An agenda for sustainability transitions research: State of the art and future directions

Jonathan Köhler; Frank W. Geels; Florian Kern; Jochen Markard; Elsie Onsongo; Anna Wieczorek; Floortje Alkemade; Flor Avelino; Anna Bergek; Frank Boons; Lea Fünfschilling; David Hess; Georg Holtz; Sampsa Hyysalo; Kirsten Jenkins; Paula Kivimaa; Mari Martiskainen; Andrew Mcmeekin; Marie Susan Mühlemeier; Bjorn Nykvist; Bonno Pel; Rob Raven; Harald Rohracher; Björn Sandén; Johan Schot; Benjamin Sovacool; Bruno Turnheim; Dan Welch; Peter Wells

doi:10.1016/j.eist.2019.01.004

An agenda for sustainability transitions research: State of the art and future directions

Jonathan Köhler^*, Frank W. Geels, Florian Kern, Jochen Markard, Elsie Onsongo, Anna Wieczorek, Floortje Alkemade, Flor Avelino, Anna Bergek, Frank Boons, Lea Fünfschilling, David Hess, Georg Holtz, Sampsa Hyysalo, Kirsten Jenkins, Paula Kivimaa, Mari Martiskainen, Andrew Mcmeekin, Marie Susan Mühlemeier, Bjorn NykvistBonno Pel, Rob Raven, Harald Rohracher, Björn Sandén, Johan Schot, Benjamin Sovacool, Bruno Turnheim, Dan Welch, Peter Wells

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

Abstract

Research on sustainability transitions has expanded rapidly in the last ten years, diversified in terms of topics and geographical applications, and deepened with respect to theories and methods. This article provides an extensive review and an updated research agenda for the field, classified into nine main themes: understanding transitions; power, agency and politics; governing transitions; civil society, culture and social movements; businesses and industries; transitions in practice and everyday life; geography of transitions; ethical aspects; and methodologies. The review shows that the scope of sustainability transitions research has broadened and connections to established disciplines have grown stronger. At the same time, we see that the grand challenges related to sustainability remain unsolved, calling for continued efforts and an acceleration of ongoing transitions. Transition studies can play a key role in this regard by creating new perspectives, approaches and understanding and helping to move society in the direction of sustainability.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	1-32
Number of pages	32
Journal	Environmental innovation and societal transitions
Volume	31
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eist.2019.01.004
Publication status	Published - 1 Jun 2019
Externally published	Yes

Keywords

CLIMATE-CHANGE
DISTRIBUTED SOLAR-ENERGY
GRASS-ROOTS INNOVATIONS
LOW-CARBON TRANSITIONS
MULTILEVEL PERSPECTIVE
QUALITATIVE COMPARATIVE-ANALYSIS
REGIME DESTABILIZATION
RENEWABLE ENERGY
Research agenda
SOCIOTECHNICAL TRANSITIONS
Socio-technical systems
Sustainability
TECHNOLOGICAL-INNOVATION SYSTEMS
Transformation
Transitions

Access to Document

10.1016/j.eist.2019.01.004

https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S2210422418303332

Cite this

Köhler, J., Geels, F. W., Kern, F., Markard, J., Onsongo, E., Wieczorek, A., Alkemade, F., Avelino, F., Bergek, A., Boons, F., Fünfschilling, L., Hess, D., Holtz, G., Hyysalo, S., Jenkins, K., Kivimaa, P., Martiskainen, M., Mcmeekin, A., Mühlemeier, M. S., ... Wells, P. (2019). An agenda for sustainability transitions research: State of the art and future directions. Environmental innovation and societal transitions, 31, 1-32. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eist.2019.01.004

@article{4e5d6bc144774e88a54dcddb80f2e368,

title = "An agenda for sustainability transitions research: State of the art and future directions",

abstract = "Research on sustainability transitions has expanded rapidly in the last ten years, diversified in terms of topics and geographical applications, and deepened with respect to theories and methods. This article provides an extensive review and an updated research agenda for the field, classified into nine main themes: understanding transitions; power, agency and politics; governing transitions; civil society, culture and social movements; businesses and industries; transitions in practice and everyday life; geography of transitions; ethical aspects; and methodologies. The review shows that the scope of sustainability transitions research has broadened and connections to established disciplines have grown stronger. At the same time, we see that the grand challenges related to sustainability remain unsolved, calling for continued efforts and an acceleration of ongoing transitions. Transition studies can play a key role in this regard by creating new perspectives, approaches and understanding and helping to move society in the direction of sustainability.",

keywords = "CLIMATE-CHANGE, DISTRIBUTED SOLAR-ENERGY, GRASS-ROOTS INNOVATIONS, LOW-CARBON TRANSITIONS, MULTILEVEL PERSPECTIVE, QUALITATIVE COMPARATIVE-ANALYSIS, REGIME DESTABILIZATION, RENEWABLE ENERGY, Research agenda, SOCIOTECHNICAL TRANSITIONS, Socio-technical systems, Sustainability, TECHNOLOGICAL-INNOVATION SYSTEMS, Transformation, Transitions",

author = "Jonathan K{\"o}hler and Geels, {Frank W.} and Florian Kern and Jochen Markard and Elsie Onsongo and Anna Wieczorek and Floortje Alkemade and Flor Avelino and Anna Bergek and Frank Boons and Lea F{\"u}nfschilling and David Hess and Georg Holtz and Sampsa Hyysalo and Kirsten Jenkins and Paula Kivimaa and Mari Martiskainen and Andrew Mcmeekin and M{\"u}hlemeier, {Marie Susan} and Bjorn Nykvist and Bonno Pel and Rob Raven and Harald Rohracher and Bj{\"o}rn Sand{\'e}n and Johan Schot and Benjamin Sovacool and Bruno Turnheim and Dan Welch and Peter Wells",

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doi = "10.1016/j.eist.2019.01.004",

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Köhler, J, Geels, FW, Kern, F, Markard, J, Onsongo, E, Wieczorek, A, Alkemade, F, Avelino, F, Bergek, A, Boons, F, Fünfschilling, L, Hess, D, Holtz, G, Hyysalo, S, Jenkins, K, Kivimaa, P, Martiskainen, M, Mcmeekin, A, Mühlemeier, MS, Nykvist, B, Pel, B, Raven, R, Rohracher, H, Sandén, B, Schot, J, Sovacool, B, Turnheim, B, Welch, D & Wells, P 2019, 'An agenda for sustainability transitions research: State of the art and future directions', Environmental innovation and societal transitions, vol. 31, pp. 1-32. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eist.2019.01.004

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T1 - An agenda for sustainability transitions research: State of the art and future directions

AU - Köhler, Jonathan

AU - Geels, Frank W.

AU - Kern, Florian

AU - Markard, Jochen

AU - Onsongo, Elsie

AU - Wieczorek, Anna

AU - Alkemade, Floortje

AU - Avelino, Flor

AU - Bergek, Anna

AU - Boons, Frank

AU - Fünfschilling, Lea

AU - Hess, David

AU - Holtz, Georg

AU - Hyysalo, Sampsa

AU - Jenkins, Kirsten

AU - Kivimaa, Paula

AU - Martiskainen, Mari

AU - Mcmeekin, Andrew

AU - Mühlemeier, Marie Susan

AU - Nykvist, Bjorn

AU - Pel, Bonno

AU - Raven, Rob

AU - Rohracher, Harald

AU - Sandén, Björn

AU - Schot, Johan

AU - Sovacool, Benjamin

AU - Turnheim, Bruno

AU - Welch, Dan

AU - Wells, Peter

PY - 2019/6/1

Y1 - 2019/6/1

N2 - Research on sustainability transitions has expanded rapidly in the last ten years, diversified in terms of topics and geographical applications, and deepened with respect to theories and methods. This article provides an extensive review and an updated research agenda for the field, classified into nine main themes: understanding transitions; power, agency and politics; governing transitions; civil society, culture and social movements; businesses and industries; transitions in practice and everyday life; geography of transitions; ethical aspects; and methodologies. The review shows that the scope of sustainability transitions research has broadened and connections to established disciplines have grown stronger. At the same time, we see that the grand challenges related to sustainability remain unsolved, calling for continued efforts and an acceleration of ongoing transitions. Transition studies can play a key role in this regard by creating new perspectives, approaches and understanding and helping to move society in the direction of sustainability.

AB - Research on sustainability transitions has expanded rapidly in the last ten years, diversified in terms of topics and geographical applications, and deepened with respect to theories and methods. This article provides an extensive review and an updated research agenda for the field, classified into nine main themes: understanding transitions; power, agency and politics; governing transitions; civil society, culture and social movements; businesses and industries; transitions in practice and everyday life; geography of transitions; ethical aspects; and methodologies. The review shows that the scope of sustainability transitions research has broadened and connections to established disciplines have grown stronger. At the same time, we see that the grand challenges related to sustainability remain unsolved, calling for continued efforts and an acceleration of ongoing transitions. Transition studies can play a key role in this regard by creating new perspectives, approaches and understanding and helping to move society in the direction of sustainability.

KW - CLIMATE-CHANGE

KW - DISTRIBUTED SOLAR-ENERGY

KW - GRASS-ROOTS INNOVATIONS

KW - LOW-CARBON TRANSITIONS

KW - MULTILEVEL PERSPECTIVE

KW - QUALITATIVE COMPARATIVE-ANALYSIS

KW - REGIME DESTABILIZATION

KW - RENEWABLE ENERGY

KW - Research agenda

KW - SOCIOTECHNICAL TRANSITIONS

KW - Socio-technical systems

KW - Sustainability

KW - TECHNOLOGICAL-INNOVATION SYSTEMS

KW - Transformation

KW - Transitions

U2 - 10.1016/j.eist.2019.01.004

DO - 10.1016/j.eist.2019.01.004

M3 - Article

SN - 2210-4224

VL - 31

SP - 1

EP - 32

JO - Environmental innovation and societal transitions

JF - Environmental innovation and societal transitions

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