Urban Energy Transitions: Places, Processes and Politics of Socio-technical Change

Abstract

city of British Columbia aspires to become ''the greenest city in the world by 2020'' (City of Vancouver, 2012, pp. ii and 5). Vancouver is already set to bring . community-based greenhouse gas emissions [in 2012] down to 5% below 1990 levels, even as [the City's] population has grown by more than 27 per cent and jobs have increased by over 18% (City of Vancouver, 2012, p. 18).Meanwhile, 1000 kilometres to the northeast, in many parts of the state of Alberta, mining companies are actively extracting as many fossil fuels as the domestic and international markets can bear from the huge provincial reserves of bituminous coal and oil sands, making the latter ''the fastest growing source of greenhouse gas emissions in Canada'' according to Greenpeace. 2 Hence, while more and more cities and regions around the world, like Vancouver, boast very ambitious low carbon strategies, pointing to hopeful ''soft energy paths'' of more sustainable and peaceful energy and urban futures, current global economic, geopolitical and indeed geological trends generate quite different tendencies towards a prioritising of industrial profits and national energy autonomy/self-sufficiency.

Boundary Bridging Arrangements: A Boundary Work Approach to Local Energy Transitions

“…[20,[76][77][78][79]). However, to not become overly complex and remain applicable, analytical frameworks studying the multifaceted dynamics of sustainability transition will necessarily have to focus on some dimensions while making less allowance for others.…”

“…Local energy transitions are, however, saturated with power, individual interests, and conflicts: actors compete over shaping these transitions to serve their interests (cf. [13,21,79,85]). In these struggles, some actors will usually exercise more power than others, thereby having a stronger impact on the design of boundary objects and boundary organizations.…”

Omställning – Tillväxt – Effektivisering : Energifrågor vid renovering av flerbostadshus

“…Det har lyft fram betydelsen av att inte på förhand begränsa analysen till den enskilda fastighetsägaren (jmf ex May, Hodson et al 2013;Rutherford & Coutard 2014). Energisammansättningsbegreppet skiljer sig också åt från ansatser som utgår från på förhand bestämda systemgränser, eller som utgår från att arbete med energifrågor styrs av abstrakta strukturer och hierarkier (jmf Farias 2011:370).…”

Renewable Energy Development in China: Spatial Clustering and Socio-Spatial Embeddedness

“…However, extant studies tend to overlook the diversity of sub-national This article is part of the Topical Collection on Regional Renewable Energy (China) contexts, and are criticized against simplifying and mechanizing the role of local contextual factors in energy transitions process [1,5,6]. In recent years, the concrete spatial contexts within which transitions take place are increasingly recognized in energy and transition studies [7][8][9][10]. It is related to this "spatial turn" that in this review article on renewable energy development in China, we take a geographical perspective, by addressing the socio-spatial manifestations of renewable energy transitions.…”