Renewable Energy as an Underutilised Resource in Cities: Germany’s ‘Energiewende’ and Lessons for Post-Brexit Cities in the United Kingdom

Mohammed Adil Sait, Uchendu Eugene Chigbu, Iqbal Hamiduddin and Walter Timo De Vries
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Mohammed Adil Sait: Department of Geography and Environment, London School of Economics, London WC2A 2AE, UK
Uchendu Eugene Chigbu: Chair of Land Management, Technical University of Munich, Arcisstrasse 21, 80333 München, Germany
Iqbal Hamiduddin: Bartlett School of Planning, University College London, London WC1E 6BT, UK
Walter Timo De Vries: Chair of Land Management, Technical University of Munich, Arcisstrasse 21, 80333 München, Germany

Resources, 2018, vol. 8, issue 1, 1-27

Abstract: Renewable energy remains an underutilised resource within urban environments. This study examines the ongoing German Energiewende (energy transition) as an example of renewable energy being treated as a necessary resource for urban development. It departs from existing literature by operationalising the Advocacy Coalition Framework (ACF), taking a policy systems approach to analyse (and explain) the cases of three German cities—Munich, Berlin, and Freiburg. This approach helps draw lessons for future UK energy scenarios by placing more abstract conceptions of Sustainable Energy Transitions (SETs) within the context of UK cities, post-Brexit. By discussing five main themes: the shift from government to governance; the need to break ‘carbon lock-in’; renewable energy innovation as an underutilised resource; developing governance strategies for renewable energy resources; the shift from policy to practice, the study yields a detailed reconceptualisation of approaches to renewable energy resource-use policy. The novelty of this study lies in its response to these challenges, taking a policy systems approach to energy governance. The article concludes with a proposed integrated framework. The framework, which is based on multi-scalar and multi-stakeholder integrated energy governance strategy, reconsiders the way in which renewable energy resources are seen in current governance terms in the UK. The framework presents a new approach to renewable energy resource-use policy that embraces innovation, responsible governance, and inclusive processes, (alongside thinking beyond simply technical solutions) to considering the socio-economic impacts of policy decisions in cities.

Keywords: city planning; Energiewende; post-Brexit; renewable energy systems; resource-use policy; sustainable energy transitions; underutilised resources (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
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