Responsive Organising for Low Emission Societies

ROLES will identify how European city-regions can accelerate decarbonisation of energy systems through digitalisation of energy infrastructure, in ways that also create societal benefits. Despite citizen aspirations to decarbonise society, actions that decarbonise in just ways face structural limits. Emerging research suggests that the failure to accelerate deep decarbonisation is a crisis of accountability. Lack of accountability in digitalising energy infrastructure can exacerbate social exclusion and risks inequitable extraction and use of data.

ROLES will develop strategies for improving citizen involvement and agency to tackle this accountability crisis by exploring customisable pathways for city-regions. It will examine digitalisation of energy infrastructure in three mid-sized (population 100,000-300,000) European city-regions. Phase I (of III) will identify pathways to digitalise energy infrastructure that are both low carbon and beneficial to low income groups. It will focus on electric mobility hubs in Bergen, solar energy neighbourhoods in Brighton, and smart energy monitoring in Trento. Using multi-stakeholder interviews and 3 small-scale surveys (thirty people) with government, business, civil society, and marginalised groups, it will co-produce structured, in-depth knowledge about digitalisation needs and initiatives in each city-region. These will include the range of policy mixes and citizens' coping strategies and modes of engagement.

Phase II will identify constraining and enabling conditions for rapid diffusion of digitalisation along the pathways developed in Phase I. It will involve stakeholders in discussions at public events to develop pathways to accelerate deep decarbonisation through digitalisation. We will employs power cube analysis - a social science tool for analysing the levels, spaces and forms of power, and their interrelationship - to identify political economic power dynamics for each pathway.

Finally, Phase III will deliver a toolkit on responsive organising to accelerate the digitalisation of energy infrastructure for deep decarbonisation in mid-sized European city-regions. In addition, academic outputs will discuss dynamics of responsive organising in and across the cases.