Governance of Sociotechnical Transformations

Transformations in systems of energy, agriculture, and urban digital infrastructure are globally recognised as crucial to sustainable development. The research project Governance of Sociotechnical Transformations (GoST) focuses on historical and prospective transformations in three key areas:

  • Energy transformation and the ‘nuclear age’
  • Transformation of agriculture and the ‘green revolution’
  • Transformation of the urban digital infrastructure and ‘smart cities.’

The project examines past and prospective transformation efforts across the three areas of energy, agriculture, and urban digital environments, in five countries (Germany, India, Kenya, UK and US). A key concept for the project, and one which is being used as a theoretical starting point, is that of ‘sociotechnical imaginaries’ within Science and Technology Studies (STS).

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Latest publications

The role of visions in sustainability transformations: Exploring tensions between the Agrarwende vanguard vision and an established sociotechnical imaginary of agriculture in Germany
Polzin, C. (2024), in: Global Environmental Change 84, 102800. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2024.102800

The governance of sociotechnical transformations to sustainability
Beck, Silke; Jasanoff, Sheila; Stirling, Andrew; Polzin, Christine (2021), in: Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 49, S. 143-152. DOI: 10.1016/j.cosust.2021.04.010.

Imagining the corridor of climate mitigation – What is at stake in IPCC’s politics of anticipation?
Beck, Silke; Oomen, Jeroen (2021), in: Environmental Science & Policy, 123, S. 169-178. DOI: 10.1016/j.envsci.2021.05.011.

Renewing the future: Excluded imaginaries in the global energy transition
Jasanoff, Sheila; Simmet, Hilton R. (2021), in: Energy Research & Social Science, 80, 102205. DOI: 10.1016/j.erss.2021.102205.

Humility in the Anthropocene
Jasanoff, Sheila (2021), in: Globalizations, 18, 6, S. 1-15. DOI: 10.1080/14747731.2020.1859743.

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