Toggle Main Menu Toggle Search

Open Access padlockePrints

More than one story: Remaking community and place in Sweden’s transition to a fossil free society

Lookup NU author(s): Dr Clifton EversORCiD

Downloads

Full text for this publication is not currently held within this repository. Alternative links are provided below where available.


Abstract

In this article, we study citizen perspectives of the fossil free transformation based on focus group interviews in Lysekil, Sweden. Our analysis speaks to a growing scholarly literature on just transitions where we argue that a better understanding of place attachment as an active and operating force in local transition processes, can provide important information for just transition policy design. Based on our research on place attachment in Lysekil, we suggest that inclusivity in just transitions, implies acknowledging and addressing more than material aspects of loss, involving loss of direction, loss of identities and loss of imagined futures. Moreover, we argue that the vision of an inclusive transition requires a more nuanced approach to the concept of “community” which recognizes different stories, voices, and perspectives and challenges taken for granted assumptions local people´s priorities in debates on just transitions. Finally, based on our experiences from Lysekil we contend that inclusivity requires a democratic infrastructure where citizens can meet to listen, speak, and discuss future pathways towards a fossil free society. The visions of just and inclusive transitions, we argue, can only be realized if driven by a place-based dialogue on future pathways and if agendas for a fossil free transformation are locally anchored.


Publication metadata

Author(s): Bohman A, Evers C, Lövbrand E

Publication type: Article

Publication status: Published

Journal: Local Environment – International Journal of Justice and Sustainability

Year: 2024

Volume: 29

Issue: 4

Pages: 433-445

Online publication date: 12/01/2024

Acceptance date: 19/12/2023

ISSN (print): 1354-9839

ISSN (electronic): 1469-6711

Publisher: Routledge

URL: https://doi.org/10.1080/13549839.2023.2300959

DOI: 10.1080/13549839.2023.2300959


Altmetrics

Altmetrics provided by Altmetric


Share