Linking the multi-level perspective with social representations theory: Gasifiers as a niche innovation reinforcing the energy-from-waste (EfW) regime
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In: Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Vol. 120, 01.07.2017, p. 1-13.
Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review
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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 -