The literature on sustainability transitions informs us about demanding transitions characterized by inertia and complex processes of interaction across different scales. We believe that economic geographers and other social scientists occupied with regional development studies, are particularly qualified to understand such transitions and invite you to elaborate on and explain: How sustainable transitions are understood and legitimized at different places and at different geographical scales. Even if you are focusing foremost on national or regional levels, we expect you to also take international relations into consideration when relevant. We welcome contributions that explain the role of the state and demonstrates the significance of institutions and regulations for sustainable transition. At the same time, we appreciate contributions that examine the role of local and regional agency for innovation, and how these interact with structural entities that shape possibilities and constraints for various types of actors.
We welcome papers that involve with different strands of sustainability transitions and economic geography literature and related debates, for example:
- Energy transition and growth of new renewables which evidently could be contested.
- Innovation systems for developing green technology and creating green jobs.
- The challenges of regions that are carbon intensive regions that strive to find a foothold into more sustainable production or consumption patterns.
- To understand conditions for a transition from a linear to a circular economy.
- Interactions across private and public sectors for instance in terms of public procurement.
- Not to forget the role of civil sector involvement in sustainable transition.
- Policy recommendations on accelerating sustainable transition which also appear legitime for key actors affected
We welcome both theoretical as well as more empirical founded research that provide novel insights on under what conditions are sustainable transition likely to succeed in Northern regional contexts.
