Ideational bricolage as a route to transforming local institutions for heat decarbonisation: heat networks and local government in England

ABSTRACT

Heat networks could play a significant role in energy system decarbonisation. Unlike much energy infrastructure, heat networks are developed at a local-scale, raising questions about which actors and institutions, at which scales, will most effectively deliver networks. This paper examines different ideas about the role of local government and the translation of those ideas into the institutional framework for heat networks in England. The paper applies a discursive institutionalist approach to analyse ideas and discourses across three case studies and at the national level. We argue that there is a push back by local governments against the UK government dominant discourse of the efficient market in respect to heat network development. This model constitutes the role of local governments as enabling and convening actors, while emphasising techno-economic feasibility and private finance. There is, however, evidence of local governments specifying a more central ensuring role and incorporating local public goods beyond financial returns. We highlight ideational bricolage as a process by which the local state can mobilise ideational power to challenge dominant discourses. This demonstrates how powerful institutions, and their discursive components, can be disrupted – and potentially displaced – by locally led emergent, and perhaps only partially coherent, assemblages of ideas.

KEYWORDS:

• Discursive institutionalism
• heat networks
• urban climate governance
• local government
• bricolage

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 The City Region’s capital investment fund, made up of devolved Government funding and contributions from local government and private sector partners.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by a South West Doctoral Training Partnership studentship, an ESRC Postdoctoral Fellowship [Grant Number ES/T00858X/1], and by the UK Energy Research Centre [Grant Number EP/S029575/1]; Economic and Social Research Council.

Notes on contributors

Jess Britton

Jess Britton is a Research Fellow at the University of Edinburgh. Her research focuses on the political geography of sustainability transitions, in particular examining governance frameworks for decentralized energy systems.

Bridget Woodman

Bridget Woodman is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Exeter and her work explores the policy and economic regulatory aspects of delivering sustainable energy systems.

Janette Webb

Jan Webb is a Professor of Sociology of Organisations at the University of Edinburgh. Her work considers the social dimensions of energy and climate change, particularly the development of local and regional energy systems.