TY - JOUR

T1 - Linking the multi-level perspective with social representations theory

T2 - Gasifiers as a niche innovation reinforcing the energy-from-waste (EfW) regime

AU - Levidow, Les

AU - Upham, Paul

N1 - Open Access funded by Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EP/K036793/1 - Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council/ EPSRC). This work was supported by grant from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) Supergen programme during 2013–17, project no. EP/K036793/1, ‘Increasing energy yield from the integration of anaerobic digestion and pyrolysis’, http://www.supergen-bioenergy.net/research-projects/increasing-the-energy-yield-from-the-integrations-of-anaerobic-digestion-and-pyrolysis/.

PY - 2017/7/1

Y1 - 2017/7/1

N2 - The multi-level perspective (MLP) theorises technological change as a process of niche innovations competing with incumbent socio-technical regimes. As a mid-range theoretical framework, the MLP invites complementary, more detailed theorisation of salient issues, especially the roles of socio-political agency in changing regime rules around technological competition. Taking a socio-cognitive perspective, this paper links the MLP with social representations theory, to show how a new technology is diversely 'anchored' in a familiar one for different agendas. The case study is a specific niche innovation - thermal treatments of municipal solid waste (MSW) within the UK's wider regime of energy-from-waste (EfW). Through landscape-level changes, controversy over incinerators has destabilised the EfW regime's rules. This instability has opened up opportunities for gasifiers as a niche innovation, yet gasifiers have also become an extra focus for conflict over incinerators' wider role in the waste hierarchy. Agents compare thermal-treatment options for MSW according to various criteria which have unstable, changing rules. These express different socio-cognitive frameworks, analysed here as diverse social representations of novelty. The case study offers an insiders' perspective on endogenous enactment, i.e. the conflicting roles of socio-political agency in shaping transition pathways.

AB - The multi-level perspective (MLP) theorises technological change as a process of niche innovations competing with incumbent socio-technical regimes. As a mid-range theoretical framework, the MLP invites complementary, more detailed theorisation of salient issues, especially the roles of socio-political agency in changing regime rules around technological competition. Taking a socio-cognitive perspective, this paper links the MLP with social representations theory, to show how a new technology is diversely 'anchored' in a familiar one for different agendas. The case study is a specific niche innovation - thermal treatments of municipal solid waste (MSW) within the UK's wider regime of energy-from-waste (EfW). Through landscape-level changes, controversy over incinerators has destabilised the EfW regime's rules. This instability has opened up opportunities for gasifiers as a niche innovation, yet gasifiers have also become an extra focus for conflict over incinerators' wider role in the waste hierarchy. Agents compare thermal-treatment options for MSW according to various criteria which have unstable, changing rules. These express different socio-cognitive frameworks, analysed here as diverse social representations of novelty. The case study offers an insiders' perspective on endogenous enactment, i.e. the conflicting roles of socio-political agency in shaping transition pathways.

KW - Sustainability Science

KW - Multi-level perspective (MLP)

KW - Niche innovation

KW - Social representations

KW - Municipal solid waste (MSW)

KW - Advanced thermal treatment (ATT)

KW - Gasification

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85017428699&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.techfore.2017.03.028

DO - 10.1016/j.techfore.2017.03.028

M3 - Journal articles

AN - SCOPUS:85017428699

VL - 120

SP - 1

EP - 13

JO - Technological Forecasting and Social Change

JF - Technological Forecasting and Social Change

SN - 0040-1625

ER -