Local Demonstrations for Global Transitions—Dynamics across Governance Levels Fostering Socio-Technical Regime Change Towards Sustainability

Abstract

Which role do spatial dimensions play in the transformation of socio-technical regimes, in particular the energy system, towards more sustainable configurations? Concepts such as the multi-level perspective on socio-technical change have not given sufficient attention to space and place so far. We develop our considerations around the case of an “Energy Region” in Austria where people try to bring about a substantive shift in their “local” energy supply structure and have the ambition to contribute to a “general” transition towards sustainable energy systems. However, if this ambition is to stand the test of reality, what are the mechanisms and processes through which regional governance can have a broader impact on the transition of the energy system? What are the resources it can draw upon? What are the linkages with other governance levels? We investigate in detail how one regional showcase for the feasibility of a non-fossil, sustainable energy system was set up in Murau, a remote, alpine district of Austria. Starting from the multi-level framework for the modelling of niche-regime interaction, we put particular emphasis on the formation of discourse coalitions and dynamics of multi-level governance. Our findings support the view to pay considerably more attention to the interplay of local and non-local discourses and the dynamic relations between local initiatives and non-local networks which can provide specific opportunities for the legitimization and entrenchment of alternative socio-technical configurations.

Notes

For the distinction of place and territory we follow Jessop et al. (2008).

The empirical data has been gathered mainly in the context of two research projects conducted in 2005–2009. These projects have been funded by the Austrian Federal Ministry of Transport, Innovation and Technology, which is gratefully acknowledged. We mainly build our case on semi-structured interviews with local professionals and voluntary activists and a series of local workshops. Moreover, one of the projects comprised a joint learning process among three prominent Austrian “Energy Regions” (Späth et al., 2007, 2010).

We are very sceptical that a simple transfer of assumptions regarding the dynamics of socio-technical regimes from this global or national level to a local or regional level will bear fruit, as is assumed in some parts of the Dutch transition management literature (Loorbach, 2007).

For a more detailed discussion of this case, see Späth and Rohracher (2010).

Besides these important three objectives, there are two more which, however, largely overlap with the three documented here.