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The spatial dynamics of deep transitions

Laur Kanger
Industrial societies are currently evolving along a fundamentally unsustainable trajectory, contributing to climate change, resource depletion and loss of biodiversity. A recent Deep Transitions framework (Schot and Kanger, 2018; Kanger and Schot, 2019) argues that this trajectory has been built up through the First Deep Transition: a 250-year co-evolution of multiple socio-technical systems. However, to…
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The Effect Of Shocks On Sustainability Transitions

Phil Johnstone, Johan Schot
The role of exogenous shocks in influencing transition process is of significant interest to diverse literatures in Sustainability Science. Such events disturb and interrupt path dependent processes in ecological, economic, social, and technological systems. Sometimes this can lead to radical departures from existing trajectories and at other times existing systems can be more resilient, adapting…
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World wars and sociotechnical change in energy, food, and transport: A deep transitions perspective.

Phil Johnstone, Caitriona McLeish
Abstract This paper explores the relationship between world wars and sociotechnical transitions in energy, food, and transport. We utilise and contribute to the Deep Transitions framework, which explores long-term, multi-systemic sociotechnical transitions and integrate a conceptual approach tailored to this particular topic. This approach bridges between historical literatures focused on world wars and sociotechnical perspectives….
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World wars and the age of oil: Exploring directionality in deep energy transitions

Caitriona McLeish, Phil Johnstone
Abstract This paper explores the role of the world wars in 20th century energy transitions, focusing on the growth of oil as a major energy source which accelerated after the Second World War in North America and Europe. We utilise the recently developed Deep Transitions framework which combines Techno-Economic Paradigms and sociotechnical transitions approaches. The…
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The changing landscape of deep transitions: Sociotechnical imprinting and chemical warfare

Johan Schot, Phil Johnstone, Caitriona McLeish
Abstract This paper addresses a major gap in sustainability transitions research: the role of shocks in shaping transition dynamics. The papers focuses on shocks with traumatic consequences, in particular World War I and II. The paper revisits discussions on the sociotechnical landscape in the Multi-Level Perspective (MLP) and Deep Transition framework, offering refined versions of…
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Deep Transitions: Towards a comprehensive framework for mapping major continuities and ruptures in industrial modernity

Laur Kanger
Abstract The world is confronted by a socio-ecological emergency, requiring rapid and deep decarbonization of a broad range of socio-technical systems. A recent Deep Transitions framework argues that this fundamentally unsustainable trajectory has been generated by the co-evolutionary dynamics of multiple systems during the last 250 years. Altering this direction requires a transformation in industrial…
Publications

Deep transitions: A mixed methods study of the historical evolution of mass production

Laur Kanger, Frederique Bone, Daniele Rotolo, Ed Steinmueller, Johan Schot
Abstract Industrial societies contain a range of socio-technical systems fulfilling functions such as the provision of energy, food, mobility, housing, healthcare, finance and communications. The recent Deep Transitions (DT) framework outlines a series of propositions on how the multi-system co-evolution over 250 years of these systems has contributed to several current social and ecological crises….
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The Promise Of Transformative Investment: Mapping The Field Of Sustainability Investing

Caetano Penna, Ed Steinmueller, Johan Schot
This paper addresses the question: How can private finance be mobilized for sociotechnical sustainability transitions? In answering this question, maps the sustainability investment literature, which leads to four propositions: (1) The literature on sustainability investing coevolved with corporate social responsibility theory and with the practice and events of the field, revealing four distinctive waves of…
Publications

The Spatial Dynamics of Deep Transitions

Laur Kanger
Industrial civilization is currently evolving along a fundamentally unsustainable trajectory, contributing to climate change, resource depletion and loss of biodiversity. A recent Deep Transitions framework (Schot and Kanger, 2018; Kanger and Schot, 2019) argues that this trajectory has been built up through the First Deep Transition: a 250-year co-evolution of multiple socio-technical systems. However, to…
Publications

Workshop Report: Deep Transition in the Transatlantic Zone in the Long Twentieth Century, 18-20 May

Ed Steinmueller
With the first phase of the Deep Transitions project drawing to a close, the Deep Transitions workshop on 18-20 May presented acquired findings to a broader community of scholars with pertinent backgrounds, and opened up emerging ideas to critical scrutiny. The workshop intended to provide a space for constructive dialogue and discussion, including the future…