http://repub.eur.nl/res/aut/19812/ List of Publications en http://repub.eur.nl/static-eur/img/logo.png http://repub.eur.nl http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/38805/ 2012-11-07T00:00:00Z Renewable energy (RE) can be considered as one viable option to help address concerns of energy autonomy and carbon reduction. This is especially true for Greece, where the electricity demand increases, the economic situation is likely to remain challenging and European Directives call for a mandatory supply of RE into the national energy mix. However, although steps have been made to make investment conditions seem favourable, the Hellenic electricity system has not achieved the expected embedding of RE in the grid, resulting in a lagging energy transition to a more sustainable energy system. We explain facets of the present day energy policy context and the historical evolution of the energy sector through a PEST analysis. The analysis reveals no lack of opportunity and effort, but institutional, social and technological misalignments in terms of developments and change. A comprehensive analysis is used to unpack the interfaces between institutions, society and technology and from this a number of options are identified which could potentially remove the sector disintegration and strengthen the functionality of these interfaces. Whilst no panacea for effective penetration of RE in Greece is apparent, the conclusions suggest that there is a pressing need for future energy governance to be more integrative and holistic to encompass the array of stakeholders in RE penetration in order to facilitate meeting EU RE targets by 2020. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/34989/ 2012-02-24T00:00:00Z Our paper addresses the inherent tension between the open-ended and uncertain process of sustainability transitions and the ambition for governing such a process. We explore this tension from two theoretical angles: the sustainability and the governance angles; by showing the implications of sustainability targets in governance processes and governance attempts. We propose transition management as a governance approach that has the potential to overcome this tension through selective participatory processes of envisioning, negotiating, learning and experimenting. Transition management includes a portfolio of tools that have a common objective to enable change in practices and structures directed towards sustainable development targets. We present the transition arena and the transition experiments as two transition management tools elaborating on their process design, expected outcomes and illustrating their application in the Dutch construction transition. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/38270/ 2012-02-01T00:00:00Z The field of sustainability science aims to understand the complex and dynamic interactions between natural and human systems in order to transform and develop these in a sustainable manner. As sustainability problems cut across diverse academic disciplines, ranging from the natural sciences to the social sciences and humanities, interdisciplinarity has become a central idea to the realm of sustainability science. Yet, for addressing complicated, real-world sustainability problems, interdisciplinarity per se does not suffice. Active collaboration with various stakeholders throughout society-transdisciplinarity-must form another critical component of sustainability science. In addition to implementing interdisciplinarity and transdisciplinarity in practice, higher education institutions also need to deal with the challenges of institutionalization. In this article, drawing on the experiences of selected higher education academic programs on sustainability, we discuss academic, institutional, and societal challenges in sustainability science and explore the potential of uniting education, research and societal contributions to form a systematic and integrated response to the sustainability crisis. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/34973/ 2012-01-01T00:00:00Z The challenges facing developed countries in the coming decades require a fundamental reorientation and re-conceptualisation of our current socio-economic fabric. Resource scarcities, climate change concerns, ageing populations, economic shifts and globalisation are examples of trends that are increasing the pressure on various institutions and society in general, and will inevitably involve drastic changes. Necessary, and perhaps imminent, transformations in energy supply, production and consumption, welfare and health-care systems and mobility pose a significant challenge for governance scholars to develop an understanding of how such transitions arise, and how they may be influenced to engender more sustainable futures. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/20303/ 2010-10-01T00:00:00Z http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/16985/ 2009-11-01T00:00:00Z This paper bridges a gap between emergent transition theories and the policy maker facing societal transitions when making long-term policy. Using a two-step approach the abstract concepts are linked to the realm of the policy maker. First the forces underlying transitions are identified and second where they can be found is presented. For this a conceptual map of societal systems, the clover model, is introduced. With the clover model the structures, cultures and practices of societal systems can be found. Furthermore, intermediate changes are systematically treated to track the phases of a transition. These transition diagnostics are supplemented with recommended policy frameworks. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/37228/ 2009-05-28T00:00:00Z In this paper we present the transition approach as an integrated perspective to understand and possibly orient our society towards sustainable development. Transition management is based upon complex adaptive system thinking and seeks to deal with ongoing changes in society in an evolutionary manner so as to influence these ongoing changes in terms of speed and direction: towards sustainability. Since the concept of sustainability is inherently normative, subjective and ambiguous, we argue that (unlike some more traditional approaches to sustainable development) we should focus on an open facilitation and stimulation of social processes towards sustainability. Transition perspective poses novel challenges for research: there are no unequivocal answers, nor is it clear how these processes should be governed. We thus end this paper by formulating the basic research questions central to the search for governance for sustainability. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/34895/ 2009-04-28T00:00:00Z Abstract The concepts of transition and transition management offer a fruitful context for cooperation and debate among scientists, policy makers, and corporate actors. Transition management and transition approach in general provide an integrative approach to analyze and formulate an unconventional pathway towards sustainability. Transitions’ approach is not to achieve fixed goals, but to gradually work towards common ambitions through innovation, integration, and co-evolution. A transition to sustainability is an open-ended societal process of fundamental change in structure, culture and practices that comply with the sustainability values. In this paper we address not only what is a transitions’ approach, but also what transition management can offer to policy makers who position sustainability at the core of the development. Process-oriented tenets of transition management as well as propositions in face of global and local challenges to sustainability are analyzed. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/37231/ 2009-04-06T00:00:00Z This paper presents a framework for governance in the context of large scale and long term societal change (transitions). We argue that existing theories of governance offer interesting descriptive insights for such a framework, but do not present innovative prescriptive ideas for governance of transitions. In this paper we distill and abstract the basic and more generic notions in a number of key governance fields, and try to relate these to emerging theory on transitions and their governance. More specific, we build upon the interactive governance paradigm and link it to transition thinking and transition management. Our paper thus seeks to outline the contours of transitions governance and develop two operational links in the form of transition governance frameworks for detecting the societal potential for system’s change and for orienting the societal system towards transitions.