Rescaling the borderland: cross-border bioenergy production patterns facing spatial policies

Scientific Conference (2012, September 07)

The utilisation of renewable energies (RE) can be seen as one of the most important aspects of mitigation of climate change. Implementing them in decentralised structures additionally enhances the ... [more ▼]

The utilisation of renewable energies (RE) can be seen as one of the most important aspects of mitigation of climate change. Implementing them in decentralised structures additionally enhances the positive effects on environment, economy, and society. By that, RE development is a major asset for sustainability in regional development contexts. To achieve it, collaboration and cooperation of various regional actors is necessary. These actors differ in their perspectives on challenges for energy development as well as on the region itself. Hence, questions of space and scale are rising: If sustainable regional development can be achieved by the decentralised utilisation of RE, which “region” develops? Or to put it vice versa: Which processes of regionalisations are initiated through the use of RE (energetic regionalisations)? The paper contributes to the conference’s theme “Scales, territories and networks”. The particular elements of rescaling, different geographical scales and the region as open space are subject of this article. The interplay of governmental and economic constructions of scales is point of interest. One focus lies on bioenergy production and related processes of regionalisations in the cross-border context of Germany and Luxembourg. On the one hand, the evolution of and transition to bioenergy production is focus of the theoretical analysis. Which institutional and structural (pre)conditions are fundamental for processes of regionalisations in the biomass industry? In which ways are they connected to the socio-technical development? These questions are addressed with the conceptual approaches of evolutionary institutionalism and socio-technical transition. The first building block concentrates on institutionalisations, relevance of structures for individual actions and impacts of individual behaviours on institutions. The latter building block focuses changes in technology and their social implications, social changes and their potentials for technological changes, and ‘spheres’ of socio-technical changes among niches, regimes and landscapes – all aspects with respect to bioenergy development. On the other hand the day-to-day practices of individual actors in the bioenergy market are focused. In which ways do practices influence regionalisations? The research motivation shifts to processes of constitution and reproduction of bioenergy-regions. “The bioenergy-regions” are produced through embodied practices and reproduce themself within these practices. Hence, bioenergy-¬regions and -spaces do not exist per se, but are socially constructed. So on the one hand, the social use of spatial categories and contexts regarding bioenergy are analytical objects. On the other hand, the relation among society, practice and spatial connotations will be addressed. The paper focuses on the conceptual framework of an ongoing research project and discusses the underlying theoretical perspectives, their operationalisation as well as the methodological research design. In empirical terms, preliminary results from an exploratory pilot study (data analysis, expert interviews) in the cross-border area of Germany and Luxembourg will be presented. [less ▲]

Energetische Regionalisierung: Wie sich die Bioenergiebranche durch Handlung Raum schafft. Konzeptionelle Überlegungen und erste Beobachtungen in und um Luxemburg

Presentation (2012, July 06)

Smart Transition to Renewable Energies? City-Regional Collaboration in Greater Manchester

Scientific Conference (2012, May 14)

Making the transition to renewable, low carbon forms of energy could be the defining question of our times. Especially for complex problems like energy supply the regional scale and new forms of control ... [more ▼]

Making the transition to renewable, low carbon forms of energy could be the defining question of our times. Especially for complex problems like energy supply the regional scale and new forms of control, coordination and cooperation - subsumed under the term regional governance - are widely discussed both in politics (e.g. G8 conferences, Climate Summits etc.) and academia. The turn from conventional to renewable energies is one major topic of discussion. For this process of change regional governance can be seen as the best way to initiate it With the help of a case study conducted in Greater Manchester, UK, the article concentrates on two points: (1) the development of regional governance arrangements in the light of a low-carbon agenda as mixture of path-dependent bottom-up and top-down approaches and (2) the impacts of specific constellations for regional energy development that include institutional rules, strategic behaviour of actors and strategic discourses. For the analysis of these aspects, the concept of Actor-Centred Institutionalism offers a framework to investigate the two most important dimensions: Institutions and Actors. Institutions build the framework for actors, their constellations and modes of interactions. Actors influence the constellation, which builds the ground for modes of interaction. Interactions lead to decisions, which, after implementation, modify the situation, in which actors work and that influence the actors. This circular correlation is reflected by Wiechmann’s model for strategy development analysis. Contexts of decisions, strategic discourses, and induced and autonomous strategic behaviours of actors are fundamental to his approach. Hence, within this model it is possible to analyse preconditions for the development of a strategy and deal with the question of its (attributed) importance. In the paper I analyse in a first step the evolution of a governance arrangement for energy: starting in the 1970s with the first intercommunal City Council, via the 1990s collaborations for economic development, regeneration and revitalisation policies, reactions to the IRA bomb attack of 1996 and the bid for Olympic Summer Games 2000, to the current institutionalisations of regional governance with a special focus on renewable energy under the umbrella of a Combined Authority. In a second step I will present findings from a qualitative research. There, I focus impacts of specific actor constellations and institutional environments for the regional energy strategy. Therefor, the analysis is threefold: firstly, institutional rules for the mutual work on a regional energy strategy, secondly, strategic behaviours of actors as “mirror” for impacts of the regional governance, and thirdly, the strategic discourse within the region are reflected. The article closes with lessons learned from the studied case. Even though historic circumstances have been very important factors, several elements for the development of an energy strategy in GM can be highlighted – with regard to contexts of strategic decision-making and the role of regional institutions, organisations and actors: • a mutual view on development problems; • a shared vision for the region; • a commonly developed regional strategy; • an awareness of the need for coordination and cooperation among different policy levels; • a clear structure for development issues and • systematic institutionalizations of and rules for, e.g., cooperation, negotiations, or monetary concerns. The paper shows that city-regional collaboration can accelerate renewable energies’ adoption and help to prepare its local implementation. [less ▲]

Nachhaltige Regionalentwicklung durch energetische Regionalisierung. Entwicklungspfade der und Regions(re)konstruktionen durch Bioenergieerzeugun

Presentation (2011, December 10)

Ideenskizze: nachhaltige Regionalentwicklung durch energetische Regionalisierung

Presentation (2011, September 23)