ABSTRACT
Informed by the chapters of this book and by broader reflections on the current social scientific work on energy transitions, this concluding chapter looks at this broader research landscape through three lenses: a methodological, a theoretical-conceptual and an empirical lens. These lenses can sharpen and re-focus the attention when navigating the landscapes of energy transitions.
For example, critical comparative work and broadening disciplinary outlooks can enrich many methodological toolkits. The chapter further makes the case for a diverse set of approaches to understand and shape energy transitions as this helps de-privileging any single theory or dominance of concepts. The chapter encourages an engagement with the global South that aims to account for place-specific understandings of situated lived experiences. This can provide a critical counterbalance to dominant (Northern) analyses of energy transitions
The chapter ends by identifying different backdrops against which the book’s overarching theme of urgency and justice can be understood. It suggests how the urgency-justice dilemma can describe both a productive tension as well as a reinforcing power. Finally, the chapter relates connotations of urgency and justice to other notions in critical debates of energy research and practice. It calls for just urgency and urgent justice in energy transitions.
