Field Of Sustainability Transitions Research Articles

From niches to regime: sustainability transitions in a diverse tourism destination

Until the end of WW2, the Margaret River region (MRR) was a popular domestic destination based on cave explorations. A series of incremental innovations between the 1950s and 1990s reconfigured the destination into a thriving international tourism destination that offers diverse experiences based on wine, surf, and nature. Nonetheless, contemporary external and internal forces are stimulating another shift – one towards sustainability. Apart from the global pro-sustainability agenda, this sustainability transition in tourism is mainly driven by two emerging niches: eco-accreditation and grassroots organisations. This paper adopts the multilevel perspective (MLP) – a commonly adopted framework in the sustainability transitions research field – and combines it with a typology of tourism innovation to examine the evolution of the MRR as a tourist destination. The paper addresses the ongoing sustainability transition in the MRR and discusses both top-down and bottom-up initiatives that stimulate it. In order to provide a holistic view of this transition, the paper also pays attention to the first transition in the destination (i.e. from caves to wine, surf, and nature), and examines its influence on the ongoing sustainability transition. As such, this paper aims to help bridge the gap between tourism geography and the interdisciplinary field of sustainability transitions.

Sustainability-oriented labs in transitions: An empirically grounded typology

Sustainability is high on the political agenda, with its analytical and practical importance underscored in the field of sustainability transitions. Experiments, arenas, and laboratories are frequently highlighted as real-world objects to investigate sustainability in place. Despite existing lab studies, attempts at comparison at the empirical level remain unconvincing. Here, sustainability remains oversimplified, warranting further investigation to unpack how labs compare in their orientation towards sustainability. This article presents a rigorous and transparent empirically grounded typology, intended to discern ways to engage with sustainability. We outline and elaborate upon six distinctive types entitled: 1) Fix and control, 2) (Re-)Design and optimize, 3) Make and relate, 4) Educate and engage, 5) Empower and govern, and 6) Explore and shape. This study highlights similarities and differences between labs, and across different types. These findings are discussed with reference to ongoing conceptualizations on directionality, providing a fruitful point of departure for ongoing transitions research.

A perspective on the future of sustainability transitions research

The journal Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions (EIST) recently celebrated its tenth anniversary. Its development represents a great success, contributing substantially to the consolidation and maturation of the research field of sustainability transitions. However, being content with past successes will not be sufficient for tackling emerging challenges. In this perspective paper, we take stock of recent dynamics in the field by analyzing the evolving knowledge structure of the papers published in the journal. Based on these insights, we share the editorial priorities of the new editorial team and elaborate how we want to position the journal in the rapidly changing landscape of academic publishing. This is in the hope to align expectations with future authors and readers and to serve our quickly growing research field even better as it increasingly gains academic recognition and policy relevance.

Research frontiers for multi-system dynamics and deep transitions

The sustainability transitions field has been dominated by studies on single systems. Expanding the scope to Deep Transitions involving interactions between a broad array of socio-technical systems opens up new research directions in three important domains: 1) areas of intervention; 2) transition justice; 3) accelerating actors.

Engineering an Ecological Civilization Along Shanghai’s Main Waterfront and Coastline: Evaluating Ongoing Efforts to Construct an Urban Eco-Network

Recent ecological civilization policies make clear that China is willing to play a leading role in a sustainable green transition. But there are still discrepancies in definitions, appreciation and evaluation of ecological assets. This paper examines how Shanghai works on a sustainability transition, with a focus on its main urban waterfronts and coastline, in the context of an extremely high population concentration, world’s highest real estate values, and continuous urban development pressure. This paper will mobilize insights from the academic field of sustainability transitions to show how urban planning and design ambitions are translated into realities on the ground. In its latest Shanghai Master Plan (2017-2035), the city commits itself to set an example for other Chinese cities. Moreover, Shanghai’s city leaders want to inspire and push cities internationally to become more adaptable and resilient, both in the Global South and Global North. The spatially most radical action to realize this ambition is to create “a green and open eco-network” with 60% of Shanghai’s municipal territory to be used for ecological purposes, mostly wetlands. This paper will examine three urban planning and design projects that have key positions within this eco-network. On all three sites there are land-use conflicts, between urban development and ecological (re-)development. The first case is the recent transformation of no less than 120 km of former industrial dominated waterfront along the Huangpu River, of which half was completed between 2016 and 2021. The second case, Nanhui Coastal Wetland Reserve with adjacent Lingang New City; and the third case, Chongming Eco-Island, started both around the millennium and had a 2020 planning horizon. After learning lessons from their previous sustainable innovation journeys these latter two projects entered a new phase as part of the eco-network. The paper concludes with seven practical recommendations aimed to reduce discrepancies between expectations and their implementation in practice: 1) use clear definitions; 2) co-create a shared vision for the future; 3) stop building on vulnerable locations; 4) create conditions of social learning; 5) supervision needs to go beyond planning boundaries; 6) step beyond an anthropocentric approach; and 7) foster a more experimental approach.

Institutionalising environmental sustainability transitions in New Zealand and Australia: Introduction to the special issue

ABSTRACT Politics is critical to understanding the pathways to a sustainable future. In recent years, a scholarly field has emerged, seeking to understand whether transitions towards more sustainable societies and economies occur and, if so, how they unfold. However, this field has not always fully incorporated the role of politics in shaping discourses, institutions and economic visions, or considered regions outside of Europe and North America. In this introduction to the special issue, we briefly review the field of sustainability transitions, highlighting the need to better capture the role played by political factors, institutions and (debates on) economic innovations in these transitions. We explain that sustainability is a contested concept, with two dominant conceptualisations: weak and strong sustainability. The framework of sustainability transitions allows us to position the contributions of the articles included in this special issue, which examine governance and institutions, media discourses, the role of industry and alternative economic models. The special issue focuses on two jurisdictions infrequently discussed in the literature on sustainability transitions: New Zealand and Australia. The special issue thus contributes new theoretical and empirical perspectives on the role of politics, political institutions and economic visions in sustainability transitions in the South Pacific.

The Emerging Research Field of Sustainability Transitions


 This article try to understand the process of formation of the sustainability transitions (ST) research field. The hypothesis of this article states that the field arises through a process of speciation: gradual differentiation, from an older and already established research field (innovation studies). This exercise is useful both as a first approximation into the history of ST thought and as a means to assess the explanatory potential of different approaches towards scientific advance (epistemological discussion). Our proxy to investigate the evolution of the field is the ST language or scientific lexicus and how it came to be. The methodology to assess the evolution of this object is threefold: documental analysis; critical review of the literature (retrofitted concepts and proto-ideas) and bibliometric analysis. The documental analysis provides evidence that ST is an emergent scientific field. A critical review of the literature points to connections and redetermination of pre-existent concepts and terms from the innovation studies area; bibliometric evidence points to a movement of distancing: after building its own lexicon coherent to its problem framing, ST research area is gradually leaving innovation studies terms and concepts behind. General results point to a process of speciation, reinforcing the explanatory potential of epistemological evolutionism.

What sticks? Ephemerality, permanence and local transition pathways

Climate change is increasingly governed through local configurations that are characterised by voluntary action, weak institutions and uncoordinated efforts. The impermanent and iterative nature of such initiatives makes it difficult to determine their enduring and potentially transformative impact. This review systematises how the sustainability transitions field has approached temporary initiatives. It finds broad agreement on the difficulty of sustaining local transitions, but little analytical engagement with how temporary initiatives shape transition pathways over time. The review therefore proposes a typology of temporal dimensions to help assess the dynamics between ephemerality and permanence in local transitions. By mapping the recent empirical sustainability transitions literature along these dimensions, ephemerality is found to be ubiquitous in local initiatives–there is a lot happening that does not endure but serves other functions. Actors deploy a range of local strategies directed at either formalising initiatives or retaining relevance by reinventing themselves, thus routinising sustainability transitions.

Zero carbon homes in the UK? Analysing the co-evolution of policy mix and socio-technical system

Understanding how policy and policy-making processes can influence the speed and direction of socio-technical change is an important, yet underexplored research agenda in the field of sustainability transitions. This paper is the first application of a novel analytical framework which conceptualises the co-evolutionary dynamics of policy mixes and socio-technical systems, by complementing the sustainability transitions and policy mix literatures with insights from policy feedback theory. Our paper is an in-depth empirical case study of the zero carbon homes policy mix in the UK which sought to promote radical change in the UK house building system. Our paper makes three contributions. First, it makes an empirical contribution by analysing an example of an ambitious policy strategy in the housing sector where various policy effects and feedback mechanisms led to a loss of political support for the target, eventually leading to its abandonment, and only limited change within the socio-technical system. Second, our paper produces novel insights about the effects of policy mix credibility on socio-technical change, and the underlying feedback mechanisms which influence its formation and loss. Finally, based on our empirical analysis we propose conceptual refinements to the co-evolutionary framework and suggest avenues for future research explaining the dynamics of feedbacks between policy mixes and socio-technical systems. From the empirical analysis a key finding is that policy mixes need to be effectively designed in order to produce positive feedback from the outset, through the creation of resources, provision of clear information and the creation of credibility, and reforming conflicting institutional supports. In the case, ineffective initial design led to uncertainty and inertia, which did not generate sufficient positive feedback to withstand adverse economic and political conditions later on, which ultimately contributed to the abandonment of the policy mix.

The Role of War in Deep Transitions: Exploring Mechanisms, Imprints and Rules in Sociotechnical Systems

This paper explores in what ways the two world wars influenced the development of sociotechnical systems underpinning the culmination of the first deep transition. The role of war is an underexplored aspect in both the Techno-Economic Paradigms (TEP) approach and the Multi-level perspective (MLP) which form the two key conceptual building blocks of the Deep Transitions (DT) framework. Thus, we develop a conceptual approach tailored to this particular topic which integrates accounts of total war and mechanisms of war from historical studies and imprinting from organisational studies with the DT framework’s attention towards rules and meta-rules. We explore in what ways the three sociotechnical systems of energy, food, and transport were affected by the emergence of new demand pressures and logistical challenges during conditions of total war; how war impacted the directionality of sociotechnical systems; the extent to which new national and international policy capacities emerged during wartime in the energy, food, and transport systems; and the extent to which these systems were influenced by cooperation and shared sacrifice under wartime conditions. We then explore what lasting changes were influenced by the two wars in the energy, food, and transport systems across the transatlantic zone. This paper seeks to open up a hitherto neglected area in analysis on sociotechnical transitions and we discuss the importance of further research that is attentive towards entanglements of warfare and the military particularly in the field of sustainability transitions.

Unfolding eco-industrial parks through niche experimentation: Insights from three Italian cases

Abstract This article aims to understand and explain how eco-industrial parks can unfold over the traditional industrial production systems. Differentiating between the domain theory and method theory, we present an analytical framing that draws upon the strategic niche management perspective from the sustainability transitions field as the method theory, and then contribute to the field of industrial ecology, which is the domain theory behind eco-industrial development. With the experimentation concept being central to our conceptualisation, we consider the journey of the industrial production systems to become eco-industrial parks as niche experimentation and eco-industrial parks as niches. Employing a qualitative multiple case study, we analyse the experimentation within three cases from Tuscany and Emilia-Romagna regions of Italy. The results of our analyses indicate that the continuous experimentation of the eco-industrial park practices within a broad actor-network, through learning processes, leads to shared expectations and visions regarding environmental benefits and economic gains of industrial ecology, which enable the eco-industrial parks to unfold. Still, there is no single rigid model that explains the unfolding eco-industrial parks, because the continuously interacting and interdependent niche-building processes assemble the niche experimentation journey, which is also shaped by the spatial context.

Configurational innovation systems – Explaining the slow German heat transition

In the field of sustainability transitions, temporality has recently received increased attention, specifically with regard to understanding acceleration of transitions. Acceleration of sustainability transitions is needed, to minimize the risks of global crises, and so the question is how these transitions can be accelerated. To answer this question, we use the technological innovation systems (TIS) approach to better understand the underlying processes. The central argument of this paper is that the pace of development in TIS, which ultimately have an impact on sustainability transitions, strongly depends on the local context in which the technologies are embedded in.Technologies that are little context-dependent can be produced in series; they do not need to adapt to local contingencies and can be easily substituted by more efficient and up-to-date technology – in this paper we refer to these as generic technologies. Conversely, technologies that are strongly dependent on the local context always need to be configured with regard to specific local contingencies – we refer to these as configurational technologies. This differentiation has repercussions on the defining pillars of technological innovation systems: Higher local context dependence slows down the pace of development of configurational TIS. The differentiation is illustrated by comparing electricity and heat innovation systems in Germany. An analysis based on literature as well as empirical case studies shows that the rather generically structured Solar PV and onshore wind are developing faster toward decarbonization than the configurationally structured heat TIS. The distinction between generic technological innovation systems and configurational technological innovation systems is helpful to better understand innovation system development and design supportive policies.

Political Leadership as Meta-Governance in Sustainability Transitions: A Case Study Analysis of Meta-Governance in the Case of the Dutch National Agreement on Climate

Sustainability transitions are of an inherently political nature. In particular, discussions on climate policy are dominated by national and international politics. Furthermore, sustainability transitions involve network governance in which both private, public, and societal actors are involved. These governance processes call for closely scrutinizing their performance in terms of democratic legitimacy. To study and assess the democratic quality of governance processes regarding climate policy, this article focuses on the role of political leadership, conceptualized as political meta-governance, in enhancing the democratic legitimacy in the field of sustainability transitions. In doing so, it examines the case of the Dutch National Agreement on Climate (“Nationaal Klimaatakkoord”). The findings of this study underline the theoretical assumption that governments seek to use network governance to address climate change and develop policies. Seeking to address the application of political meta-governance, this study finds that political leaders struggle to bring about a fully-fledged, deliberative, and integrative meta-governance approach. However, disparate meta-governance strategies are reported. Although democratic legitimacy concerning the Dutch Agreement on Climate in terms of accountability can be regarded as high, values concerning voice (inclusiveness) and due deliberation (transparency) score comparatively low. As such, this study further justifies the close attention governance scholars and practitioners pay to the democratic values at stake when governing through governance networks.

Potential transitions in the iron and steel industry in Sweden: Towards a hydrogen-based future?

The iron and steel industry accounts for one third of global industrial CO2 emissions, putting pressure on the industry to shift towards more sustainable modes of production. However, for an industry characterised by path dependency and technological lock-ins, sustainability transitions are not straightforward. In this study, we aim to explore the potential pathways for sustainability transitions in the iron and steel industry. To do so, we have conducted a case study in Sweden where there are policy and industry commitments towards fossil-free steel production. Our theoretical points of departure are the technological innovation system (TIS) approach and the multi-level perspective (MLP), and our paper presents the dynamics behind an emerging case of transition towards a hydrogen-based future. The paper has two major contributions to the literature on sustainability transitions. First, it attempts to borrow some concepts from the MLP and integrate them with the TIS approach. Second, it empirically presents an in-depth case study of the iron and steel industry – an understudied context in the field of sustainability transitions. By doing so, it sheds some light on the dynamics between an emerging TIS and potential transition pathways of a regime.

The co-evolution of policy mixes and socio-technical systems: Towards a conceptual framework of policy mix feedback in sustainability transitions

Understanding how policymaking processes can influence the rate and direction of socio-technical change towards sustainability is an important, yet underexplored research agenda in the field of sustainability transitions. Some studies have sought to explain how individual policy instruments can influence transitions, and the politics surrounding this process. We argue that such individual policy instruments can cause wider feedback mechanisms that influence not only their own future development, but also other instruments in the same area. Consequently, by extending the scope of analysis to that of a policy mix allows us to account for multiple policy effects on socio-technical change and resultant feedback mechanisms influencing the policy processes that underpin further policy mix change. This paper takes a first step in this regard by combining policy studies and innovation studies literatures to conceptualise the co-evolutionary dynamics of policy mixes and socio-technical systems. We focus on policy processes to help explain how policy mixes influence socio-technical change, and how changes in the socio-technical system also shape the evolution of the policy mix. To do so we draw on insights from the policy feedback literature, and propose a novel conceptual framework. The framework highlights that policy mixes aiming to foster sustainability transitions need to be designed to create incentives for beneficiaries to mobilise further support, while overcoming a number of prevailing challenges which may undermine political support over time. In the paper, we illustrate the framework using the example of the zero carbon homes policy mix in the UK. We conclude with deriving research and policy implications for analysing and designing dynamic policy mixes for sustainability transitions.

Low-carbon promises and realities: Lessons from three socio-technical experiments in Shanghai

Abstract China's ongoing transition to a modern urban-centered economy is accompanied by ambitions of sustained economic growth as well as promises of environmentally sustainable futures for its cities. In this paper we critically assess how these two ideas are combined and translated into realities on the ground by examining three low-carbon development projects in Shanghai: Anting New Town, Dongtan Eco-City, and Hongqiao CBD's low-carbon transportation hub. By mobilizing insights from the academic field of Sustainability Transitions – specifically on expectations, experimentation and innovation journeys – we show how the original plans derailed and why until now there has been limited success in living up to the promises of sustainability. To realize the promises more fully in future projects we identify three broad lessons for the actors involved: they should nurture a set of parallel pathways, foster a more experimentalist mindset, and learn to embrace uncertainty.

Religious agency in sustainability transitions: Between experimentation, upscaling, and regime support

Research in the field of sustainability transitions (STs) has significantly extended our knowledge of variables influencing these processes. However, the field so far has barely considered religion. The bourgeoning debate on religion and ecology (RED), in contrast, highlights the potentials for religion to address environmental challenges. This article brings both academic debates together, systematizing and describing three types of religious agency from a transitions perspective: experimentation, upscaling, and regime support. These become manifest in ST processes at two levels: (a) internal transitions within religious organizations and (b) broader societal STs. Discussing transition activities of religious actors at these two levels, the article highlights the religious agency in STs, thereby contrasting existing transitions research where religion is often regarded as a passive landscape variable.

Narrative-informed exploratory analysis of energy transition pathways: A case study of India's electricity sector

Energy transitions unfold under the influence of socio-technical, political and economic uncertainties. This paper introduces a narrative-informed exploratory approach for analysing future energy transition pathways under these uncertainty conditions. In this approach, exploratory modelling is used to explore the impact of various uncertainties, such as potential installed capacity and supporting policies for different energy options, on the unfolding of transition pathways. The approach produces several sets of scenarios. We complement this quantitative exploration of the future with narratives (storylines) generated based on the concepts in the sustainability transitions field. Narratives are used (i) as a supporting framework for model structure; (ii) to guide the exploration of the future; and (iii) to interpret the ensemble of quantitative scenarios. We describe how synergies between narratives and exploratory modelling inform both the framed and open-ended exploration of future transition pathways. The approach is demonstrated with a case study of the transition in India's electricity sector. We show that the realisation of the 100GW solar electricity target by 2022 is unlikely, and that the development of solar electricity is highly dependent on the active role of government.

Sustainability transitions: Exploring the emerging field and its relations to management studies

Sustainability transitions such as the ongoing energy transition pose major challenges for researchers in a variety of disciplines. The aim of his conceptual paper is to explore the overlaps between the emerging research field of sustainability transitions and management studies. It contains four main parts. A brief review of the particularities of grand sustainability problems together, an introduction into the field of sustainability transitions research, a set of transition examples from the energy sector, and an exploration of potential connections to research in management. In the outlook I discuss two future avenues for research. One is about the transfer and adaptation of theories used in management studies to the issue of sustainability transitions. The other is about rethinking management approaches more fundamentally, given the challenges imposed by grand sustainability problems.

Phasing out coal, sustaining coal communities? Living with technological decline in sustainability pathways

In this short discussion paper, we discuss recent attention towards the phase out of coal in the UK and associated understandings derived from the field of sustainability transitions. While, the recent focus on destabilisation of unsustainable technologies in this field is important, we raise concerns that there is the risk of insufficient attention regarding the broader implications of such discontinuity processes around the impacts on local coal communities and future prospects of the workforce. We exemplify this, with a discussion of some concerns raised in the responses to the 2016 UK coal consultation, where issues surrounding the future of communities situated near coal facilities have been highlighted. In the final section, we discuss these kinds of issues in relation in the context of the ‘just transition’ advocated by parts of the trade union movement as well as perspectives on deindustrialisation and community cohesion and identity.