Managing technological transitions: prospects, places, publics and policy

Abstract

Transition management (TM) approaches have generated considerable interest inacademic and policy circles in recent years (Kemp and Loorbach, 2005; Rotmans andKemp, 2003). In terms of a loose definition, a ‘transition can be defined as a gradual,continuous process of structural change within a society or culture’ (Rotmans et al, 2001,p.2). The development of TM, much of which has occurred within the context of theNetherlands, may be seen as a response to the complexities, uncertainties and problemswhich confront many western societies, in organising ‘sustainably’ various aspects ofenergy, agricultural, water, transport and health systems of production and consumption.Problems such as pollution, congestion, the vulnerability of energy or water supplies andso on are seen as systemic and entwined or embedded in a series of social, economic,political, cultural and technological relationships. The systemic nature of many of these problems highlights the involvement - in thefunctioning of a particular system and any subsequent transition - of multiple actors or‘stakeholders’ across different local, national and international scales of activity. With thisin mind, such problems become difficult to ‘solve’ and ‘solutions’ are seen to requiresystemic innovation rather than individual or episodic responses. The point being that‘these problems are system inherent and… the solution lies in creating different systems ortransforming existing ones’ (Kemp and Loorbach, 2005, p.125). In this paper we critically engage with and build upon transitions approaches to addresstheir ‘applicability’ in the context of the UK. In doing this the paper addresses theprospective potential of transitions approaches, but also their relative neglect of places andpublics. Through developing an argument which addresses the strengths and ‘gaps’ oftransitions approaches we also analyse the resonances and dissonances between threethemes – cities and regions, public participation and national hydrogen strategy – in thetransitions literature and the UK policy context