Advancing the understanding of social innovation in sustainability transitions: exploring processes, politics, and policies for accelerating transitions
Julia M. Wittmayer , Sabine Hielscher , Karoline S. Rogge , K. Matthias Weber
{"title":"Advancing the understanding of social innovation in sustainability transitions: exploring processes, politics, and policies for accelerating transitions","authors":"Julia M. Wittmayer , Sabine Hielscher , Karoline S. Rogge , K. Matthias Weber","doi":"10.1016/j.eist.2023.100805","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>This introduction to the special issue on ‘Advancing the understanding of social innovation in sustainability transitions’ is situated at the intersection of transition studies and social innovation research. In the past years, linkages between the fields of social innovation research and transition studies have been established: while transition scholars increasingly focus on social innovation phenomena, social innovation scholars engage in better understanding the relations between social innovation and societal transformation and its impacts towards sustainability. With its eight contributions, this special issue further explicates and broadens out this intersection of both fields, with an empirical focus on insights on energy transitions. Social innovation is introduced as a sensitising concept to advance our understanding of sustainability transitions along three themes: process of change; power and politics; as well as policies and policy mixes. This introduction closes by providing future research avenues and implications for policy.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":54294,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":5.7000,"publicationDate":"2024-01-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions","FirstCategoryId":"93","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2210422423001156","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
This introduction to the special issue on ‘Advancing the understanding of social innovation in sustainability transitions’ is situated at the intersection of transition studies and social innovation research. In the past years, linkages between the fields of social innovation research and transition studies have been established: while transition scholars increasingly focus on social innovation phenomena, social innovation scholars engage in better understanding the relations between social innovation and societal transformation and its impacts towards sustainability. With its eight contributions, this special issue further explicates and broadens out this intersection of both fields, with an empirical focus on insights on energy transitions. Social innovation is introduced as a sensitising concept to advance our understanding of sustainability transitions along three themes: process of change; power and politics; as well as policies and policy mixes. This introduction closes by providing future research avenues and implications for policy.
期刊介绍:
Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions serves as a platform for reporting studies on innovations and socio-economic transitions aimed at fostering an environmentally sustainable economy, thereby addressing structural resource scarcity and environmental challenges, particularly those associated with fossil energy use and climate change. The journal focuses on various forms of innovation, including technological, organizational, economic, institutional, and political, as well as economy-wide and sectoral changes in areas such as energy, transport, agriculture, and water management. It endeavors to tackle complex questions concerning social, economic, behavioral-psychological, and political barriers and opportunities, along with their intricate interactions. With a multidisciplinary approach and methodological openness, the journal welcomes contributions from a wide array of disciplines within the social, environmental, and innovation sciences.