| 1. |
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| 2. |
- Brett, Nancy, 1974-
(author)
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Bridging Local Constraints and Global Priorities : The Shaping of Swedish Biogas Markets
- 2024
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Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Biogas offers a sustainable alternative to fossil fuels, promoting circularity and local economic growth. It is, therefore, increasingly prioritised by decision-makers within Sweden and the EU. Despite its advantages, the Swedish market is perceived as underachieving in terms of scale and penetration. Biogas, a socio-technical system, has necessitated state and regional support for its establishment and expansion, given its competition with entrenched fossil fuels and its inherent material limitations. This thesis primarily seeks to explore how the interplay of political, societal, and market perspectives has influenced the biogas market. The research zeroes in on the Swedish biogas market, with a special focus on the impact of geographical regions on market shaping. Using in part a longitudinal case study revealed that historically, successful regions have relied heavily on translations of missions and visions for developing the biogas markets. These translations were found to build heavily on local concerns and local resources. The consequence of this meant that the global context of the climate problem was not always the focus of policy and strategies. The significance of local interpretation was further unveiled as a component of value creation, where value is closely tied to the material and social conditions of local geographies. Value creation for intricate systems like biogas, which are multifunctional and span various social domains, indicates that biogas and biofertilisers are entities that are both naturally and socially constructed, underlining the impossibility of separating the natural from the social. The socio-material properties were important for biogas market shaping, as shown by tracing both biogas and biofertilisers. The connections between methane and fossil gas were found to be positive and negative for the biogas market. The reliance on fossil gas has created conditions that allow the biogas market to expand. However, the narrative of fossil gas as a bridge has, at times, led to doubts about biogas, and there is a risk that instead of biogas greening fossil gas, fossil gas has a ‘browning’ effect on the biogas market. For biofertiliser, the socio-material was found to be in a phase of change. It was found that the biogas market has been built for the energy market, but increasingly, it is important to consider the role of biofertiliser in this market. What was previously considered to be a by-product and a problem for the producers, is increasingly seen as an asset. Similar to the findings of the connection between fossil gas and biomethane, this is a change in social framings more than a change in the material. The movement from waste to by-product to an asset can be an important view both empirically and theoretically to foreground that for an object to be understood as valuable or sustainable, work is needed. This highlighted that markets do not simply appear, and objects are not inherently valuable or sustainable. It is instead an interplay between the social, material, and technical, which (re)shapes products and their markets. Lastly, this thesis, through the lens of marketisation, traced the concerns of the bio-gas market. It found that the biogas market is still evolving often referred to as a hot market. The boundaries of the market, including what is considered an externality, are still being defined. While this doesn’t fully account for the slow growth, it does enable stakeholders to use this understanding to influence the market’s development. As the biogas market changes, along with other factors such as the role of fossil gas, the impact of material changes with liquified biogas, and the growth of the concentrated biofertiliser market, it’s evident that the narratives will shift. This thesis adds to the empirical literature on renewable energy by emphasising that regions that depend on creating value for their citizens by promoting a local narrative will need to adapt to reflect the new material realities. This will influence both how valuation processes are conducted and the use of missions and visions by both the public and private sectors.
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| 3. |
- Dóczi, Gabriella, et al.
(author)
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Knowledge management in transition management : The ripples of learning
- 2022
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In: Sustainable cities and society. - : Elsevier BV. - 2210-6707. ; 78
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Despite the extensive literature on learning in urban transitions, we still have a limited understanding on how higher-order learning takes place in transition management and is spread within the transition arena. In this paper we analyze the efforts of transferring such embedded knowledge and its interrelation with learning through the examples of three Swedish municipalities engaged in urban transition management. To do so, we developed a framework of learning ripples that conceptualizes learning across social boundaries as an active and two-way process that goes beyond transferring and receiving knowledge, but also requires higher order learning that includes knowledge integration in the form of defining and formulating one's role and contributions to transitions. We found that higher order learning is largely influenced by the quality and frequency of interactions between the transferer and receivers. The further a stakeholder was located from the center of the transition arena in terms of direct interactions, the less chance occurred for higher order learning that resulted in tensions and conflicts in the collaboration. Our results show the problem as a lack of knowledge integration or a lack of conditions which allow stakeholders to articulate their views or develop an idea about their own role in the whole process.
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| 4. |
- Envall, Fredrik, 1990-, et al.
(author)
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Att energigemenskapa : Energigemenskaper som arena för klimatomställningens praktiker och politik
- 2023
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In: Sociologisk forskning. - Linköping : Sveriges Sociologförbund. - 0038-0342 .- 2002-066X. ; 60:3-4, s. 299-325
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- I denna artikel undersöks energigemenskaper som en arena inom vilken möjligheterna till en mer rättvis och demokratiskt orienterad klimatomställning tar form. Mer specifikt utforskas hur energigemenskaper i Sverige utkristalliseras mot bakgrund av EU:s Ren Energi-paket, där dessa utpekats som ett viktigt verktyg för ett utökat medborgardeltagande och en fördjupad demokratisering. Med avstamp i kritisk samhällsvetenskaplig miljöforskning undersöks det svenska landskapet av energigemenskaper som ett diskursivt slagfält där sociomateriella arrangemang och aktörsintressen formeras. Särskild uppmärksamhet ägnas åt aktörers politiska klangbotten för engagemang, de ideologiska bevekelsegrunder som kommer till uttryck, de förändringsstrategier som sätts i spel, och de allianser som bildas. Detta är av miljösociologiskt intresse för att undersöka hur lovvärda ambitioner och visioner om ett klimatneutralt samhälle omsätts i praktiken samt för att belysa maktrelationer som annars riskerar osynliggöras. Vi finner att svenska energigemenskaper generellt tvingas förhålla sig till en dominerande innovationsorienterad diskurs med avpolitiserande effekt. Samtidigt florerar en mångfald andra sätt att “energigemenskapa,” vilka återspeglar värden som avviker från den dominerande diskursen.
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| 5. |
- Envall, Fredrik, 1990-
(author)
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Experimenting for change? : The politics of accomplishing environmental governance through smart energy pilot projects
- 2021
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Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- This thesis investigates how smart energy experimentation arranges environmental governance in Sweden, focusing on the politics of such processes, against the background of an escalating environmental and climate crisis that necessitates urgent energy transformation. Empirically the thesis includes case studies of pilot projects in Stockholm, Malmö, Västerås, and on Gotland, and analysis of the policy landscape, mainly through text analysis and interviews. Theoretically the study takes a critical approach based on a Foucauldian understanding of governance. Concepts are derived from “governmentality studies” and science and technology studies. This approach aims to unpack experimentation as governance arrangement through asking questions about how governance is arranged beyond singular experiments, such as ideas and practices of achieving broader change beyond isolated experiments. The thesis shows how smart energy experimentation is incorporated into an existing governmental apparatus and underpinned by a broader political rationality, a “rationale of governance” crystallized in institutional arrangements and policy instruments. This political rationality underpins governance arrangements shaped through experimentation both across governmental agencies and policy networks and on a local level. The investigation also highlights contingencies of arranging governance across cases as ambitions are materialized, as well as the significance of different local contexts and the import of infrastructures on how governance is produced. The main contribution is a theoretical conceptualization of “experimentation” as arranging environmental governance, and empirically uncovering how governance is shaped beyond singular experiments in a contemporary Swedish context. Such analysis is currently lacking in the literature on environmental politics and energy transitions. The thesis thus elucidates how power relations are shaped through smart energy experimentation, contributing to shaping knowledge generation and interpretation of environmental issues, thus institutionalizing particular ways of handling environmental issues and improving the environmental condition.
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| 6. |
- Envall, Fredrik, 1990-, et al.
(author)
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Technopolitics of future-making: The ambiguous role of energy communities in shaping energy system change
- 2023
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In: Environment and Planning E. - : Sage Publications. - 2514-8486 .- 2514-8494.
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Implementing the EU Clean Energy Package (CEP) and its provisions for strengthening energy communities – the cooperative production and management of energy at local level by citizens, a concept emphasising citizen participation and empowerment – has opened a new arena for contestations over energy futures in Sweden. An aim of CEP is to contribute to just energy transitions through citizen participation and democratisation by using the potential of energy communities to reconfigure socio-material relations of the energy system. However, different actor constellations claim interpretative privilege about the role and importance of energy communities in a low-carbon future. To better understand political contestations over energy futures, we unpack broader discursive patterns and their socio-material enactments related to legally define and regulate the operation of energy communities in Sweden. Through the analytical lens of socio-technical imaginaries and technopolitics, we explore struggles over energy futures within conduits of institutionalised policymaking and attempts by energy communities to navigate technopolitical barriers in relation to grid infrastructure, power relations, actor constellations, rules and regulations and knowledge claims. We find that energy communities are not easily accommodated to the dominant socio-technical imaginary of Sweden’s energy future. What is at stake in processes related to the transposition of the CEP into national law is essentially different political ideas of how society should be organised.
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| 7. |
- Farhangi, Mohsen, 1989-, et al.
(author)
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More than wires and screens: Assumptions about agency of devices in smart energy projects
- 2024
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In: Energy Research & Social Science. - : ELSEVIER. - 2214-6296 .- 2214-6326. ; 114
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Developing a low-carbon energy system requires far-reaching societal transformations, not least in energy-related practices and behaviour. Smart energy grids have recently gained attention among national governments as a potential solution for low-carbon energy transitions at the household level as they are assumed to empower energy consumers and make them an active part of a more balanced and sustainable energy system. The aim of this paper is to investigate the ways in which managers of such project interventions understand the sources of agency leading to a more sustainable energy use and whether these changes are rather driven by the design of devices or incentives, or by the broader socio-political context of user agency. These investigations are enriched by a comprehensive review of social science literature on smart energy grids. Interviews with technology and project developers of four smart energy grid projects in Sweden (READY, InteGrid, InterFlex, and FLEXICIENCY), and reviews of developer's reports and presentations were done to investigate how technology and project developers try to use devices as intermediaries to increase household participation in smart energy grid projects and change their energy-consuming practices. The result showed that developers primarily focus on the functionality of their devices and user interfaces. However, it also highlights that they often overlook the integration of these technologies within the broader socio-cultural and political contexts that critically influence technology adoption.
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| 8. |
- Farhangi, Mosen, et al.
(author)
-
Planning Education and Transformative Capacity for Climate-Neutral Cities
- 2023
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In: Journal of planning education and research. - : SAGE PUBLICATIONS INC. - 0739-456X .- 1552-6577.
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- To achieve their goal to become climate neutral, Swedish municipalities must significantly improve their transformative capacities. Adapting the roles and practices of urban planners is an important element in this process. This paper critically reflects on the way in which improved planning education may help to enable a new generation of planners to face the challenges of rapid urban transformation and provides them with the knowledge and tools needed for these new roles. The results suggest that there are interdependencies between the demand of municipalities for knowledge and skills and the capacity of educational programs for educating planners with transformative abilities.
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| 9. |
- Foulds, Chris, et al.
(author)
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An agenda for future Social Sciences and Humanities research on energy efficiency : 100 priority research questions
- 2022
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In: Humanities & Social Sciences Communications. - : Springer Nature. - 2662-9992. ; 9:1
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Decades of techno-economic energy policymaking and research have meant evidence from the Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH)-including critical reflections on what changing a societys relation to energy (efficiency) even means-have been underutilised. In particular, (i) the SSH have too often been sidelined and/or narrowly pigeonholed by policymakers, funders, and other decision-makers when driving research agendas, and (ii) the setting of SSH-focused research agendas has not historically embedded inclusive and deliberative processes. The aim of this paper is to address these gaps through the production of a research agenda outlining future SSH research priorities for energy efficiency. A Horizon Scanning exercise was run, which sought to identify 100 priority SSH questions for energy efficiency research. This exercise included 152 researchers with prior SSH expertise on energy efficiency, who together spanned 62 (sub-)disciplines of SSH, 23 countries, and a full range of career stages. The resultant questions were inductively clustered into seven themes as follows: (1) Citizenship, engagement and knowledge exchange in relation to energy efficiency; (2) Energy efficiency in relation to equity, justice, poverty and vulnerability; (3) Energy efficiency in relation to everyday life and practices of energy consumption and production; (4) Framing, defining and measuring energy efficiency; (5) Governance, policy and political issues around energy efficiency; (6) Roles of economic systems, supply chains and financial mechanisms in improving energy efficiency; and (7) The interactions, unintended consequences and rebound effects of energy efficiency interventions. Given the consistent centrality of energy efficiency in policy programmes, this paper highlights that well-developed SSH approaches are ready to be mobilised to contribute to the development, and/or to understand the implications, of energy efficiency measures and governance solutions. Implicitly, it also emphasises the heterogeneity of SSH policy evidence that can be produced. The agenda will be of use for both (1) those new to the energy-SSH field (including policyworkers), for learnings on the capabilities and capacities of energy-SSH, and (2) established energy-SSH researchers, for insights on the collectively held futures of energy-SSH research.
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| 10. |
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| 11. |
- Jain, Mansi, et al.
(author)
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Assessing transformative change of infrastructures in urban area redevelopments
- 2022
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In: Cities. - : Elsevier Science Ltd. - 0264-2751 .- 1873-6084. ; 124
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Urban redevelopments create opportunities for experimenting with innovative infrastructural solutions towards transformative urban change. Novel solutions such as decentralised infrastructure systems can become essential strategies for helping cities meet multiple sustainability outcomes. However, achieving infrastructural change is a tremendous challenge given the obduracy of these large and complex systems. Assessing and monitoring ongoing infrastructure shift, transformative urban systems needs to provide a better understating of how to account for systemic change. This paper addresses the challenge of assessing and monitoring urban transformative change in a forward-looking and systematic way. A conceptual assessment framework is developed, which identifies key critical dimensions necessary to assess the transformative change potential in the context of urban redevelopment areas. These include the shaping of new expectations/visions, the establishment of new social networks, the creation of learning processes, institutional alignment, and the establishment of new modes of governance. The conceptual framework is applied in a case study of selected urban redevelopment sites in New Delhi, India. The framework was found useful which gaining a differentiated understanding of the transformation process and identifying the strengths and weaknesses within the urban redevelopment niche that can potentially support or obstruct the transition process.
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| 12. |
- Jayaweera, Ravi, et al.
(author)
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Houses of cards and concrete: (In)stability configurations and seeds of destabilisation of Phnom Penh?s building regime
- 2023
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In: Geoforum. - : PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD. - 0016-7185 .- 1872-9398. ; 141
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Scholars widely agree that cities and their built environments play a decisive role for a global transformation towards sustainability. This necessitates a shift away from unsustainable practices and constellations in cities towards more sustainable ones - particularly in contexts of the Global South, as they see the strongest current and projected urban growth and related construction activities. Research on urban sustainability transitions has however largely been biased conceptually towards innovation and new technologies, and geographically towards the Global North. While more research recently emerged that addresses the destabilization of dominant orders, it still predominantly considers Northern cases, and those with discernible transition processes. This paper seeks to address these biases and studies factors that contribute to the (in)stability of socio-technical regimes. We argue that (de)stabilizing factors and the particular (in)stability configurations they form, must be scrutinised regardless of transition phase as they are ingrained in regime structures before transition processes become apparent. Identifying and characterizing (in)stability configurations and the seeds of destabilization can then support the development of contextualised transition governance strategies. Employing the building sector of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, as an empirical case, this study differentiates sources of (in)stability from economic, socio-cultural and political-institutional dimensions. Our analysis suggests an ambiguous (in)stability configuration with ten-sions primarily within the socio-cultural and economic dimensions, and a dominance of stabilizing effects from the political-institutional dimension. The paper closes with implications for transition governance strategies and general arguments on the heterogeneity of transition contexts and regime constellations, particularly in countries of the Global South.
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| 13. |
- Jayaweera, Ravi, et al.
(author)
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Urban transition interventions in the Global South: Creating empowering environments in disempowering contexts?
- 2023
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In: Energy Research & Social Science. - : ELSEVIER. - 2214-6296 .- 2214-6326. ; 106
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Changing power relations and the empowerment of frontrunners are considered crucial preconditions for sustainability transitions. This paper looks into the empowerment of actors in the context of a transition intervention in the Global South. We argue that empowerment is of particular importance in contexts of the Global South or those with illiberal characteristics. A holistic understanding of empowerment is needed to improve transition governance instruments in heterogeneous institutional environments. Therefore, we introduce a multi-dimensional empowerment framework that integrates empowerment effects in terms of resources, willingness and social capital and apply it to an ongoing transition intervention in the building sector of Phnom Penh, Cambodia. We hereby explore in which ways and to what degree an urban transition governance intervention can contribute to the empowerment of frontrunners in the Global South. Our results indicate that empowerment effects were particularly noticeable in the social capital and willingness dimensions. While mental resources were expanded, a lack of financial means persisted. The study highlights the need to stronger engage with resource-related empowerment as well as the need for transition studies to develop interventions that succeed in balancing the creation of empowering safe spaces and the selective integration of state actors in illiberal contexts in the Global South and elsewhere. Finally, it also demonstrates that the application of a multi-dimensional empowerment framework supports a differentiated analysis of transition interventions, much needed given the complexities of the construction sector in the Global South.
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| 14. |
- Klitkou, Antje, et al.
(author)
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The interconnected dynamics of social practices and their implications for transformative change : A review
- 2022
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In: Sustainable Production and Consumption. - : Elsevier. - 2352-5509. ; 31, s. 603-614
-
Research review (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This review article analyses the interconnectedness of different fields of social practice. Our aim is to understand if and how the literature using social practice theory addresses these interrelations and how this is linked to questions of sustainability transformations. Based on our review, we suggest a framework that conceives everyday life practices of working, dwelling, mobility, eating, and recreation as closely intertwined and not changing independently of each other. As our analysis demonstrates, such a framing also contributes to better understanding the dynamics of (un)sustainable transformative change. Greater sustainability cannot be achieved by technological fixes or changes in individual behaviour alone but requires comprehensive interventions that address the interactions between practices, as these often co-evolve and co-locate, and changes need to be aligned between different practice fields. This has high relevance for understanding the development of public policy interventions that aim to increase the sustainability of everyday life. Our review shows a significant value of social practice research on the interconnectedness of different practice fields, although certain areas still appear to be somewhat neglected, such as the interconnectedness of work-related practices with other practices of everyday life. It furthermore points to the potential contribution of studies of interconnected practices to the literature on sustain ability transitions, a perspective otherwise neglected in transition studies focusing on organisational actors and institutional dimensions of socio-technical change.
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| 15. |
- Lu, Shanyun Sam
(author)
-
Managing contexts for innovation and renewal : Strategies of incumbent firms in traditional manufacturing industries
- 2021
-
Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Innovation is important for established firms (i.e., incumbents) in traditional manufacturing industries (TMIs) to continuously survive and thrive. While internal factors often receive attention, different factors external to these firms enable and hinder the creation and realisation of novel products and processes. Firms in TMIs thus need to strategically deal with their outer contexts. How they do so in the post-industrial era and why they act in particular ways remain unclear in extant innovation studies. This dissertation offers nuanced explanations of the strategies of incumbents in TMIs, regarding managing contexts for innovation and renewal.This dissertation investigates three cases involving firms in five different TMIs in Sweden. It shows that even firms that are expected to be the most inert display a proactive reorientation by developing radical and sustainable technologies that potentially revolutionise their industries and drive societal change. Innovative firms simultaneously manage multiple external factors such as societal norms and regulations, diverse networks, and place-based (lack of) resources by leveraging, shaping and fostering the alignment of those factors to protect and empower innovations. A core take-away for innovation managers is to “work in but also work out!”
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| 16. |
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| 17. |
- Mutter, Amelia, 1989-, et al.
(author)
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Competing Transport Futures : Tensions between Imaginaries of Electrification and Biogas Fuel in Sweden
- 2022
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In: Science, Technology and Human Values. - : Sage Publications. - 0162-2439 .- 1552-8251. ; 47:1, s. 85-111
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The choice of fuels has frequently been at the center of debates about how a future low-carbon mobility system can be achieved. This paper introduces two visions of biogas fuels and electricity using material from interviews and documents in Swedish transport. These visions are analyzed as interrelated sociotechnical imaginaries. To better understand the way visions of biogas and electric vehicles (EVs) dynamically shape and condition each other, four dimensions of sociotechnical imaginaries are further developed: spatial boundedness, temporality, coherence and contestation, and the socio-material relations they are associated with. Imaginaries of biogas and EVs differ with respect to these characteristics. The biogas imaginary is made up of locally bounded visions of the desirable future, showing how imaginaries can be fragmented and contested, often because of their embeddedness in local socio-material systems of resource use. This local boundedness is exemplified by contrasting cases of contested biogas imaginaries in the Swedish municipalities of Linköping and Malmö. The imaginary of EVs, in contrast, is more uniform nationally and even influenced by international expectations that in the future vehicles will be shared, electric, and autonomous. The qualities of these imaginaries shape the way they interrelate and coevolve as sociotechnical changes of the transport system unfold.
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| 18. |
- Mutter, Amelia, 1989-
(author)
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Multiple Imaginaries of the Fossil Fuel Free Future : Biogas and Electricity in Swedish Urban Transport
- 2020
-
Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- I kölvattnet av klimatkrisen har det blivit allt tydligare att det fossilbaserade transportsystemet måste genomgå en global omvandling. Många alternativ för förnyelsebara drivmedel har föreslagits, alla omgivna av föreställningar om hur dessa tekniker kommer att bidra till en bättre framtid. Dessa föreställningar påverkar utvecklingen eftersom implementeringen av varje alternativ teknik kräver uppbyggnad av mångfaldiga socio-tekniska ensembler som stöder dess användning. Som ett resultat av detta är det troligt att processen för att ersätta fossila bränslen med dessa förnybara alternativ kommer bli komplex. Avhandlingen betraktar uppkomsten av två av dessa föreställningar om förnybara bränslen och studerar visioner om biogas och el i ett svenskt sammanhang. Biogas har en lång historia som transportbränsle i Sverige där, även om den utgör en liten andel av den totala bränsleanvändningen, utgör den ändå grunden för många kommunala kollektivtrafiksystem. Elektriska fordon har blivit alltmer attraktiva när fler aktörer anammar en föreställning som ser en framtid där fordon är delade, autonoma och elektriska. Denna interaktion exemplifieras i kollektivtrafik i städer eftersom många kommuner börjar implementera elbussar i ett försök att öka energieffektiviteten och minska föroreningarna. Denna avhandling följer tre fallstudier där föreställningarna om biogas och elfordon samverkar: kollektivtrafik i städerna Linköping respektive Malmö samt en analys av det omfattande nationella policydokumentet Fossilfrihet på väg. Avhandlingen bidrar till en bredare förståelse för hur visioner kan påverka tröghet och förändring av transportalternativ inom den bredare omställningen till en fossilfri framtid.
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| 19. |
- Niskanen, Johan, et al.
(author)
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A politics of calculation : Negotiating pathways to zero-energy buildings in Sweden
- 2022
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In: Technological forecasting & social change. - : Elsevier Science Inc. - 0040-1625 .- 1873-5509. ; 179
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- New building codes and stricter regulation of energy consumption and CO2 emissions have become key strategies to support the low-carbon transition of the housing sector. Such regulations rest heavily on setting performance targets for buildings and developing standardized calculation procedures for determining the compliance of new buildings with the building code. While developing such targets, standards and calculation tools are largely presented as a technocratic and expert-driven process; our argument is that these calculations are actually heavily imbued with politics. Empirically, the article analyses the implementation of the European Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD), which makes nearly zero-energy buildings mandatory, into Swedish law. Studying the negotiations and controversies taking place in adapting the Swedish building code reveals how the power play of resourceful actors, the negotiation of interests and the different visions and valuations of what is regarded important for the future of the housing sector shape calculation procedures and how these are included in the new building code. Unpacking the political decisions and valuations underlying the calculative practices and technical details of the building code can be seen as an important step towards a more transparent public debate about the future of sustainable buildings.
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| 20. |
- Niskanen, Johan, 1984-, et al.
(author)
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Mainstreaming passive houses: more gradual reconfiguration than transition
- 2022
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In: Journal of Environmental Policy and Planning. - : Routledge; Taylor & Francis. - 1523-908X .- 1522-7200. ; 24:6, s. 612-624
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Buildings are major contributors to greenhouse gas emissions and energy consumption. A transition to low-carbon housing requires the introduction of very energy-efficient buildings on a global scale and effective policy measures to support such a transformation. In this article, we study one such radical solution for energy-efficient buildings - the passive house - through a national case study in Sweden. We identify three societal domains where passive houses increasingly become embedded in the building sector: Firstly, the framing of passive houses in the public debate shifted from being presented as a radical alternative for a future low-carbon housing sector to being perceived as a specific low-energy building market segment. Secondly, passive houses have become part of a broader regional institutional and political context rather than a niche. Finally, passive houses have become a driving force for stricter building regulations but in a way that rather led to the assimilation of selected passive house features into existing sectoral structures. We conclude that the dynamics of change we find is rather a mainstreaming process of gradual adaptation of construction sector structures and passive houses than a radical transformation of the built environment or the diffusion of new building technology.
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| 21. |
- Niskanen, Johan, 1984-, et al.
(author)
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Passive houses as affiliative objects : Investment calculations, energy modelling, and collaboration strategies of Swedish housing companies
- 2020
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In: Energy Research & Social Science. - : Elsevier. - 2214-6296 .- 2214-6326. ; 70
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from the building sector has had only limited success so far. In Sweden, the uptake of highly energy efficient buildings such as passive houses has been very patchy, although some regions perform much better than others. This article investigates the interlinkage of organizational structures of housing companies with techno-material characteristics of such buildings, as one of the factors of this uneven development. Empirically, the paper studies two passive house companies in their regional settings in Sweden. The results show that technological characteristics of passive houses co-develop with organizational changes in housing companies such as new types of economic investment calculations, business models, project planning and energy modelling tools. The organizational re-making of housing companies can be seen as a crucial step in the transition to a sustainable housing sector.
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| 22. |
- Rohracher, Harald, Professor, 1965-
(author)
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Energiesysteme und Transitionen zur Nachhaltigkeit aus räumliche Perspektive
- 2021. - 1
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In: Energiegeographie. - Stuttgart : UTB Verlag. - 9783825253202 - 9783838553207 ; , s. 47-55
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Book chapter (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Die Veränderung eines Energiesystems ist als komplexer Prozess zu verstehen, in dem neue Technologien und Organisationen auf bestehende Infrastrukturen, Regulationen und Verhaltensweisen treffen. Der Ansatz der Sustainable Transitions versteht Transformationen von Energiesystemen als ein Zusammenspiel von Innovativen Nischen, einem etablierten soziotechnichen Regime und übergreifenden gesellschaftlichen und ökonomischen Veränderungen. Der Beitrag stellt die in der Transitionsforschung breit rezipierte Multi-Level-Perspective und deren Verbindungen zur Innovationsforschung in der Wirtschaftsgeopraphie vor. Eine geographische Perspektive stellt dabei die jeweils spezifischen Bedingungen von soziotechnischen Transitionen in Städten und Regionen in den Vordergrund.
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| 23. |
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| 24. |
- Rohracher, Harald, Professor, 1965-, et al.
(author)
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Mission incomplete: Layered practices of monitoring and evaluation in Swedish transformative innovation policy
- 2023
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In: Science and Public Policy. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 0302-3427 .- 1471-5430. ; 50:2, s. 336-349
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Research and innovation policies (IPs) across Europe, particularly in Sweden, are increasingly framed by an orientation towards societal challenges, missions, and transformative change. Innovation-funding agencies are adapting to these new approaches but struggle with a host of new questions and challenges on how to re-structure public policy interventions and develop new structures for monitoring, learning, and evaluation. In this article, we investigate how this IP paradigm shift is dealt with in the IP discourse and practice in Sweden and how an incomplete shift creates mismatches and tensions with existing structures for programme evaluation and monitoring. Despite the new paradigm, the implementation of evaluation strategies mostly follows a traditional 'summative' framing. The ongoing discussions in Swedish IP demonstrate that a paradigm shift towards transformative innovation cannot unfold its potential unless it is also followed by a shift in the practices of programme implementation and evaluation.
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| 25. |
- Rohracher, Harald, et al.
(author)
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Navigating missions: experiences from a long-term R&I programme to transform the building sector in Austria
- 2024
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In: Science and Public Policy. - : OXFORD UNIV PRESS. - 0302-3427 .- 1471-5430. ; 51:1, s. 67-79
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Mission-oriented innovation policies are increasingly recognized as an effective strategy for initiating and guiding far-reaching transition processes towards sustainability. In this article, we examine a successful early example of a national mission-oriented research and innovation (R&I) programme (Building of Tomorrow) that has had a significant impact on the building sector in Austria. The objective is to identify the factors and dynamics that contributed to the programmes success and helped maintain its momentum over a period of more than 20 years. By successively integrating different groups of researchers and practitioners, organizing programme development as an adaptive process of co-production, and regularly reinventing itself by shifting focus and guiding ideas, the programme sustained its mission momentum. Several insights from this case study can provide valuable guidance for organizing mission-oriented programmes, particularly by avoiding an exclusive emphasis on mission orientation by design at the expense of processes of sense-making, emergence, and reinvention.
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