Sustainability transitions, tensions, conflicts, contestations, regional

Over the past ten years, debates and dialogues at the interface of human/economic geography and transition studies have grown into an epistemic community focusing on the ‘geography of sustainability transitions’ (GeoST). Transition challenges increasingly transcend conventional territorial boundaries (e.g., cities, regions, nations) as multi-scalar factors play a significant role in shaping transition dynamics and possibilities. At the same time, places differ in their structural preconditions and their capacities to engage in experiments with radical socio-technical reconfigurations. Where and how transitions unfold therefore depends on dynamics that co-evolve between (and have impacts on) places in spatially highly complex and uneven ways. This open track offers a meeting place to discuss the most salient and promising conceptual interfaces between transition studies and geographical/spatial social sciences. Echoing the conference theme, we in particular welcome contributions that focus on the territorially embedded and multi-scalar tensions and trade-offs, as well as the spatially variegated dilemmas and conflicts that accompany sustainability transitions. We invite theoretical, conceptual and empirical contributions, as well as review papers, that reflect on the state of the art and outline promising avenues for GeoST research related to the conference theme and broader topics like: ● Tensions, conflicts, dilemmas and trade-offs between the scale, scope and speed of sustainability transitions and how they can be resolved in place-based and multi-scalar settings ● The interplay between context-specific structural conditions and agentic dynamics that shape sustainability transitions ● Novel conceptual frameworks and methodologies for addressing the multi-scalar interdependencies and tensions that constitute and shape innovation and socio-technical systems ● The role of place differentiations (e.g., capabilities, values, material, natural), place-making processes, and contested politics in producing spatially uneven sustainability transitions ● Rethinking / re-conceptualizing the geographies of transitions in non-core regions, as well as in low- and middle income cities, regions, or countries ● Developing critical geographical perspectives on salient transition policy approaches like smart specialization, transition management, or mission-oriented / transformative innovation policies ● The spatially uneven and politically contested social, economic and environmental outcomes of sustainability transitions, in particular related to ‘just transitions’ ● The geopolitics of sustainability transitions, e.g. related to sourcing raw materials for ‘green’ innovation or decarbonizing global value chains or near-shoring strategies The session will be structured as an open conference session track, with contributions being grouped into thematically coherent paper sessions. Two special sessions will be organized within the track, one on tensions and trade-offs in green regional transitions (convened by Dr. Suyash Jolly) and one on China’s Regional and Global Interactions in Green Transitions (organized by Prof. Hao Tan). If the conference schedule allows, we also envision creating a final reflection session, which will enable overarching discussions on the most salient future research themes for GeoST and on future activity areas of the GeoST thematic group.