Welcome to the website of the geography of sustainability transitions thematic group.

Our aim:

The aim of this group is to develop an open forum for theoretically informed debates about the spaces, places and scales at which sustainability transitons unfold. It will foster dialogue between and across disciplines in order to develop spatial perspectives on sustainability transitions. Over the past ten years, it has become increasingly evident, that a more elaborate geographical perspective on transition dynamics is needed. Many of today’s grand challenges transcend the boundaries of specific cities, regions, or nations as translocal/transnational spatial relationships and multi-scalar factors play a significant role in shaping transition dynamics and possibilities. At the same time, places differ in their structural preconditions and the capacity to engage in experimenting with radically new socio-technical configurations. Where and how transitions unfold depends on change dynamics that co-evolve between (and have impacts on) various places around the world in spatially highly complex and uneven ways.

The thematic group will foster dialogue on emerging research streams comprising (but not limited) to:

1. Developing a multi-scalar take on key transition concepts like technological innovation systems, niche experimentation, or socio-technical regimes

2. Understanding the context-specific structural conditions and dynamics that enable/constrain ‘green’ path development in cities, regions, and countries

3. Elucidating the place-making politics and the spatially unequal impacts of sustainability transitions

4. Understanding how transition and green innovation dynamics co-evolve between different regions of the world, and especially between developed, emerging and developing economies

We aim at creating an open and inclusive forum of exchange that enables the transitions community to benefit from salient theoretical and empirical debates in closely related fields. Our group will facilitate scholarly exchange through scientific activities, e.g. at international conferences and in focused workshops and webinars, but in the mid-term we also seek to promote GeoST thinking among practitioners, especially with civil society groups and policy-makers.

Our activities:

– Provide an online platform: Website, social media, mailing list, etc.

– Organize special sessions at international conferences, i.e. IST 2021, GCEG 2021

– Run a working paper series on the geography of innovation and sustainability transitions

– Craft joint papers, special issues, edited volumes etc. in geography and transition outlets

– Organize workshops, webinar series and informal exchanges among scholars and/or practitioners interested in the field.