The Socio-Spatiality of Energy Borderlands – Multidimensional Discursive Practices Regarding the Turów Coal Mine Conflict

Abstract

ABSTRACT An important component regarding the climate and energy crisis and its implications is the upheaval in energy production and supply as a fundamental transition in favor of low-carbon energy. The regions of the German-Polish border area studied in this paper encounter different development paths of coal and renewable energy sources. One emblematic recent case in this context, is the legal dispute over the closure of the Turów coal mine. The authors investigate to what extent these energy spaces develop between European frameworks, nation-state policies as well as regional and local implementations. The analysis is based on regional discourses of German and Polish newspapers with the highest circulation in the border area. The combination of a discourse analysis and a multidimensional, space-theoretical approach overcomes a simplification of socio-spatial strategies and enables a differentiation of the borderlands. Additionally, the examination of the discursive practices provides insights on scaling and network activities as well as on strategies of place-protection in socio-material energy spaces in the German-Polish borderland.