As per the title, I am running a session at the Regional Studies Association Annual Conference 2018, in Lugano, Switzerland from 3-6 June 2018. Deadline for abstract submissions is 23 February 2018, through the RSA website. Details of the session are as follows, any questions please do get in touch!
SS24. Just Transitions for Carbon-Intensive Regions
Session organiser(s)
Leslie Mabon, Robert Gordon University, Scotland (l.j.mabon@rgu.ac.uk)
This session assesses the implications of climate change and sustainability challenges for cities and regions heavily reliant on carbon-intensive industries for an employment and economic base. Cities and regions are increasingly seen as sites for solutions to contemporary environmental issues, as evidenced by the IPCC commissioning a Special Report on Climate Change and Cities, and the creation of Sustainable Development Goal 11 specifically to address sustainable cities and communities. Yet this notion of ‘sustainable’ cities and regions may be problematic for areas that remain dependent on fossil fuel extraction (e.g. coal, oil, and gas) and high-emitting industries (e.g. steelworks and petrochemicals) for not only employment and economic benefit, but also identity and sense of being. Trade unions, national- and regional governments and academics are hence showing increasing interest in understanding what ‘just transitions’ mean at the city and region level. When understood in this way, the aim of a just transition at the regional level is to ensure locations – and the workers within them – traditionally dependent on carbon-intensive activities are not left behind in the move to clean energy and a sustainable economy.
This session contributes to this field by explicitly considering the role of actors at the urban and regional scale in facilitating a just transition. Both empirical and theoretical contributions addressing any aspect of just transitions thinking are welcome. Topics to address may include (but are in no way limited to):
-the relationship between governmental, private sector and civil society organisations in governing a regional just transition;
-the role of urban planning and built environment configuration in enacting a just transition;
-lessons for just transition planning and governance that may be learned from analogous regional changes (e.g. deindustrialisation, coal mining closures);
-the role of more ethically challenging energy-related technologies (e.g. coal seam gasification, shale gas, carbon dioxide capture and storage) in facilitating a gentler transition away from fossil fuels and high-emitting industries;
-pathways to balancing social and economic development goals with climate and sustainability issues for regions involved in extractive activity or high-emission industry in low and middle-income countries.
-the interface between just transitions thinking at a global level, and at an urban and regional level;
The envisaged format will be oral presentation, but with a strong emphasis on facilitated panel- and roundtable discussion. Depending on the nature and volume of contributions, publication of a special issue featuring the presented papers, or production of a co-authored article involving all contributors, will be considered.
Dr Leslie Mabon 