Geographical perspectives on sociotechnical transitions and emerging bio-economies: introduction to a special issue

Calvert, Kirby; Kedron, Peter; Baka, Jennifer; Birch, Kean

doi:10.1080/09537325.2017.1300643

Cited by 30 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 45 publications

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“…It has been noted that the socio‐technical transitions approach has neglected geographical influences (Coenen et al., ; Lawhon & Murphy, ). The focus of socio‐technical transitions research has tended to be on temporal aspects, however the influence of geography has more recently begun to attract attention in the literature (Bridge et al., ; Calvert et al., ; Chandrashekeran, ; Coenen et al., ; Hacking & Eames, ; Lawhon & Murphy, ; Schwanen, ). The consideration of geography in this research is important because it aids in better understanding the unevenness of transitions across space (Lawhon & Murphy, ).…”

Section: Socio‐technical Transitionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The geography of socio‐technical transitions: Transition–periphery dynamics

Munro

2019

Geographical Journal

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The literature on socio‐technical transitions analyses multi‐scale, nonlinear changes in societal systems, but has tended to ignore the geography of these changes. This paper addresses this gap by focusing on a geographical periphery, rather than on the urban core, and considers a transition–periphery framework to provide a way to conceptualise and examine the dynamics of resource peripheries within a socio‐technical transition. The concepts of socio‐technical transitions and resource peripheries have been connected in previous work examining wind energy projects in Scotland. This study extends that work by refining its framework, explicitly drawing from the concept of peripheralisation as a process, and applying the framework to a wider set of contexts. The focus of peripheralisation is on the processes involved in creating peripheries rather than simply the periphery as a geographic location. This attention to peripheralisation uncovers the multi‐dimensional, relational, and multi‐scalar relationships and processes of the dynamics within resource peripheries during a socio‐technical transition. This paper draws on a set of energy policy case study sites in Scotland, including the North Yell Tidal Scheme, the proposed Shetland interconnector, and the Cruachan and Coire Glas Pumped Hydro schemes. It argues that transition–periphery dynamics are an effective analytical tool for understanding the geographically uneven multi‐scalar dynamics created as socio‐technical transitions occur.

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Section: Socio‐technical Transitionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The geography of socio‐technical transitions: Transition–periphery dynamics

Munro

2019

Geographical Journal

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“…Other authors have highlighted divergences from the standard 'niche breakthrough model', including niche activities being driven by incumbents (Berggren et al, 2015), the importance of technological complementarities (Markard and Hoffmann, 2016) and the co-evolution of different regimes (Papachristos et al, 2013;Raven, 2007). More recently there have been attempts to better integrate power and politics into the MLP (Smith et al, 2005;Kern and Markard, 2016;Meadowcroft, 2009;Avelino and Rotmans, 2009;Geels, 2014) and to better reflect the spatial dimension of transitions (Coenen et al, 2012;Murphy, 2015;Calvert et al, 2017).…”

Section: Sociotechnical Systems and Transitionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This is evident in the multiple extensions and modifications to the MLP and in the numerous proposals for 'enriching' the MLP with different theoretical ideas. The MLP began life as a highly ambitious synthesis of evolutionary economics, science and technology studies, structuration theory and neo-institutional theory (Geels, 2002a), but has since been supplemented (or proposed to be supplemented) with ideas from political economy (Smith and Stirling, 2010), political ecology (Lawhon and Murphy, 2012), political science (Geels, 2014), reflexive governance (Smith and Stirling, 2007), multilevel governance (Bulkeley et al, 2010), cultural sociology (Swidler, 1986), discourse analysis (Geels and Verhees, 2011), geography and regional studies (Coenen et al, 2012;Murphy, 2015;Calvert et al, 2017;Raven et al, 2012), psychology (Bögel and Upham, 2018), social movement theory (Elzen et al, 2011), dynamic capabilities (Teece et al, 1997), ambidextrous organisations (Tushman and O'Reilly, 1996) and numerous other areas.…”

Section: Necessity and Contingencymentioning

confidence: 99%

Explaining Sociotechnical Transitions: A Critical Realist Perspective

Sorrell

2017

SSRN Journal

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This paper identifies and evaluates the explicit and implicit philosophical assumptions underlying the so-called multilevel perspective on sociotechnical transitions (MLP). These include assumptions about the nature of reality (ontology), the status of claims about that reality (epistemology) and the appropriate choice of research methods The paper assesses the consistency of these assumptions with the philosophical tradition of critical realism and uses this tradition to highlight a number of potential weaknesses of the MLP. These include: the problematic conception of social structure and the misleading priority given to intangible rules; the tendency to use theory as a heuristic device rather than causal explanation; the ambition to develop an extremely versatile framework rather than testing competing explanations; the relative neglect of the necessity or contingency of particular causal mechanisms; and the reliance upon single, historical case studies with insufficient use of comparative methods. However, the paper also concludes that the flexibility of the MLP allows room for reconciliation, and provides some suggestions on how that could be achievedincluding proposing an alternative, critical realist interpretation of sociotechnical systems.

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“…The simple replacement of fossil fuels with biomass, without other systemic changes, is not a viable way out of the fossil-based economy. Energy consumption that amounts to 500EJ, for example, cannot be satisfied by the energy produced with biomass grown on land that is estimated to be 450EJ in a context of increased efficiency in food and harvesting systems and by increasing the surface of arable land for dedicated biomass production (Berndes et al 2003;Deng et al 2015, Calvert et al 2017. For this, there is the need to stress the sustainability and environmental benefits that are closely connected to production processes and consumption patterns.…”

Section: Networking With Powerful Actorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…biomass supply and waste and biomass conversion and processing. The divergence in the market share of fossil-based fuels and products respectively to their bio-based alternatives (Langeveld et al 2010) show, on the one hand, that the development and diffusion of a bio-based economy is still at its early stages, and on the other hand, that barriers to the development and expansion of a bio-based market still exist (Calvert et al 2017). Some of the bottlenecks in the development of the European bio-based economy are related, but not limited to, the following shortcomings: there is no common definition and understanding of the bio-based economy and of the sectors involved, nor are there specific bio-based economy strategies in all European regions and Member States as well as any clear distribution of roles and responsibilities.…”

Section: Criticisms On the Sustainability Of A Bio-based Economymentioning

confidence: 99%

A Strategic Niche Management approach for shaping bio-based economy in Europe

Tani

2018

Open Agriculture

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The goal of this paper is to investigate the transition towards a bio-based economy as part of a broader sustainable transition in Europe. To analyse the challenges and opportunities associated with the bio-based economy, we applied the Strategic Niche Management approach to investigate the drivers that boost the emergence of the bio-based economy, the factors hindering it, as well as institutional changes which are at the base of the socio-technological transition. Although considered as just one piece of the sustainability puzzle, the bio-based economy behaves as a socio-technical system on its own, providing valuable hints on systemic transitions.

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Geographical perspectives on sociotechnical transitions and emerging bio-economies: introduction to a special issue

Cited by 30 publications

References 45 publications

The geography of socio‐technical transitions: Transition–periphery dynamics

The geography of socio‐technical transitions: Transition–periphery dynamics

Explaining Sociotechnical Transitions: A Critical Realist Perspective

A Strategic Niche Management approach for shaping bio-based economy in Europe

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