Agency in regime destabilization through the selection environment: The Finnish food system’s sustainability transition

Kuokkanen, Anna; Nurmi, Anna; Mikkilä, Mirja; Kuisma, Miia; Kahiluoto, Helena; Linnanen, Lassi

doi:10.1016/j.respol.2018.05.006

Cited by 65 publications

(62 citation statements)

References 52 publications

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“…With respect to the politics of transitions, an important but understudied area is how CSOs and social movements influence the development of public support for regime destabilization, the phasing out of unsustainable technologies, and sustainability policy development (Turnheim and Geels, 2012;Kuokkanen et al, 2018). What role do civil society actors play in overcoming regime resistance to sustainability transition policies?…”

Section: Research Directionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

An agenda for sustainability transitions research: State of the art and future directions

Köhler

Geels

Kern

et al. 2019

Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions

1,672

919

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Research on sustainability transitions has expanded rapidly in the last ten years, diversified in terms of topics and geographical applications, and deepened with respect to theories and methods. This article provides an extensive review and an updated research agenda for the field, classified into nine main themes: understanding transitions; power, agency and politics; governing transitions; civil society, culture and social movements; businesses and industries; transitions in practice and everyday life; geography of transitions; ethical aspects; and methodologies. The review shows that the scope of sustainability transitions research has broadened and connections to established disciplines have grown stronger. At the same time, we see that the grand challenges related to sustainability remain unsolved, calling for continued efforts and an acceleration of ongoing transitions. Transition studies can play a key role in this regard by creating new perspectives, approaches and understanding and helping to move society in the direction of sustainability.

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Section: Research Directionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

An agenda for sustainability transitions research: State of the art and future directions

Köhler

Geels

Kern

et al. 2019

Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions

1,672

919

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“…Such approaches can help capture the real-life context and better explore, and map [72] , societal innovations in terms of lifestyle changes. These need not be limited to supply-side technologies [73] , as is mostly the case in the literature, but extend their scope to behavioural shifts, such as dietary selections [74] , energy and other consumption profiles, investment decisions, means of transportation and modal shifts [75] , and broader lifestyle changes, exploiting the capabilities of the diverse multiplicity [76] , or combinations, of these frameworks [77] .…”

Section: Disaggregated Understanding Of the Diffusion Of Social Innovmentioning

confidence: 99%

The desirability of transitions in demand: Incorporating behavioural and societal transformations into energy modelling

Νίκας

Lieu

Şorman

et al. 2020

Energy Research & Social Science

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Quantitative systems modelling in support of climate policy has tended to focus more on the supply side in assessing interactions among technology, economy, environment, policy and society. By contrast, the demand side is usually underrepresented, often emphasising technological options for energy efficiency improvements. In this perspective, we argue that scientific support to climate action is not only about exploring capacity of “what”, in terms of policy and outcome, but also about assessing feasibility and desirability, in terms of “when”, “where” and especially for “whom”. Without the necessary behavioural and societal transformations, the world faces an inadequate response to the climate crisis challenge. This could result from poor uptake of low-carbon technologies, continued high-carbon intensive lifestyles, or economy-wide rebound effects. For this reason, we propose a framing for a holistic and transdisciplinary perspective on the role of human choices and behaviours in influencing the low-carbon transition, starting from the desires of individuals and communities, and analysing how these interact with the energy and economic landscape, leading to systemic change at the macro-level. In making a case for a political ecology agenda, we expand our scope, from comprehending the role of societal acceptance and uptake of end-use technologies, to co-developing knowledge with citizens from non-mainstream and marginalised communities, and to defining the modelling requirements to assess the decarbonisation potential of shifting lifestyle patterns in climate change and action.

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“…They can contribute to the acceleration of innovations and become part of the new regime (Bergek et al 2013). For regime destabilization, it is important to acknowledge and disclose the diversity of different agents in order to build up coalitions, networks, legislative justification and public acceptance (Kuokkanen et al 2018). Agents consist of a broad range of institutions and organizations including firms, industry associations and public authorities, also individuals as independent players (Farla et al 2012).…”

Section: Regime Destabilization In Urban Transitionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…political power, existing economy and its regulations) but they hold the capacity to imagine possible future trajectories of action based on their agency (Emirbayer and Mische 1998). Agency is, therefore, understood as the cognitive, normative and regulative rules underlying socio-technical regimes (Geels and Schot 2007) and power struggles among agents towards regime destabilization (Kuokkanen et al 2018). In a more recent account, Köhler et al (2019) argued that agency and agents in experimentation in the analysis of transitions should be developed further in the socio-technical transitions literature.…”

Section: Enabling Environments For Regime Destabilization In Megacitiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Regime destabilization is a window of opportunity for new niches to break through to reformulate the existing urban system. It is often defined as the struggle that occurs after disruptive innovation has emerged, when the old and new regimes compete for the consolidation of rules and a new design (Kuokkanen et al 2018). A window of opportunity refers to "an opportune moment where the time is right to introduce radical change" (Brundiers and Eakin 2018, p. 5).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Enabling environments for regime destabilization towards sustainable urban transitions in megacities: comparing Shanghai and Istanbul

et al. 2020

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Sustainable urban transitions promise high mitigation and adaptation potential to address the effects of anthropogenic climate change. The two coastal megacities studied in this paper, Shanghai and Istanbul, have the potential for low-carbon urban transitions that can destabilize existing regimes. The destabilization is brought about by the disruptive business model innovations of the sharing economy in Shanghai's mobility sector and by the energy-efficient practices developed alongside the intensification of the building sector through the process of urban renewal in Istanbul. However, the emergence of such urban transitions through the actions of agents relies on the existence of enabling environments for regime destabilization. In a comparative case study of Shanghai and Istanbul, we assess the challenges of realizing regime destabilization opportunities through an enabling environment framework. We find that without adequate enabling environments for regime destabilization, urban transitions to sustainability may fail to achieve effective low-carbon action and make progress towards meeting the sustainable development goals. We also show that while deliberate and collective efforts are underway from multiple agents within and beyond the two megacities, the environments for regime destabilization in the building and transport sectors considered remain insufficient primarily due to conflicting priorities among key agents in the underlying urban systems.

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Agency in regime destabilization through the selection environment: The Finnish food system’s sustainability transition

Cited by 65 publications

References 52 publications

An agenda for sustainability transitions research: State of the art and future directions

An agenda for sustainability transitions research: State of the art and future directions

The desirability of transitions in demand: Incorporating behavioural and societal transformations into energy modelling

Enabling environments for regime destabilization towards sustainable urban transitions in megacities: comparing Shanghai and Istanbul

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