Habitats and harbours for sustainability experimentation in the regions of Europe: A contribution to the geographical articulation of the niche for sustainability experiments

Abstract

The urgency of the global sustainability challenge requires a fundamental system change: a transition of the systems for, e.g., the provision of energy, food and mobility. To date, however, progress has been rather limited because these systems exhibit high degrees of inertia. The literature on transition studies suggests that this fundamental system change can start small, for instance, in practice-based experiments with innovations mostly in local contexts. These contexts are called niches. These experiments may be the starting point of a diffusion of these innovations, which is essential for the acceleration of the transition towards a more sustainable system. In this dissertation, the following questions are addressed: • Which spatial context conditions enable practice-based experiments with sustainability innovations in Europe and the early diffusion of these innovations? • How can these conditions be improved? • In which type of city-regions are these conditions favourable? We developed the ‘habitat’ concept to suggest that an experiment can be carried out in coevolution with its spatial context. This principle is derived from biology. It is used in this research because we suspect that the context improves the experiment and vice versa. The main context factors that enable experimentation are as follows: • The presence of a local or regional vision • Learning from experiments • The presence of a countercultural milieu • The diffusion of knowledge in local and regional networks • Regional actors, especially local and regional governments • Culture in society, such as openness and trust We developed the ‘harbour’ concept to indicate that a combination of spatial context factors facilitates the ‘shipping’ of innovations in a figurative sense. The context factors that enable diffusion concern: • Local, regional and global networks • Facilitating regional actors, i.e., governments and universities • Vibrant environments, such as conferences and festivals • Culture in society, such as cultural openness, trust and a shared sustainability ambition In all parts of this research, we found that in addition to spatial context factors, the project-internal factors also play important roles. Both sets of conditions contribute to successful diffusion to approximately the same degree. It was found that frontrunner regions are strongly related to cities and regions with high social and physical openness (measured by cross-cultural contact with people in other countries, city memberships in global sustainability networks and international meetings). Within the analysed European regions, frontrunner regions are mainly found in Northern and Western Europe, such as the regions of Noord-Holland, Utrecht and Midland & Eastern Ireland, and in other parts of Europe, such as Budapest and Catalunya. We have shown that the favourable context conditions for experimentation and diffusion may have been formed in the socioeconomic history of cities and regions. They may have been shaped further by a process of several years of experimentation. Several context conditions can be influenced by regional stakeholders, and they can be further improved. This dissertation contains a recommendation for regional networks to assess the existing and needed project-internal and context conditions on site.