Date: 27 September
Time: 15.30 - 17.00

Presentations

• The role of stakeholder-based collective agency (Geoffrey Desa)
• What shapes incumbent actors as niche agents and why? (Keija Yang)
• The Norwegian forestry field struggles over sustainability transitions (Anne Sigrid Haugset)
• Actor strategies in climate transition in the transport sector in two urban areas in Norway (Kirsten Hegsvold) 

Sustainability transitions are the transformation of socio-technical systems towards sustainable modes of production and consumption. New socio-technical configurations that can contribute to a more sustainable provision of societal functions emerge often in niches. For sustainability transitions to happen, these configurations need to become stronger and eventually replace non-sustainable regime configurations that are often supported and protected by incumbent actors. Transitions are not imposed from the outset, but can be characterized by a number of dealignment and realignment processes within socio-technical systems. These de- and realignment processes encompass institutions, technologies, and actors alike. For instance, preexisting institutional structures are often aligned with regime-related configurations and need to be amended so that more sustainable socio-technical niche solutions can thrive. Such change is unlikely to happen by single people. In contrast, groups of actors that knowingly or unknowingly support the same niche configurations need to build momentum for institutional change to happen. This institutional change destabilizes regime structures and empowers niche solutions. By building such momentum and aiming at adapting the fundamental grammar of societies actors engage in institutional work and inevitable become part of the political decision-making processes.  

While there have been many calls to build a better understanding the politics and policy in transitions research (Smith 2005) (Smith 2010) (Meadowcroft 2011), collective action, coalition building, and institutional work has still not been sufficiently well understood. Hence in this session we invite for paper proposals that can help finding answers for the following questions but are not limited to them: 

• What role does agency and collective action play in sustainability transitions? 
• How to actors find each other (if at all)? 
• How do they collectively build pressure on regimes? 
• What strategies and instruments do they use to engage in institutional work and change institutions?  
• If coalitions are build, how can we understand them, how are they understood by members and what fabrics holds them together 
• What incepts, support but also inhibits the emergence of niche support coalitions?  
• What challenges to these encounter and how do they overcome them?

Organizers

Julius Wesche, Department of Interdisciplinary Studies of Culture, NTNU
Florence Lanzi, University of Liège, Liège, Belgium
Suyash Jolly, Nordland Research Institute, Bodø, Norway
Wolfgang Haider, Centre for Social Innovation, Vienna, Austria

Contact: Julius Wesche