Green industry paths, inclusive, just transitions, regional

Several industrial regions across Europe and other parts of the world are facing complex challenges related to industrial decline, ageing population, outmigration of youth, strong competition, weak governance, and restructuring challenges (Blažek et al., 2012; Blažek & Květoň, 2022; Rumpel & Slach, 2022; Nagy et al., 2023). Prior studies have indicated the need for industrial regions to develop the necessary resilience (Ženka et al., 2019; Trippl et al., 2024) to bounce back from existing societal crises and develop new competencies to adapt and transform themselves to address the challenges (Grillitsch & Asheim, 2024) and explore alternative new regional industry paths. The regions need to develop new competencies and skills related to green and digital transitions (Fazio et al., 2024) and enhance the transformation towards just transitions (Eadson & van Veelen, 2023). Furthermore, not all regions have the necessary resources, knowledge base, skills and capabilities to benefit from the emerging green transition, and there will likely be winners and losers in the future (Grashof & Basilico, 2024). Questions have arisen regarding the extent to which the emergence of new green industry paths contributes to challenges related to ecological sustainability, well-being and social inequality (Trippl et al., 2020; Breul et al., 2021; Eadson & van Veelen, 2023) and marginalize the rights of the citizens and vulnerable social actors such as women, rural residents, youth, elderly, industrial workers, migrant workers, Indigenous communities etc. (Rodríguez-Pose & Bartalucci, 2024; Sovacool et al., 2024). This special session invites submissions to present preliminary exploratory studies that focus on the future of industrial regions and the long-term transformation challenges they face. Submissions are also welcomed to inform regional strategies and regional transformative policies that foster the long-term transformation of industrial regions and critically look at who wins and who loses out in the process and what are the consequences (economic, ecological and societal) of the current political interventions? Submissions are welcomed in the special sessions addressing the following questions but are not limited to them. 1. What are the emergent conflicting regional narratives supported by different regional and non-regional actors (Nilsen et al., 2024) that support multiple sustainable regional futures (Chlebna et al., 2023; Gong, 2024), and how does the lack of coordination and misaligned priorities (Ziemba et al., 2024) between them hinder long term transformative development of industrial regions? 2. How do regional public sentiments and emotions (Hannemann et al., 2023) in fossil fuel-dependent industrial regions (e.g. oil and gas, coal, extractive mining industries, etc) (Afewerki & Karlsen, 2021; Gürtler & Löw Beer, 2024) shape their long-term transformation? How are public debates regarding the future of industrial regions reflected in the media? How does this contribute to increased or decreased support for inclusive green transitions in industrial regions? 3. How do regional authoritarian and populist movements (Wanvik & Haarstad, 2021) advocating dependence on existing fossil fuel-based industrial infrastructure emerge, and which societal stakeholders gain from them? What are the discursive, institutional strategies (Geels, 2014) utilised by incumbent regional industries to delay decarbonisation initiatives (Yazar & Haarstad, 2024) and obstruct inclusive green transitions with alternative visions? Which societal groups lose out due to such interventions, and what are the implications regarding distributive, redistributive and procedural justice (Tarasova, 2024)? 4. What promising alternative futures (Gong, 2024) can industrial regions embark upon, and how can industrial regions in peripheral and geographically remote places (Karlsen et al., 2024; Gansauer et al., 2024) manoeuvre complex economic, social, and environmental trade-offs while shaping regional futures (Benner et al., 2024)?