ÁREA DE EXPOSICIONES

Transition! theory! considers! how! and! why! transitions! occur! in! society! from! the! dominant,! or! mainstream,!use!of!one!kind!of!technology!to!another.!Transition!theory,!and!related!theoretical! concepts,! has! been! applied! to! studies! considering! the! mainstreaming! of! technologies! and! sustainable! applications! in! urban! systems! including! water! and! energy! systems! (for! example! Geels,!2002,!2004;!Geels!&!Schot,!2007;!Rip!&!Kemp,!1998).!!

The!relationship!between!such!technologies,!and!social!structures!in!a!society!is!a!central!focus! of!transition!theory!(Bos!&!Brown,!2012;!Rip!&!Kemp,!1998;!Smith,!Stirling,!&!Berkhout,!2005).! Geels!(2002)!notes!that!technologies!on!their!own!have!no!power!or!purpose.!It!is!only!when! technologies! are! associated! with! human! agency! that! they! can! fulfil! some! function,! and! have! some!value.!Hence,!technologies!are!conceptualised!as!being!integrated!into!“configurations”!of! social! and! technological! elements! that! collectively! define! the! power! and! purpose! of! the! technology!which!in!turn!shapes!the!social!systems!in!around!it.!For!example,!a!car!on!its!own! has! no! inherent! power! or! purpose.! It! is! only! when! combined! with! demand! for! mobility,! road! infrastructure,! traffic! rules,! fuel! infrastructure,! and! cultural! norms! that! it! has! a! purpose.! It! is! difficult!to!remove!any!of!these!elements,!such!as!traffic!rules,!fuel!infrastructure!or!roads!due!to! the!interdependency!of!the!various!elements!(Geels,!2002).!!

These! configurations! of! social! and! technical! elements! are! called! socioLtechnical! systems! or! regimes.!Energy!supply,!water!supply!or!transportation!systems!have!often!been!conceptualised! in! this! way.! In! such! a! socioLtechnical! system! or! regime,! actors! (such! as! individuals,! firms,! organisations,! or! collective! actors),! institutions! (such! as! regulations,! best! practice! standards,! and! societal! or! technical! norms)! and! material! artefacts! and! knowledge! (such! as! road! infrastructure,!cars,!and!knowledge!of!how!to!drive!a!car)!interact!to!provide!necessary!services! for!society!(Markard,!Raven,!&!Truffer,!2012).!This!network!of!interrelated!and!interdepended! elements! comprises! the! rules,! practices! and! networks! that! determine! the! norms! of! society,! as! well! as! the! relatively! stable! configurations! of! institutions,! practices! and! artefacts! embedded! within!them!(Rip!&!Kemp,!1998;!Smith,!et!al.,!2005).!

!SocioLtechnical!regimes!are!found!to!be!relatively!stable,!“reproducing”!themselves!in!response! to! various! pressures! along! embedded! trajectories.! The! rules,! practices,! and! networks! of! the! socioLtechnical! regime! direct! actors! in! the! regime! to! continue! to! select! certain,! dominant! technologies! and! blinds! or! prevents! them! from! considering! radical! alternatives! (Geels,! 2004;! Geels! &! Kemp,! 2007;! Smith,! et! al.,! 2005).! For! example,! changes! may! be! made! in! the! design! of! roads! and! cars! over! time,! however! it! is! less! likely! that! these! would! be! replaced! by! a! radical! alternative! such! as! hydrogen! cars,! as! this! would! affect! other! parts! of! the! regime! such! as! fuel! infrastructure.! There! is! hence! a! dynamic! and! mutually! reinforcing! interplay! between! socioL technical! regimes,! and! the! dominant! technologies! that! embeds! these! technologies! in! society! (Geels,!2002;!Smith,!et!al.,!2005),!with!these!regimes!generally!changing!in!relatively!slow!and! constrained!ways!(Geels,!2004;!Geels!&!Kemp,!2007;!Smith,!et!al.,!2005).!!

In! some! cases,! however,! dramatic! changes! are! seen! in! socioLtechnical! regimes,! such! as! the! transition!from!cesspools!to!sewer!systems!in!cities;!a!transition!from!horse!drawn!carriages!to! automobiles;!and!a!transition!from!sailing!ships!to!steamships!(Geels!&!Schot,!2007).!Transition! theory! is! also! used! to! describe! such! phenomena,! conceptualising! this! as! a! change! from! one! socioLtechnical!regime!to!another,!with!changes!in!technology!as!well!as!other!elements!(Geels,! 2002).! Such! a! transition! is! said! to! occur! when! a! set! of! connected! and! mutually! reinforcing! changes!or!processes!take!place!in!different!areas,!such!as!a!technology,!the!economy,!in!norms! and! belief! systems.! This! can! be! seen! as! a! reinforcing! spiral! with! multiple! causality! and! coL evolution,! caused! by! independent! developments! (Geels! &! Schot,! 2007;! Rotmans,! Kemp,! &! Van! Asselt,!2001).!!

Four! phases! of! a! transition! process! are! conceptually! distinguished,! as! shown! in! Figure! 3.1.,! including:!

L “A!preJdevelopment#phase!where!there!is!very!little!visible!change!at!the!systems!level!but!a! great!deal!of!experimentation!at!the!individual!level;!!

L A!takeJoff#phase!where!the!process!of!change!starts!to!build!up!and!the!state!of!the!system! begins!to!shift!because!of!different!reinforcing!innovations!or!surprises;!!

L An! acceleration# phase! in! which! structural! changes! occur! in! a! visible! way! through! an! accumulation! and! implementation! of! socioLcultural,! economic,! ecological! and! institutional! changes;!and!!!

L A! stabilisation# phase! where! the! speed! of! societal! change! decreases! and! a! new! dynamic! equilibrium!is!reached.!”!(Loorbach!&!Rotmans,!2006,p190)!

Chapter!3:!A!statement!of!the!research!enquiry! Dissertation:!Angela!Reeve! ! Figure!3.1:!Different!stages!of!a!transition,!and!a!range!of!potential!pathways!! Source:#Rotmans#et#al,#2000,#cited#in#Loorbach#and#Rotmans#(2006)!! A!multiLlevel!perspective!is!used!to!conceptualise!social!structures,!and!the!way!in!which!these! transition!processes!occur.!Three!levels!are!described!in!the!literature,!as!shown!in!Figure!3.2,! including:! L A#macroJlevel,#or#the#socioJtechnical#landscape.!This!is!an!exogenous!environment!outside!the! influence!of!“regime”!and!“niche”!actors!(see!below),!which!includes!factors!such!as!macroL economics,! cultural! patterns! and! beliefs,! war,! population! growth! and! oil! prices.! This! operates!at!the!scale!of!conglomerates!of!institutions!and!organisations,!including!nations!or! states.!Landscapes!are!very!difficult!and!slow!to!change,!although!this!does!occur!over!time!! L A# mesoJscale# levels,# or# socioJtechnical# regimes.! ! These! exist! within! the! socioLtechnical!

landscape,!and!comprise!networks,!communities!and!organisations,!as!described!above.!At!a! regime! level,! change! tends! to! occur! slowly! and! incrementally.! Regulations,! infrastructure,! user! practices,! maintenance! systems! and! other! such! institutions! are! set! up! to! support! existing!technologies,!and!hence!it!is!difficult!to!mainstream!the!use!of!new!technologies.! L A# microJlevel,# or# “niche”.! This! comprises! individuals! and! individual! actors! (such! as!

companies)!embedded!within!regimes.!New!technologies!and!processes!can!be!“incubated”! at! the! niche! level! with! protection! from! the! market! forces! that! govern! innovation! and! technology! selection! at! the! regime! level! (Geels,! 2002;! Geels! &! Schot,! 2007;! Rip! &! Kemp,! 1998;!Rotmans,!et!al.,!2001).!

organisations’ and institutions’ strategies and political institutions’ policies. Acting on the micro-level (niche-level) are individual actors, technologies and local practices. At this level, variations to and deviations from the status quo can occur as a result of new ideas and new initiatives, such as new techniques, alternative technologies and different social practices. This concept is extensively discussed in chapter 9 by Geels in this volume.

The third shared concept is that of transition management (to which we will return in Section 4), which is rooted in fields such as multi-level governance and adaptive management (Rotmans et al., 2000). This concept indicates that, although transitions cannot be managed in terms of command and control, they can be managed in terms of influencing and adjusting: a more subtle, evolutionary way of steering. In other words, the direction and pace of transitions can be influenced, even if not controlled directly. Transition management therefore aims to better organise and coordinate transition processes at a societal level, and tries to steer them in a sustainable direction.

Based on the above-described shared research concepts, the following objectives have been derived, as specified by KSI (Rotmans et al., 2003): – To further develop the theoretical concepts for describing and explaining

transitions to sustainability, and empirically testing these theoretical axioms;

– To develop a new governance concept that reflects the principles of transition management, and to test the principles underlying this new paradigm by applying them in practical transition experiments; and Figure 1. Different stages of a transition at different system levels (Rotmans et al., 2000)

Predevelopment Stabilization tim e system change Acceleration Take-off Predevelopment Stabilization tim e system change tim e system change tim e system change Acceleration Take-off

!

Figure!3.2!Multiple!level!framework!used!to!describe!technological!transitions,!shown!as!a!nested! hierarchy!!

Source:#(Geels,#2002)#

The! impetus! for! a! transition! results! from! pressures! exerted! on! a! socioLtechnical! regime.! For! example,!pressures!from!the!landscape!level!might!include!a!change!in!environmental!attitudes! in! society,! or! macroLeconomic! shifts.! Other! socioLtechnical! regimes! may! also! exert! pressure,! such! as! the! increasing! viability! of! distributed! solar! photovoltaic! systems! putting! pressure! on! centralised! coal! fired! power! plants.! Pressure! may! also! come! from! the! niche! level,! where! innovations! “bubble! up”! from! below,! such! as! the! demonstration! of! an! alternative! jet! fuel! for! planes! within! a! pilot! project! (Smith,! et! al.,! 2005,! p1495).! However,! these! pressures! are! in! themselves! not! sufficient! to! guarantee! a! transition,! as! socioLtechnical! regimes! tend! to! be! resilient! and! adapt! to! pressures! where! possible! along! existing! trajectories! (as! noted! above).! Smith,!et!al.!(2005,!p1495)!suggests!pressures!need!to!be!well!“articulated”!to!drive!a!transition,! meaning!that!a)!several!pressures!are!coherently!oriented!in!the!same!direction!(i.e.!pressures! direct! a! similar! kind! of! change);! and! b)! whether! there! are! processes! that! make! the! pressures! explicit,!and!translate!these!into!a!form!that!catalyses!and!enables!a!response!from!the!regime.! An! example! of! coherently! orientated! pressures! includes! increasing! electricity! prices;! growing! public!concern!about!climate!change;!the!introduction!of!financial!subsidies!for!solar!panels!and! innovation! in! solar! technologies.! An! example! of! processes! that! make! a! pressure! explicit! and! actionable!might!include!the!communication!of!scientific!consensus!regarding!climate!change!by! the!IPCC!that!makes!these!pressures!clear!and!explicit!for!decision!makers!(Smith,!et!al.,!2005).!!

Experimentation! is! an! important! concept! within! transitions! management! (Farrelly! &! Brown,! 2011;!Geels,!2002;!Loorbach!&!Rotmans,!2006).!Experimentation!generally!occurs!at!the!niche!

level,! where! new! technologies! and! processes! can! be! generated! and! demonstrated.! This! could! include,! for! example,! military! innovation! in! developing! new! computers,! planes! or! radar! equipment,!even!whilst!existing!technologies!remain!dominant!in!practice!(Geels,!2002).!Niche! level! experimentation! is! said! to! be! important,! as! this! allow! for! actionLorientated! learning,! or! “learning! by! doing,! learning! by! using! and! learning! by! interaction”! (Geels,! 2002).! Such! experiences! also! allow! networks! to! begin! to! form! that! are! supportive! of! this! new! technology,! such!as!supply!chains,!and!relationships!between!users!and!producers!(Geels,!2002;!Rip!&!Kemp,! 1998).! Niche! level! innovation! can! exert! pressure! on! the! socioLtechnical! regime! (Smith,! et! al.,! 2005),!however!the!innovation!and!learning!must!be!“upLscaled”!in!order!to!drive!a!transition! (Farrelly! &! Brown,! 2011,! p722).! As! experimentation! does! not! always! lead! to! such! change,! scholarly!work!also!considers!what!mediates!the!transfer!of!information!and!learning!from!these! localLscale!experiments!to!the!broader!system,!and!what!facilitates!and!disables!momentum!for! change!(Farrelly!&!Brown,!2011;!Loorbach!&!Rotmans,!2006).!