ABSTRACT
This paper advances a households-in-place perspective to understanding socio-spatial disadvantage in energy-carbon restructuring. This reflects evidence that the costs and benefits of low carbon restructuring will not be distributed evenly or fairly between people and places. Some households and localities will benefit from decarbonization but others will be disproportionately affected by rising energy costs and job loss. In this paper we use the example of England to explore different dimensions of advantage and disadvantage in low carbon restructuring and how they might be reinforced or mediated by intervention by governments, NGOs and citizens. The paper makes a distinctive contribution by linking different sites and policy areas in the distributional politics of decarbonization from the perspective of individuals and households. Emphasis is placed on understanding just energy-carbon transitions from a households-in-place perspective. The analytical framework is exemplified through case studies of the coming to ground of different strands of energy-carbon restructuring in England.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Notes
1 Within the UK there are now marked differences in policies and politics related to low-carbon energy within the devolved nations of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland (Cowell et al., Citation2017). We focus solely on England.
2 The Core Cities Group is a network and lobbying group consisting of the local authorities of England’s 8 largest cities outside London
3 Lower Layer Super Output Area: for spatial analysis purposes the UK Office for National Statistics disaggregates England and Wales into small geographic areas containing (on average) 1500 residents.