Retrofitting the built environment ‘to save’ energy: Arbed, the emergence of a distinctive sustainability transition pathway in Wales

Abstract

Combining insights from research on systems innovation and sustainable transitions with multi-level governance perspectives, this paper examines the ‘Arbed’ domestic housing retrofit programmes in Wales. In so doing, the paper demonstrates the critical role of sub-national government in the emergence of a distinctive sustainability-oriented pathway for domestic end-use energy demand reduction in Wales, and highlights the multi-level governance challenges involved. The governance processes contributing to this purposive transformation (e.g., policies and institutions; a ‘shared’ normative vision; network building; competencies, resource mobilisation, etc.) are illuminated and how they simultaneously cut across multiple spatial scales is discussed. Rather than simply viewing such transition arenas as simple sites of experimentation, the paper argues that sub-national sustainable energy transitions and pathways are shaped by pressures and opportunities that are mediated by unique place and context-specific conditions that exert influence on the mobilisation of resources, governance capabilities and actor-networks.

The Uncommon Nightingale: Sustainable Housing Innovation in Australia

“…In his analysis, Smith explored how eco-housing differs across socio-technical dimensions compared to mainstream housing, highlighting challenges for sustainable housing uptake with regulation and a building regime resistant to change. The importance of supporting niche sustainable housing developments (or experiments) through policy developments or other approaches has been identified by other researchers [16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23].…”

Mediating the form and direction of regional sustainable development: The role of the state in renewable energy deployment in selected regions

“…The table highlights the different regulatory and governance relationship between the Italian and the UK central governments with their regional governments. According to Table 1 (and supported by the literature referenced in brackets), the areas under which the regional level has played a purposive role in influencing RE sit under the following: the creation of regional targets and strategies (route-maps and plans) for RE deployment, that are translated into visions (in some instances shared and coherent) for the exploitation of regions’ indigenous renewable resources to contribute towards economic development goals (see for instance Essletzbichler (2012), Späth and Rohracher (2010), De Laurentis et al (2017)); and the use of spatial planning in reflecting the capacities and willingness (or lack of) of local and regional actors in identifying the challenges that renewables present for the management of land use and to render land available for RE development (see for instance Wolsink (2018), Nadaï and Labussière (2009), Cowell (2010), Ellis et al (2013)).…”

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