DIE ERDE – Journal of the Geographical Society of Berlin
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Energy systems, socio-spatial relations, and power: the contested adoption of district heating with combined heat and power in Sweden, 1945-2011
Get PDFDistrict heating (DH) and combined heat and power (CHP) are often considered complementary green technologies (DH-CHP) that can reduce greenhouse gas emissions. They are, however, complex given their operation at the intersection of shifting socio-spatial relations and political power struggles. We investigate the political processes behind the diffusion (and blocked diffusion) of DH and CHP in Sweden from 1945 until 2011, considered through the lens of Jessop, Brenner and Jones’ (2008) Territory, Place, Scale and Networks (TPSN) framework. Foregrounding the socio-spatial constitution of policy decisions, we examine Sweden’s changing patterns of DH and CHP adoption. First, we present the TPSN framework that considers space as simultaneously a structuring principle, enabling and constraining action, as well as a field of operation in which agency is exercised. Second, we examine the socio-spatial structuration of energy systems. Third, we analyse how the changing socio-spatial constitution of each socio-technical system affects key actors’ interests and actions, including the spatial strategies they develop to advance their interests. District heating rapidly diffused across Swedish municipalities in large part because it was considered to be urban infrastructure aligned with the mission of municipalities and was not in direct competition with other actors supplying heat. CHP electricity generation, on the other hand, was initially seen as a benefit to municipal utilities, but was later considered a threat to the interests of large-scale utilities and blocked, only to gain favour again when changing sociospatial conditions made CHP an asset to large-scale utilities. Our analysis suggests that technological diffusion and blockage is far from a straightforward matter. It requires examination of the dynamics of multi-level governance and overlapping socio-technical systems. Socio-technical regimes are in constant evolution and actors struggle to adapt to new circumstances. Socio-technical systems are not merely material systems, but an expression of dynamic power relations and adaptation strategies
South American resourcescapes: geographical perspectives and conceptual challenges
Get PDFOnce again, resources are at the centre of scientific and public interest. From 2000 onwards, soaring commodity prices and the unrestricted proliferation of extractive activities have caused significant spatial, political and socio-economic consequences in producer countries with large extractive economies. We exemplify these consequences by telling the resource stories of South American countries, where the ‘resource curse’ and the internal logics of extractive economies have been deeply inscribed in the socio-economic, cultural and territorial orders since colonial times. Inspired by Swyngedouw (1999), we adopt his notion of ‘waterscapes’ and argue that a deeper, holistic comprehension of resource landscapes (i.e. resourcescapes) is necessary for the understanding of the multidimensional and contradictory nature of resources and possible transitions towards a sustainability-oriented transformation. We suggest that such a framework should be based on Political Ecology, but could also be enriched by taking up other impulses from contemporary poststructuralist and critical geographies and from South American debates on (neo-) extractivism. Starting with a conceptualization of the term ‘resource’, we illustrate historical trajectories and changing perspectives of societal relations with resources in South America. After that, we review conceptual debates in social sciences and ask how these concepts could give impulses for a more holistic framework
Brazil’s Belo Monte Dam: Lessons of an Amazonian resource struggle
Get PDFThe struggle to stop Brazil’s Belo Monte Dam, whose reservoir was filled in December 2015, has lessons for other resource struggles in Amazonia and beyond. Among the impediments that failed to halt the dam were the resistance efforts of both indigenous and non-indigenous victims of the dam’s impacts, as well as the nongovernmental organizations and other actors supporting their cause. The pro-dam side had massive political and financial support from the top levels of the Brazilian government, including vigorous involvement of the country’s president. At the same time, achievements of the anti-dam side, particularly the local grassroots organizations, have provided inspiration for resource struggles elsewhere (although the victories of the resistance are significantly less definitive than was thought by many at the time)
Milano 2: the conceptualization of the ‘re-definition’ of urban life
Get PDFSince the 1960s, the majority of Western cities have been discussing sustainable urban development in order to respond to increasing poverty, crime, and unforeseen patterns within our urban environments. Social and economic inequality plus security issues are central themes in this public debate. Moreover, principles of neoliberalism have led to the constant privatization and economization of social life resulting in private entities in urban contexts playing a pivotal role in the last few decades. This has brought about new and extreme forms of urbanism and developed a new narrative in the urban political discourse. Through the example of Milano 2 (Italy), this paper investigates how an elitist project can establish an alternative conceptualization of ‘the urban’ and considers its implications on ‘the political’ and general urban development. Milano 2 operates on the pretense of giving its residents a ‘better place to live’ which involves a ‘re-definition’ of lifestyle and management organization through governance strategies. In order to assert that Milano 2 represents a ‘redefinition of urban life’, this paper builds up an argument starting from the analysis of public discourse about lifestyle. Furthermore, the paper considers management organization and its governance technologies from a conceptual point of view. By starting to study the sustainable urban development question from the elitist perspective, this paper adds to the discussion by regarding the normalization and acceptance of these urban experiments and it considers how master-planned communities work within the re-definition of lifestyles and management
Conciliating conservation and development in an Amazonian Biosphere Reserve, Ecuador ?
Get PDFBiosphere reserves are protected areas with extraordinary natural and cultural values, conceived as places for reconciliation between conservation and development. The Sumaco Biosphere Reserve (SBR), located in the Northern Ecuadorian Amazon basin is the home of local indigenous communities which have lived in this area for centuries carrying out different subsistence activities (e.g. shifting cultivation, hunting, fishing, and home gardening). During the past decades, tourism initiatives have been implemented as strategies to promote environmental conservation and socio-economic development. In this research, the principal aspects of the management and governance of tourism was examined, as well as its contribution to biodiversity conservation and development. In-depth semi-structured interviews were used to get qualitative information from the main stakeholders. The study shows that tourism is perceived as an important sustainable alternative to mining, oil extraction and hydroelectric projects, which are currently seen as the main threats to conservation in the area. However, tourism in the Sumaco area also faces some problems, which are related to the lack of adequate management and governance strategies, the worst among them being illegality and informality triggering uncontrolled competition, lowering of prices, and decrease in the quality of services. Altogether, these factors could ultimately lead to the overall decline of the destination. To improve the sustainable development of tourism, more efforts on coordination between different sectors (e.g. environment, mining and oil, and tourism) and levels of governments (local, regional, and national) are needed
Resourcing Salta. Viticulture, soy farming and the contested commodification of land
Get PDFIn recent years, the increased significance and internationalisation of land tenancy and purchase has led to intensive scientific discussions. In so doing, a majority of the studies try to draw conclusions of the extent and relevance of the land rush by analysing macro-economic data and structures. In our paper, we extend this analysis by applying an ethnographic, local-regional perspective. Argentina has experienced a strong neo-liberal phase in the 1990s; modernisation and particularly globalisation of agriculture has played a central role. The intensification of land use was coupled with new actor constellations, whereby land ownership and tenancy structures changed fundamentally. Embedded in this national context we contrast two production peripheries in the province of Salta: viticulture in the Andean Calchaquí Valleys and soy farming in the Chaco lowlands. In the context of the Chaco’s soy production the agrarian restructuring goes along with the appearance of actors fol-lowing a short-term logic of capital accumulation (almost exclusively through tenancy-relationships). More often than not, so-called pooles de siembra (driven by financial capital) or national agro-actors use the Chaco Salteño as expansion territory and for risk diversification, fostering monofunctional land use. In contrast, actors of wine business in the Calchaquí Valleys follow predominantly long-term logics: Via land purchase and high-level investments in cultivation and irrigation quality wines are produced for a national and international niche market. Due to the association of wine with amenity quality and social status, a tourism and real estate boom has emerged, whereby the storing of and speculation with (surplus) capital is a crucial factor. Land becomes an attractive capital investment due to massively rising prices. The goal of our paper is to analyse and contrast land use changes in the respective study areas and, by doing so, we aim to contribute to the ongoing discussion on the current land rush/land grabbing in Latin America
The Spanish mortgage crisis: Evidence of the concentration of foreclosures in the most deprived neighbourhoods
Get PDFThe Spanish mortgage crisis has resulted in a massive process of home dispossession through foreclosures. This process forms part of the logics of accumulation by dispossession supported by the Spanish financial and real estate model. The article uses the city of Lleida as case study to show that the effects of this phenomenon has tended not to be spatially homogenous, but rather to be more concentrated in the most deprived urban areas.The analysis has been focused on two approaches: (1) identifying the characteristics of housing affected by foreclosure processes that have resulted in evictions, and; (2) defining the spatial distribution patterns of this housing. This work demonstrates how evictions due to mortgage foreclosures have followed very clear patterns. Firstly, they have predominantly been focused on lower quality housing (identified in this study as the cheapest and smallest properties). Secondly, Getis-Ord Gi* spatial statistic has been used to show that they have been concentrated in the most deprived areas of the city. Both issues confirm the central hypothesis of our study: the Spanish mortgage crisis has exacerbated existing urban disparities
Editorial to the special section "Geographies of Vulnerability and Resilience – Critical Explorations"
Get PDFLate Quaternary aeolian dynamics, pedostratigraphy and soil formation in the North European Lowlands – new findings from the Baruther ice-marginal valley
Get PDFThe construction of dunes in central Europe reflects ample sediment supply during the last deglacial hemicycle. A Quaternary inland dune complex in southern Brandenburg, Germany, was studied to determine the duration of recent pedogenesis, from two outcrops, which show buried paleosols. An integrative approach, which combined geomorphological, sedimentological, (paleo-)pedological and chronological methods was used to identify aeolian deposition events, ensuing pedogenesis and anthropogenic remobilization. At the outcrops, which were situated approximately 2 km apart from each other, in total twelve samples of the aeolian sands were dated using optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) and six using 14C dating. Although the dunes have similar morphological features, these forms have a different history of aeolian sand deposition and pedogenesis. At the older dune (Gl 1) the surface soil is a well developed Podzol, whereas soil development of the younger dune (Gl 2) is clearly in an initial state. The two dunes also differ in grain size distribution and in the presence of buried soils, thereby indicating a climatic impact on aeolian remobilization
Social Resilience and Agency. Perspectives on Ageing and Health from Tanzania
Get PDFThis paper critically examines our framework of social resilience (Obrist et al. 2010) in the light of recent literature and has two objectives: First, it intends to refine our understanding of social resilience through a conceptualization of agency, and secondly, it aims at contributing to the growing body of literature on resilience, ageing and health. In the language of sustainable development, “agency” is commonly used as a synonym for “capacity” or “capability”. We will draw on approaches developed in the social and cultural theory to sharpen the analysis of the relationship between resilience and agency. To illustrate this refined perspective, we draw on empirical research on ageing, agency and health in Tanzania. We will take the threat of old age frailty and disability as a starting point, explore empirical situations of old age care as an engagement (or disengagement) by actors of the multiple social and cultural configurations that constrain or enable actions, and examine whether, through the interplay of habit, imagination, and judgment, these engagements reproduce or transform those structures and thus build social resilience to the threat of old age frailty and disability. This approach enabled us to identify several constellations which opened up interactive spaces for the public or private deliberations of available options (practical-evaluative agency), the active generation of possible future trajectories (projective agency) and sometimes even for structural modifications (transformative agency) with regard to old age care. Our findings further indicate that individual and collective actors positioned at the intersection of diverse fields of practice can develop more evaluative, projective and even transformative agency