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Call for Abstracts:
Engaging with (un)sustainable Mobility Practices
Session at the STS Conference Graz 2016, "Critical Issues in Science, Technology and Society Studies"
GRAZ, AUSTRIA, May 9-10, 2016
Engaging with (un)sustainable Mobility Practices
Session at the STS Conference Graz 2016, "Critical Issues in Science, Technology and Society Studies"
GRAZ, AUSTRIA, May 9-10, 2016
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
This thesis looks the development of citizen power plants, collectively owned wind farms and PV plants, in Germany and Austria. It conceptualizes them as a grassroots innovation and asks how this innovation could develop and spread. In... more
This thesis looks the development of citizen power plants, collectively owned wind farms and PV
plants, in Germany and Austria. It conceptualizes them as a grassroots innovation and asks how this
innovation could develop and spread. In addition to that, the thesis explores whether the diffusion of
citizen power plants can be interpreted as a process of empowerment, and what conflicts have gone
along with the emergence and diffusion of citizen power plants. The thesis is based on 23 semistructured
expert interviews with representatives of citizen power plant initiatives and support
organizations. This has been accompanied by a literature review and further background research.
Grassroots innovations can be thought of as novel sociotechnical configurations developed by
community groups and civil society initiatives. To explain the establishment of such new
configurations, I draw on resource mobilization theory, a strand of social movement theory. My
analysis shows that the development of pioneer projects required six broad types of resources. The
cases, however, differ in terms of the resource endowments initiatives had available at the outset,
and further resource mobilization efforts that were required.
The diffusion of citizen power plants takes different forms, including replication, scaling up of
individual initiatives, transfer to another country or technology area and uptake by incumbents. Each
of these forms of diffusion rests on a different approach to the way resources are used and exchanged
between actors. However, all forms of diffusion depend on a certain degree of interpretative
flexibility of citizen power plants. Finally, different forms of diffusion have produced different
variants of sociotechnical configurations of citizen power plants. I identify the three types of
configurations: community power, green shareholding and consumer participation.
To address power relations, I conceptualize power as an actors’ ability to access and use resources
for a particular goal. Although bottom-up initiatives indeed succeeded in mobilizing a significant
amount of resources, I discuss three qualifications to interpreting the diffusion of citizen power plants
as a process of empowerment: The problem of continued dependency relations, the problem of
co-optation, and the problem of empowering the empowered.
Finally, I identify three types of conflicts that go along with the diffusion of citizen power plants:
local conflicts concerning individual projects, incumbent-challenger conflicts between established
utilities and citizen power plant initiatives, and object conflicts over the defining criteria of citizen
power plants. These conflicts can be understood as struggles over resources or disagreements over
the goals to which they are put.
In contrast to most existing analyses of grassroots innovations, I have decided not to follow the
approach of strategic niche management. I argue that the approach I have taken allows to better
understand how spaces for grassroots innovations are created and maintained from the bottom up,
allows for greater heterogeneity in terms of sociotechnical configurations and in terms of the
meanings attached to them, and supports the incorporation of conceptual tools for the analysis of
power and conflict.
plants, in Germany and Austria. It conceptualizes them as a grassroots innovation and asks how this
innovation could develop and spread. In addition to that, the thesis explores whether the diffusion of
citizen power plants can be interpreted as a process of empowerment, and what conflicts have gone
along with the emergence and diffusion of citizen power plants. The thesis is based on 23 semistructured
expert interviews with representatives of citizen power plant initiatives and support
organizations. This has been accompanied by a literature review and further background research.
Grassroots innovations can be thought of as novel sociotechnical configurations developed by
community groups and civil society initiatives. To explain the establishment of such new
configurations, I draw on resource mobilization theory, a strand of social movement theory. My
analysis shows that the development of pioneer projects required six broad types of resources. The
cases, however, differ in terms of the resource endowments initiatives had available at the outset,
and further resource mobilization efforts that were required.
The diffusion of citizen power plants takes different forms, including replication, scaling up of
individual initiatives, transfer to another country or technology area and uptake by incumbents. Each
of these forms of diffusion rests on a different approach to the way resources are used and exchanged
between actors. However, all forms of diffusion depend on a certain degree of interpretative
flexibility of citizen power plants. Finally, different forms of diffusion have produced different
variants of sociotechnical configurations of citizen power plants. I identify the three types of
configurations: community power, green shareholding and consumer participation.
To address power relations, I conceptualize power as an actors’ ability to access and use resources
for a particular goal. Although bottom-up initiatives indeed succeeded in mobilizing a significant
amount of resources, I discuss three qualifications to interpreting the diffusion of citizen power plants
as a process of empowerment: The problem of continued dependency relations, the problem of
co-optation, and the problem of empowering the empowered.
Finally, I identify three types of conflicts that go along with the diffusion of citizen power plants:
local conflicts concerning individual projects, incumbent-challenger conflicts between established
utilities and citizen power plant initiatives, and object conflicts over the defining criteria of citizen
power plants. These conflicts can be understood as struggles over resources or disagreements over
the goals to which they are put.
In contrast to most existing analyses of grassroots innovations, I have decided not to follow the
approach of strategic niche management. I argue that the approach I have taken allows to better
understand how spaces for grassroots innovations are created and maintained from the bottom up,
allows for greater heterogeneity in terms of sociotechnical configurations and in terms of the
meanings attached to them, and supports the incorporation of conceptual tools for the analysis of
power and conflict.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
This paper presents an analysis of the regional innovation system in the area of renewable energy technologies in Styria, Austria. We will take the analysis of innovation system processes along the ‘functions of innovations systems’... more
This paper presents an analysis of the regional innovation system in the area of renewable
energy technologies in Styria, Austria. We will take the analysis of innovation system
processes along the ‘functions of innovations systems’ perspective as a starting point, but
also argue that a closer and more explicit investigation of actor constellations helps to
develop an improved understanding of some of the central forces contributing to the
fulfilment of these system functions. Hereby we take actor constellations to encompass the
ensemble of actor groups, their interests and the resources available to them as well as
actor networks emerging from different forms of interaction in the innovation system.
Methods applied include social network analysis in combination with semi-structured face-to face
interviews. We identify some interaction processes between different innovation system
functions that can be traced back to underlying actor constellations.
energy technologies in Styria, Austria. We will take the analysis of innovation system
processes along the ‘functions of innovations systems’ perspective as a starting point, but
also argue that a closer and more explicit investigation of actor constellations helps to
develop an improved understanding of some of the central forces contributing to the
fulfilment of these system functions. Hereby we take actor constellations to encompass the
ensemble of actor groups, their interests and the resources available to them as well as
actor networks emerging from different forms of interaction in the innovation system.
Methods applied include social network analysis in combination with semi-structured face-to face
interviews. We identify some interaction processes between different innovation system
functions that can be traced back to underlying actor constellations.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Transitions towards more sustainable socio-technical regimes crucially depend on processes of social learning. This paper focuses on the process of selecting and setting up technology learning experiments at the municipal level. It... more
Transitions towards more sustainable socio-technical regimes crucially depend on processes of
social learning. This paper focuses on the process of selecting and setting up technology learning
experiments at the municipal level. It reports on experiences using a constructive technology
assessment (CTA) approach to identify and evaluate potential deployment projects in the area
of fuel cell technology in Graz, Austria. The results highlight that dialogue processes between
R&D actors, municipal actors and intermediary organisations serve well for the identification
of suitable niches for socio-technical experiments. However, for the actual implementation
of such experiments the limited room for manoeuvre of municipalities and the importance
of the coordination of various governance levels need to be taken into account. In particular,
tensions may arise between overarching technology policy goals defined at the national level
and problem-based approaches applied at the municipal level based on prevalent local issues
and needs.
social learning. This paper focuses on the process of selecting and setting up technology learning
experiments at the municipal level. It reports on experiences using a constructive technology
assessment (CTA) approach to identify and evaluate potential deployment projects in the area
of fuel cell technology in Graz, Austria. The results highlight that dialogue processes between
R&D actors, municipal actors and intermediary organisations serve well for the identification
of suitable niches for socio-technical experiments. However, for the actual implementation
of such experiments the limited room for manoeuvre of municipalities and the importance
of the coordination of various governance levels need to be taken into account. In particular,
tensions may arise between overarching technology policy goals defined at the national level
and problem-based approaches applied at the municipal level based on prevalent local issues
and needs.
Research Interests:
Abstract: The transition to a sustainable energy system faces more challenges than a simple replacement of fossil energy sources by renewable ones. Since current structures do not favor sustainable energy generation and use, it is... more
Abstract: The transition to a sustainable energy system faces more challenges than a simple replacement of fossil energy sources by renewable ones. Since current structures do not favor sustainable energy generation and use, it is indispensable to change the existing infrastructure. A fundamental change of the energy system also requires re-organizing spatial structures and their respective institutions and governance structures. Especially in Austria, urban sprawl and unsustainable settlement structures are regarded as one of the ...
Since the end of the last century energy systems have been undergoing a process of transformation. This is due to a number of reasons including the increasing pressure to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, new governance regimes to... more
Since the end of the last century energy systems have been undergoing a process of transformation. This is due to a number of reasons including the increasing pressure to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, new governance regimes to co-ordinate energy (and other) infrastructures and the transformative potential of new technologies such as decentralised electricity generation technologies and the use of information and communication technologies (ICT). The crucial importance of energy generation and ...