Relevant Events

Event Information:

• Fri

  15

  Dec

  2017

  Socio-technical Transitions and Practices: Insights into Environmental Sustainability

  CALL FOR PAPERS

  Socio-technical Transitions and Practices: Insights into Environmental Sustainability

  The multi-level analytical framework of socio-technical transitions promoted since the beginning of the 2000s (Grin, Rotmans and Schot 2011; Smith, Voß and Grin 2010; Geels 2002; 2011) has been recently brought into question by taking into consideration materiality, the dispersed and uneven distribution of agency and power, and the importance of (historical, spatial and political) context (Avelino et al. 2016). As pointed out by various criticisms, the multi-level perspective on socio-technical transitions often assumes a vertical trajectory, is too focused on institutions, and – methodologically – is based on secondary analyses of official data. By linking these criticisms with sustainability issues, moreover, inconsistencies and ambivalences emerge, as several contributions have shown especially in the renewable energy sector (e.g. Schreuer 2016; Scotti and Minervini 2016). This reminds us of the ambiguous meaning of the notion of ‘sustainability’ (Redclift 2005; Moneva, Archel and Correa 2006; Hornborg 2015; Rice 2007; Gottschlich and Bellina 2016). Furthermore, from a Science and Technology Studies (STS) perspective, Shove and Walker (2007; 2010) have suggested the need to reconsider the multi-level approach to socio-technical transitions by taking into account the practice level. This means to analyse, on the one hand, the mutual relationship between technologies and innovation paths; on the other, how these relate with practitioners.

  In recent years, transition studies have actually turned to the practice theory approach, especially drawing on STS theoretical perspectives (Chilvers and Longhurst 2016), as well as on a renewed interest for the material components of innovation processes (Hoffman and Loeber 2015). In this framework, socio-technical transitions are regarded as the outcome of co-production processes simultaneously involving human and non-human actors.

  Intensifying contaminations between the field of socio-technical transitions and the field of practices ask for a systematic reflection. This special issue of Tecnoscienza. The Italian Journal of Science & Technology Studies aims therefore to offer a venue for contributions addressing environmental sustainability by linking socio-technical transitions and practices. An STS perspective may in particular shed light on the role of non-human agency in co-shaping the everyday practices involved in the transition towards sustainability. Innovation experiences, for instance, may be both fostered and hindered by material elements or broad infrastructures in which local practices are embedded, and we need a better understanding of the factors leading to the one or the other outcome.

  This special issue invites paper submissions including, but not limited to, the following themes: mobility; waste management; food production, consumption and supply; energy consumption and production.

  Key research questions to be addressed include the following:

  • Are there competing (human/non-human) networks around a same sustainable transition goal? What shape do they take? Do they interact in some way?

  • What are the actants that play a role in a local network?

  • How can the issue of “path dependency” be explored through the lens of practices?

  • What are the practices that characterize a socio-technical transition process in a specific context (e.g. everyday mobility strategies; personal care; dietary choice and food consumption; heating)?

  A further aim of the special issue is to include a variety of geographical and societal contexts. The link between growth and sustainability in socio-technical transitions implies several political consequences, in terms of Global North-South divide as well as at local level. For instance, governments – especially in the European Union – are engaged in promoting investments in the energy sector to pursue climate emissions reduction, yet the actual implementation of these efforts does not distribute benefits equitably among the territories involved in the process. Similarly, the dominant account of sustainability has a specific cultural connotation, since it originates in the Global North (Gottschlich and Bellina 2016). Therefore, cases from the Global South may enrich the reflection we wish to develop.

  Deadline for abstract submissions: December 15th, 2017

  Abstracts (in English) with a maximum length of 500 words should be sent as email attachments to redazione@tecnoscienza.net and carbon copied to the guest editors. Notifications of acceptance will be communicated by January 2017. Full papers (in English with a maximum length of 8,000 words including notes and references) will be due by April 30th, 2018 and will be subject to a double-blind peer review process. The special issue is expected to be published in 2019.

  For information and questions, please do not hesitate to contact the guest editors:

  Paolo Giardullo, paolo.giardullo@unipd.it

  Sonia Brondi, sonia.brondi@unibo.it

  Luigi Pellizzoni, luigi.pellizzoni@unipi.it

  References

  Avelino, F., Grin, J., Pel, B., and Jhagroe, S. (2016) The politics of sustainability transitions,Journal of Environmental Policy & Planning, 18(5), 557-567.

  Chilvers, J. and Longhurst, N. (2016) Participation in transition(s): Reconceiving public engagements in energy transitions as co-produced, emergent and diverse, Journal of Environmental Policy & Planning, 18(5), 585-507.

  Geels, F. W. (2002) Technological transitions as evolutionary reconfiguration processes: A multi-level perspective and a case-study, Research Policy, 31(8), 1257-1274.

  Geels, F. W. (2011) The multi-level perspective on sustainability transitions: Responses to seven criticisms, Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions, 1(1), 24-40.

  Gottschlich, D. and Bellina, L. (2016) Environmental justice and care: critical emancipatory contributions to sustainability discourse, Agriculture and Human Values. doi:10.1007/s10460-016-9761-9

  Grin, J., Rotmans, J., and Schot, J. (2011) On patterns and agency in transition dynamics: Some key insights from the KSI programme, Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions, 1(1), 76- 81.

  Hoffman, J. and Loeber, A. (2015) Exploring the micro-politics in transitions from a practice perspective: The case of greenhouse innovation in the Netherlands, Journal of Environmental Policy & Planning, 18(5), 692-711

  Hornborg, A. (2015) Cornucopia or zero-sum game? The epistemology of sustainability. Journal of world-systems research, 9(2), 205-216.

  Moneva, J. M., Archel, P., and Correa, C. (2006) GRI and the camouflaging of corporate unsustainability, Accounting forum, 30(2), 121-137.

  Redclift, M. (2005) Sustainable development (1987-2005): An oxymoron comes of age, Sustainable Development, 13(4), 212-227.

  Rice, J. (2007) Ecological unequal exchange: Consumption, equity, and unsustainable structural relationships within the global economy, International Journal of Comparative Sociology, 48(1), 43-72.

  Schreuer, A. (2016) The establishment of citizen power plants in Austria: A process of empowerment?, Energy Research & Social Science, 13, 126-135.

  Scotti, I. and Minervini, D. (2017) Performative connections: translating sustainable energy transition by local communities, Innovation: The European Journal of Social Science Research, 30(3), 350-364.

  Shove, E. and Walker, G. (2007) CAUTION! Transitions ahead: Politics, practice, and sustainable transition management, Environment & Planning A, 39(4), 763-770.

  Shove, E. and Walker, G. (2010) Governing transitions in the sustainability of everyday life. Research policy, 39(4), 471-476.

  Smith, A., Voß, J. P. and Grin, J. (2010) Innovation studies and sustainability transitions: The allure of the multi-level perspective and its challenges, Research Policy, 39(4), 435-448.