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topics:eaas_-_energy-as-a-service [2026/04/07 13:52] – o.sachstopics:eaas_-_energy-as-a-service [2026/04/07 14:00] (current) – o.sachs
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 ===== Shared definitions ===== ===== Shared definitions =====
  
-The analysis of transition pathways typically employs the **Multi-Level Perspective (MLP)**, which distinguishes between three levels of interaction:+A transition pathway describes a bundle of strategies and actions that support the achievement of a long-term vision, positioned in relation to — rather than separate from — social, cultural, political, economic, and institutional contexts. The pathways approach enables integrated systemic thinking about the short-, medium-, and long-term actions needed to reach a more sustainable future.((Frantzeskaki, N., et al. (2019). Transition pathways to sustainability in greater than 2°C climate futures of Europe. //Regional Environmental Change//, 19(3), 777–789. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10113-019-01475-x))
  
-* **Niches**: Protected spaces for radical innovation (e.g., pilot smart grid projects). +Within the multi-level perspective, transition pathways outline co-evolutionary developments across the layers of a socio-technical regime, consistent with and dependent on framework conditions at the landscape and niche levels. Landscape factors — long-term cultural and biophysical conditions including climate change impacts — influence the regime without being structurally influenced by regime change within a given time horizon. Niche developments, understood as innovation ecosystems, provide the space for institutional, social, technological, and business innovation at multiple regime levels.((Kubeczko, K. (2022). //Transformative readiness: Unpacking the technological and non-technological aspects of sustainability transitions.// Presented at the 13th International Sustainability Transitions Conference (IST 2022).))
-* **Sociotechnical Regimes**: The stable "grammar" of technologies, rules, and practices that dominate the current system. +
-* **Sociotechnical Landscape**: Exogenous macro-trends (e.g., climate change, digitalization) that exert pressure on the regime.+
  
-Four primary pathway types are distinguished based on the timing and nature of these interactions:+==== Four transition pathway types ====
  
-^ Pathway ^ Characteristics ^ +Geels and Schot (2007) identify four distinct patterns through which socio-technical regimes change, determined by the relative timing and strength of landscape pressure and niche development:((Geels, F. W., & Schot, J. (2007). Typology of sociotechnical transition pathways. //Research Policy//, 36(3), 399–417. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2007.01.003)) 
-| **Transformation** | Moderate landscape pressure; regime actors adapt by reorienting existing trajectories. | + 
-| **Reconfiguration** | Niche innovations are adopted to solve local problems, gradually changing the regime's basic architecture. | +<WRAP tablecap> 
-| **Technological Substitution** | Strong landscape pressure occurs when niche innovations are already mature, leading to the replacement of the old regime. | +**Table 1.** Four sociotechnical transition pathways.\\ 
-| **De-alignment and Re-alignment** | Sudden landscape shocks cause regime collapse; multiple niches compete until one becomes the new standard. |+//Source: Geels & Schot (2007).// 
 +</WRAP> 
 + 
 +^ Pathway ^ Conditions ^ Mechanism ^ 
 +| **Transformation** | Moderate landscape pressure; niche innovations not yet sufficiently developed | Regime actors modify the direction of development paths and innovation activities without regime breakdown | 
 +| **De-alignment and re-alignment** | Large, sudden, divergent landscape change | Increasing regime problems cause actors to lose faith; regime erodes before a new configuration stabilises | 
 +| **Technological substitution** | Strong landscape pressure; niche innovations sufficiently developed | Niche innovations break through and replace the existing regime | 
 +| **Reconfiguration** | Symbiotic niche innovations adopted to solve local problems | Innovations trigger further adjustments in the basic architecture of the regime incrementally | 
 + 
 +==== Regime layers ==== 
 + 
 +The socio-technical energy regime can be understood as four interacting layers, each with its own dynamics:((Kubeczko, K. (2022). //Transformative readiness: Unpacking the technological and non-technological aspects of sustainability transitions.// Presented at the 13th International Sustainability Transitions Conference (IST 2022).)) 
 + 
 +  * **Governance and institutions** — regulatory frameworks, rule systems, actor networks, market institutions, and policy structures at the socio-economic meso-level 
 +  * **Actors layer** — incumbent and emerging actors with their strategies, wants, needs, practices, and routines at the socio-economic micro-level 
 +  * **Functional** — functional structures and mechanisms of energy extraction, transformation, production, storage, and distribution 
 +  * **Biophysical** — the biophysical foundation of materials and energy flows, including artefactual infrastructure 
 + 
 +Enduring change within the regime is achieved only through cumulative causation: elements across the four layers interact in self-reinforcing ways. Change triggered by niche innovation in one layer must propagate across layers to produce lasting structural change. 
 + 
 +<WRAP figure> 
 +{{transp2.png?700|Transition pathways framework showing four regime layers and their relationship to landscape and niche levels}} 
 + 
 +**Figure 1.** Transition pathways framework: four regime layers and their relationship to landscape and niche levels.\\ 
 +//Source: Kubeczko (2022), adapted from Foxon et al. (2010).((Foxon, T. J., et al. (2010). Branching points for transition pathways: Assessing responses of actors to challenges on pathways to a low carbon future. //Energy Policy//, 38(12), 7948–7959. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2010.09.020))// 
 +</WRAP> 
 + 
 +<WRAP figure> 
 +{{transitionp1.png?700|Ontological layers of a socio-technical regime}} 
 + 
 +**Figure 2.** Ontological layers of a socio-technical energy regime.\\ 
 +//Source: Adapted from Foxon et al. (2010).((Foxon, T. J., et al. (2010). Branching points for transition pathways: Assessing responses of actors to challenges on pathways to a low carbon future. //Energy Policy//, 38(12), 7948–7959. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2010.09.020))// 
 +</WRAP>
  
 ===== Perspectives ===== ===== Perspectives =====
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 <WRAP distinction> <WRAP distinction>
-**Transition vs. Transition Management**\\ +**Transition pathway vs. scenario** \\ 
-A **transition** is the actual shift in the sociotechnical system, which is often emergent and uncoordinated. **Transition management** refers to the deliberate attempt by policy actors to influence the speed and direction of that shift toward specific societal goals.+Scenarios describe plausible future states without prescribing how to reach them. Transition pathways describe the co-evolutionary routes by which a regime transformation unfolds, connecting actions and strategies across timescales. A pathway has an explicit normative orientation and a long-term vision as its endpoint; a scenario may be exploratory and value-neutral. See [[topics:scenarios|Scenarios]].
 </WRAP> </WRAP>
  
 <WRAP distinction> <WRAP distinction>
-**Path Dependency vs. Branching Points**\\ +**Transition pathway vs. transition** \\ 
-**Path dependency** describes the tendency of a system to continue along a trajectory due to past investments and rules. **Branching points** are the specific moments of openness where this dependency can be broken or significantly redirected through actor choices.+A transition is the outcome — the systemic reconfiguration of a socio-technical regime. A transition pathway is the analytical description of the route through which that reconfiguration occurs. The same transition may be interpreted through different pathway types depending on which actors, pressures, and timescales are emphasised. See [[topics:transitions|Transitions]].
 </WRAP> </WRAP>
  
 ===== Related topics ===== ===== Related topics =====
  
-[[topics:flexibility|Flexibility]] · [[topics:regulation|Regulation]] · [[topics:actors_roles|Actor Roles]] · [[topics:resilience|Resilience]] · [[topics:markets|Market Design]]+[[topics:transitions|Transitions]] · [[topics:scenarios|Scenarios]] · [[topics:governance|Governance]] · [[topics:innovation_policy|Innovation policy]] · [[topics:systems|Systems]] · [[topics:change|Change]] 
 + 
 +===== Topic notes =====
  
 ===== References ===== ===== References =====