Solar technologies and the rise of the local governance of energy:

Re-territorialising resources and infrastructures in the city

Andrs Luque

Department of Geography

Durham Energy Institute

PRESENTATION STRUCTURE

1.Geography: 3 critical debates for the

future of environmental management

2.Climate change and the city:

exploring practical implications

3.Governing the solar city:

introducing my research

4.Case study: solar technologies and

social housing in Sao Paulo

HUMAN GEOGRAPHY:

THREE CRITICAL

DEBATES IN

INFRASTRUCTURE

STUDIES

Solar hot water systems in Thane, Mumbai Metropolitan Region

URBAN GEOGRAPHY

The city as a networked space

Urban infrastructure as socio-technical

systems

Acknowledging the politics of urban

infrastructures

Mediating between nature and the city

Water, electricity, transport and telecommunication networks configuring Mumbai

-an extension of the urban/human body-

only the practical possibilities for urban governance but also in defining

(Gandy, 2005: 35).

groups through an array of tensions, tactics and complexities,

which are far more problematic for (just and equitable) infrastructure

provision than any technical issues

(McFarlane and Rutherford, 2008: 370).

ENERGY SOCIAL SCIENCE:

New energy paradigms

Fostering a low carbon energy economy

Energy, resource distribution, access

and social justice

Members non-

how to manufacture low cost solar hot water systems.

influence their capacity for transformation has not been a focal point for

[The] efforts to map out the potential geographies of a low-

rudimentary conceptualisation of the spatial dimensions of

energy transition.

(Bridge et al. 2012: 2)

In the context of an extended definition of electricity infrastructures, the

user is seen as an active player in the co-production and

-management of demand between

(van Vliet et al. 2003: 3).

ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES:

Climate change governance mitigation

and adaptation

Emerging agendas in urban

sustainability

Points of connection with other

disciplines: industrial ecology,

sustainable architecture, others.

Environmental murals outside a primary school in Thane, Mumbai

-

(Coutard and Rutherford, 2011: 108)

Photovoltaic paneles on the roof of the offices of the Thane Metropolitan Corporation

CITIES AND

CLIMATE

CHANGE

70% of anthropogenic emissions

Municipalities can significantly contribute

to a reduction in emissions given their

influence over urban infrastructures

Cities responding with governance

arrangements and experimental projects

So Paulo

RECONFIGURING URBAN INFRASTRUCTURE

Bangalore: municipal program for the promocin of renewable energy.

Johannesburgo: municipal programS for the promotion of solar hot water systems

Jakarta: TransJakarta, bus rapid transit system developed with the support of the C40 Climate Leadership Group.

Mxico: municipal programmes for energy efficiency in public lighting.

Image Copyright

CITIES IN MIDDLE INCOME NATIONS

Rapid population growth in recent decades

Rapid economic growth

Changing consumption patterns

Future investments in urban infrastructure

Multiple urban sustainability agendas, including issues of poverty, adaptation and mitigation

Low cost solar hot water systems at the favela Pretoria, in Greater So Paulo, manufactured by

the neighbourhood community association in partnership with the private energy utility company

Commercial solar hot water systems in social housing in Sao Paulo

GOVERNING SOLAR

INFRASTRUCTURES

IN THE CITY INTRODUCING MY RESEARCH

Installation of solar hot water systems in Thane, Mumbai

RESEARCH QUESTIONS

UNPACKING THE ENERGY TRANSITION

How is the on-going urban energy transition

transforming the ways by which energy

access, control and use are governed?

What are the social and political implications

of this transformation?

What is the specificity of solar technologies in

this transition?

How, and with what consequences, is this

process occurring in cities in rapidly growing

economies?