One-way street? Spatiality of communities in low carbon transitions in Scotland

Abstract

Community low carbon transitionsstudies of the ways in which community is used to pursue environmental aims and objectivesare closely linked to arrangements of energy production and use. Community is used as a way to pursue particular energy agendas. Yet, as is often pointed out, the trajectory of transitions imagined, the ambitiousness of the envisioned transformation, and especially the implied community invoked within this, all remain gloriously inconsistent. Within community transitions attention increasingly focuses on the tensions emerging or smoothed over as competing agendas are brought together through capacious words and concepts: for example between so-called top-down government deployed community, and so-called bottom-up emergent community action. This paper offers one way to explain and explore these tensions, where they come from and, thus, help in understanding ways in which they may be overcome. Using the case study of an attempt to target one 'street community's' environmental footprint in Scotland, the paper argues for taking an explicitly geographical and spatial lens to analyse these processes. The paper uses three forms of space-perceived space, conceived space, and lived space-to outline how three distinct but overlapping communities were spatialised. The contention of the paper is that tensions in community transitions often result from different spatial imaginaries, informing one's approach to, and 'common sense' understanding of, community. In reflecting on the spatial implications different forms of community produce (and are in turn produced by), the article argues for greater appreciation of the imbrication of space, community, and energy as mutually co-constitutive.

Exploring the Role of Community Self-Organisation in the Creation and Creative Dissolution of a Community Food Initiative

“…This research builds on earlier reports addressing the nature of what is "community" and everyday politics of community initiatives [59][60][61]. The initiative was eager to achieve radical social and political changes, but it also relied on different everyday politics to continue its own existence [40].…”

“…To understand how community self-organisation can lead to a broader influencing of social discussions and institutional practices, there is a need to acknowledge the polysemic and political nature of community initiatives. Hence, if we are to understand how those initiatives articulate multiple aims and pursue actions, we should unravel how a community or specifically a community initiative is understood, approached and endorsed [60,61]. The dogmata of everyday politics could provide a more detailed account of the pressing day-to-day issues relevant to community initiatives.…”

Putting community to use in environmental policy making: Emerging trends in Scotland and the UK

“…Encouraging people to become active and responsible for their own decision‐making—when accompanying state retrenchment—can imply action coming from only those with sufficient capacity and resources, potentially excluding less well‐resourced actors (Bradley, ). It is not always this clear‐cut; nonetheless, it highlights a need to be attuned to how community is embroiled in a morally open and sometimes questionable set of processes and outcomes (Taylor, ; Taylor Aiken, , ).…”

“…Community of place Community emerging from a shared location such as a town, street, or neighbourhood e.g., Markantoni and Woolvin, 2015;Taylor Aiken, 2018 Community of interest Community formed though a shared interest, for example, a desire to reduce waste, or low impact housing. Can also be community though shared epistemic understanding and beliefs.…”

What can energy research bring to social science? Reflections on 5 years of Energy Research & Social Science and beyond

“…We now see investigation of a much greater plurality of societal questions, across a range of energy domains and various locations and scales. In this journal alone, these include local and community dimensions of energy generation (Bauwens et al, 2016;Haf and Parkhill, 2017;Taylor Aiken, 2018); energy saving behaviours and the application of social practice theory to understanding energy demand (Walker, 2014;Simcock and Mullen, 2016;Hui and Walker, 2018); questions of justice, democracy and equity (Walker et al, 2016;Jenkins et al, 2016;Burke and Stephens, 2017;Jenkins, 2018;van Veelen and van der Horst, 2018); energy and governance (Falkner, 2014;Goldthau, 2014;Kuzemko et al, 2016;Dowling et al, 2018); energy ethics and ethnographic approaches (Smith and High, 2017), and many others.…”