines the challenges and opportunities inherent to implementing a TAR approach.

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“…Because of its regional nature, the "right" scale for implementing BE as a regional development and a transition paradigm (Geels, 2004(Geels, , 2011) depends on the locus and the extent to which policies can be applied. For the purpose of this work, we note that the concepts of scale and regionalism, familiar to geographers, have the potential to be fully integrated into transition theory (Coenen, Benneworth, & Truffer, 2012;Morrissey & Heidkamp, 2019;).…”

Section: Scale Mismatchesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Despite previous attempts to address this, research to date has failed to integrate key geographical concepts such as space and place, proximity and distance, scale and connection, and relational thinking (Jackson, ) within conceptualisations of the BE. Understanding the geographical underpinnings of the BE are urgently required to enable characterisation of spatial dimensions, especially in terms of developing an understanding of uneven development when considering the link between innovation in the BE (e.g., energy production innovations such as tidal or offshore wind power) and its impact on uneven development (Kerr et al, ; Morrissey & Heidkamp, ). Perspectives that are economically important, politically central, socially relevant, and environmentally sensitive are currently being omitted in the existing BE discourses (e.g., Doloreux, ; Silver et al, ; Voyer et al, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The blue economy: Identifying geographic concepts and sensitivities

et al. 2019

Self Cite

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There is currently no generally accepted definition for the “blue economy,” despite the term becoming common parlance over the past decade. The concept and practice have spawned a rich, and diverse, body of scholarly activity. Yet despite this emerging body of literature, there is ambiguity around what the blue economy is, what it encapsulates, and its practices. Thus far, the existing literature has failed to theorise key geographical concepts such as space, place, scale, and power relations, all of which have the potential to lead to uneven development processes and regional differentiation. Previous research has sought to clarify the ontological separation of land and sea or has conceptualised the blue economy as a complex governmental project that opens up new governable spaces and rationalises particular ways of managing marine and coastal regions. More recently, geographers have called for a critical—and practical—engagement with the blue economy. This paper critically examines the existing literature of the geographies of the blue economy through a structured meta‐analysis of published work, specifically its conceptualisations and applications to debates in the field. Results offer the potential to ground a bottom‐up definition of the blue economy. In so doing, this paper provides a clearly identifiable rubric of the key geographical concepts that are often overlooked by researchers, policymakers, and practitioners when promoting economic development and technological innovation in coastal and marine environments.

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A transitions perspective on coastal sustainability

Cited by 7 publications

References 1 publication

A Framework and Baseline for the Integration of a Sustainable Circular Economy in Offshore Wind

A Framework and Baseline for the Integration of a Sustainable Circular Economy in Offshore Wind

Enacting a just and sustainable blue economy through transdisciplinary action research

The blue economy: Identifying geographic concepts and sensitivities

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