Search

If transdisciplinary sustainability research is to contribute to sustainability transitions, issues of power dynamics need to be understood and accounted for. However, examples of concrete methods that put this into practice are sparse. This paper presents a conceptual and methodological framework that develops a better understanding of the power phenomenon, while providing actionable knowledge. By focussing on the context of social innovation in energy transitions, we demonstrate how different theoretical conceptualisations of power can be translated into a collaborative, transdisciplinary research design. In a facilitated process, researchers, policy workers and practitioners from diverse social innovation fields developed and tested the Transformative Power Lab approach and co-wrote a ‘Power Guide’ as a strategic exploration of power dynamics in sustainability transitions,specifically regarding social innovation in energy transitions.Based on the insights that emerged during this process, we discuss how transdisciplinary and action-oriented approaches in sustainability transition studies might benefit from this approach and, potentially, develop it further.

Although energy-intensive industries are often seen as ‘hard-to-decarbonise’, net-zero megaprojects for industrial clusters promise to improve the technical and economic feasibility of hydrogen fuel switching and carbon capture and storage (CCS). Mobilising insights from the megaproject literature, this paper analyses the dynamics of an ambitious first-of-kind net-zero megaproject in the Humber industrial cluster in the United Kingdom, which includes CCS and hydrogen infrastructure systems, industrial fuel switching, CO2capture, green and blue hydrogen production, and hydrogen storage. To analyse the dynamics of this emerging megaproject, the article uses a socio-technical system lens to focus on developments in technology, actors, and institutions. Synthesising multiple megaproject literature insights, the paper develops a comprehensive framework that addresses both aggregate (‘outside-in’) developments and the endogenous (‘inside-out’) experiences and activities regarding three specific challenges: technical system integration, actor coordination, and institutional alignment. Drawing on an original dataset involving expert interviews (N = 46), site visits (N = 7), and document analysis, the ‘outside-in’ analysis finds that the Humber megaproject has progressed rapidly from outline visions to specific technical designs, enacted by new coalitions and driven by strengthening policy targets and financial support schemes. The complementary ‘inside-out’ analysis, however, also finds 12 alignment challenges that can delay or derail materialisation of the plans. While policies are essential aggregate drivers, institutional misalignments presently also prevent project-actors from finalising design and investment decisions. Our analysis also finds important tensions between the project's high-pace delivery focus (to meet government targets) and allowing sufficient time for pilot projects, learning-by-doing, and design iterations.

Decarbonizing industry represents a critical challenge, requiring massive technology up-scaling, accelerated investment, and substantial science-supported policy changes. Such broad challenges call for inputs from diverse disciplinary perspectives. In this paper we identify, analyze and synthesize theories and conceptual frameworks shaping industrial decarbonization research, with the aim of exploring those most relevant for understanding industrial sociotechnical change in a low-carbon future. We draw from an expert-guided process covering 71 years of academic literature to present 88 distinct theories connected to industrial decarbonization and change. Based on an expert review, a literature review, and thematic analysis, we identify eight families of perspectives: theories of sociotechnical transitions, innovation and diffusion, social equity and acceptance, space place and geography, organizational behavior and management, politics and governance, risk and communication, and industrial ecology and sociology. We analyze these theories in terms of their ‘fit’ to the topic of industrial decarbonization, with 25 theories identified as being core. The second part of the study delves more deeply into typologies of underlying focus, theoretical emphasis, scale and unit of analysis, temporality, and theoretical crossovers. We conclude with implications for synthesis and lacuna in theory selection. In doing so, we seek to broaden conceptual debates that often risk being narrowly discussed in silos, missing opportunities from cross-disciplinary pollination. We provide a toolkit for researchers to utilize when studying industrial decarbonization, decline, and change. We also offer strategies for ordering, selecting, and synthesizing diverse theoretical options.

This paper reports on a survey of editors undertaken during 2013. The survey asked about lifestyle and work, and in particular how these are changing with the growth of self-publishing authors. This article reports on the changing opportunities for editorial work and the practices of independent editors, and how their working routines have changed over the past three years. It reveals a shift from working for traditional publishers towards working for new clients, including self-publishing authors; relationships with traditional publishers are strained for a variety of reasons, and increasing satisfaction levels are discernible in relationships with experienced self-publishers. The paper considers the consequences of editors' changing patterns of work and client base, and likely future outcomes. Areas for further close monitoring and research are suggested.

This paper presents new evidence on the world of the independent editor in the publishing industry, analysing their demographic background, education and training, working practices, links with professional organizations, motivations for ‘going it alone‘, and job satisfaction. The results help contribute to the understanding of this important and growing segment of the publishing industry, challenge some of the commonly held beliefs about their role in the industry and set these within the broader context of changes in work organization in publishing. Contrary to the assumption that self-publishing largely takes place without the involvement of an editor, research into the processes of self-publishing (previously published in this journal) found that editors (and other providers of publishing services) were in fact often involved. The results are significant for the traditional publishing industry, the users of independent editorial services, and the editors themselves.

In this paper, we explore the development of financing and subsidies for renewable energy in three fossil-fuelled European countries: Poland, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. Financing for renewable energy is an existing arena involving multi-actor activities and practices that develop and implement (innovative) financial instruments to facilitate investments in renewable energy. This means that the paper focuses on different financial mechanisms – such as grants, awards, subsidies, crowdfunding, community bonds, ventures, social investment, as long as these funding instruments finance sustainable energy infrastructure and activities. The extent to which this is changing social relations and comes with new ways of doing, thinking and/or organizing is an empirical topic explicitly examined in the study. We first briefly define and conceptualize financial mechanisms and subsidies before explicating our mixed methods research design consisting of scoping, document analysis, 22 original expert interviews, and observational data from eight meetings and events. We then compare the recent history of solar and wind energy financing and subsidies in our three countries. These comparative cases reveal the temporality of subsidization, indicating fundamental changes in the patterns and logics of financing over the past two decades. They reveal shifts in authority and an expansion of actors involved in financing. They lastly reveal tensions and contestations in financing, including gaps in coverage and conflicts among stakeholder groups. We conclude with future insights for renewable energy diffusion, innovation, and policy.

The paper highlights shortcomings in the contribution of qualitative social sciences and humanities (SSH) research to tackling challenges connected with energy and climate change. These shortcomings are illustrated based on analysis of data gathered in relation to EU (e.g. Horizon 2020; FP7) and European national research funding and energy policy. The paper finds that a techno-economic energy imaginary continues to dominate European energy systems and governs expectations of energy research and its conduct, the integration of SSH with energy policy-making and the framing and foci of policy. A more nuanced, context-sensitive approach is presented as an alternative ‘practices and cultural change’ energy imaginary. This emphasises attention to social practices relevant to energy use, interdisciplinarity and the coproduction of knowledge with diverse actors. Adoption of such an imaginary can help to enhance policy integration of SSH and the contribution of SSH to ameliorating energy and climate change challenges while providing insight into why gaps occur between (supra)national energy policy and local practices.

ENERGISE is the first large-scale European effort to reduce household energy use through a change initiative that adopted a ‘living lab’ approach informed by social practice theory. Two challenges were introduced to 306 households in eight countries: to lower indoor temperatures and to reduce laundry cycles. This contribution demonstrates the usefulness of a practice-centered design that takes habits and routines as an entry point for understanding how different ‘elements of practices’ can be re-crafted. We discuss how a participatory ‘living lab’ approach that explicitly encouraged deliberation and reflexivity served to sharpen attention on practices as central to change. We discuss how ‘doing laundry’ and ‘keeping warm’, as very different types of practices, responded to the change initiative. For laundry, tangible changes in material arrangements, news skills and sensory competencies, and shifts in what is seen as ‘normal’ proved to be central to reducing wash cycles, including wearing clothes more often, airing them out, using smell to gauge cleanliness, or keeping dirty clothes out of sight. Warming people rather than spaces through added layers and activities, and related shifts in norms around thermal comfort, emerged as crucial steps towards lowering indoor temperatures. Average changes in reported temperatures and wash cycles indicate that reductions are possible, without an emphasis on individuals or technologies as central to change. We end with a discussion on the implications of our approach for energy sufficiency thinking and practice, emphasizing the merits of taking the complexity of everyday life seriously when designing change initiatives.