Conditions for sustainability transitions in Germany's peripheral regions: a differentiated view on regional change agency

Henning Kroll, Max Roessler, Valeria Maruseva and Daniel Schiller

Chapter 9 in Research Handbook on Regions and Transformative Innovation Policy, 2026, pp 138-155 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: This chapter examines the conditions for successful economic development in Germany's peripheral regions, with a particular focus on areas relevant to sustainability transitions. It conceptualises the enabling character of local competences, self-organisation capacities and external relations on different types of change agency in the regional economy. We demonstrate that a first important step to achieving sustainable development is to establish opportunity transparency, and that this discursive aspect of change agency deserves closer attention. Using the example of three peripheral regions in Germany, we show how different opportunity spaces emerge at various stages of transformation and that different types of change agency will be required to leverage them properly. Finally, we emphasise the importance of understanding the interplay between internal and external factors in enhancing self-organisational capacities and suggest investing in these capacities.

Keywords: Change agency; Sustainability transitions; Peripheral regions; Regional transformation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
ISBN: 9781035309924
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