Levidow, L and Upham, PJ (2017) Linking the multi-level perspective with social representations theory: Gasifiers as a niche innovation reinforcing the energy-from-waste (EfW) regime. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 120. pp. 1-13. ISSN 0040-1625
Abstract
The multi-level perspective (MLP) theorises technological change as a process of niche innovations competing with incumbent socio-technical regimes. As a mid-range theoretical framework, the MLP invites complementary, more detailed theorisation of salient issues, especially the roles of socio-political agency in changing regime rules around technological competition. Taking a socio-cognitive perspective, this paper links the MLP with social representations theory, to show how a new technology is diversely ‘anchored’ in a familiar one for different agendas. The case study is a specific niche innovation – thermal treatments of municipal solid waste (MSW) within the UK's wider regime of energy-from-waste (EfW). Through landscape-level changes, controversy over incinerators has destabilised the EfW regime's rules. This instability has opened up opportunities for gasifiers as a niche innovation, yet gasifiers have also become an extra focus for conflict over incinerators' wider role in the waste hierarchy. Agents compare thermal-treatment options for MSW according to various criteria which have unstable, changing rules. These express different socio-cognitive frameworks, analysed here as diverse social representations of novelty. The case study offers an insiders' perspective on endogenous enactment, i.e. the conflicting roles of socio-political agency in shaping transition pathways.
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. This is an open access article under the CC BY license(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). | ||||
Keywords: | Multi-level perspective (MLP); Niche innovation; Social representations; Municipal solid waste (MSW); Advanced thermal treatment (ATT); Gasification | ||||
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Institution: | The University of Leeds | ||||
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Environment (Leeds) > School of Earth and Environment (Leeds) > Sustainability Research Institute (SRI) (Leeds) | ||||
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Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications | ||||
Date Deposited: | 19 Apr 2017 11:29 | ||||
Last Modified: | 01 Aug 2017 15:16 | ||||
Status: | Published | ||||
Publisher: | Elsevier | ||||
Identification Number: | https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2017.03.028 |