Local governance of energy transition

Sustainability, transactions and social ties. A case study in Northeast France

Bibliographic Data

ID19499748
AuthorsPhilippe Hamman (0000-0002-5119-6897, ,, corresponding author)
Year2019
Volume26
Issue1
Pages1-10
Publication date2019-01-02
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueInternational Journal of Sustainable Development & World Ecology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1350-4509 • E-ISSN: 1745-2627
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/13504509.2018.1471012
OpenAlexW2804721550
LanguageEN
Citations received6
References cited34

This paper tackles the process of energy transition from a transactional perspective. It addresses the governance of energy transition by studying its local actualizations, moving beyond purely technical and normative readings. The paper shows that through the local socio-technological energy systems, sustainability governance filters down to the level of individual, everyday behavior, thus questioning the link between public and private spaces, especially regarding the issue of housing. Going beyond the results commonly yielded by transition studies, which favor large-scale analysis, it details how the discourse of citizen involvement, which often boils down to a mere call to control one’s individual energy consumption, conceals environmental inequalities, confirming the socioeconomic divide materialized in deprived areas such as public housing estates or remote rural areas. From a methodological standpoint, the analysis is based on four case studies in Northeast France, in more or less privileged areas, and in both urban and rural environments: the renovation of a heating network in the public housing estate of Cité de l’Ill, north of Strasbourg; the solar energy systems designed for property owners in Plobsheim, a residential suburb of Strasbourg; the energy-efficient equipment set up in a public housing estate in the city of Saint-Dié, in the Vosges; and citizen participation in a cooperative program to finance wind turbines in the small Alsacian city of Saâles, in a mountain rural area. The paper draws on the results of these sociological investigations, carried out using field observations, questionnaires and interviews

Business · Corporate governance · Economic growth · Economics · Economy · Energy transition · Political science · Real estate · Sociology · Sustainability · Finance · French Urban and Social Studies · Sustainability and Climate Change Governance · Sustainable Industrial Ecology

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