Transitional Awareness

Transitional awareness Transitions are re-configurations of socio- technical systems by which societal functions are provided. The research question How do embedded actors develop an awareness of these socio-technical systems as discrete objects of strategic change?

Transitional awareness According to the dominating evolutionary perspective of transition theory incumbent actors - develop vested interests in the established socio-technical system - are cognitively embedded in the established socio-technical configuration.

Transitional awareness The solution: Transitional awareness may be cultivated with the help of social scientists: Transition management: 1: Form a 'transition arena' 2: Agree on a 'transition challenge' 3: Develop transition pathways through backcasting 4: Initiate short term experimentations and learning cycles

System reflexivity – uncertianty or politics? Towards an endogenous under understanding of transitional awareness… reflexivity as uncertainty - develop accurate and detailed representations. Disclose steering mechanism reflexivity as politics - Regime representations naturalise human needs and blackbox ambivalence - ambivalence should be managed rather than eliminated - Regime representations perform interventions in social reality

Transitional awareness An endogenous under understanding of transitional awareness? 'Dialectic' conception of strategic institutional change 1 - social construction 2 - totalization 4 - contradiction 5 - praxis Actor’s consiously navigate contradictions and tensions

Totalization in Danish construction and housing: The project focus Since WW2 Danish construction and housing has been conceptualised and optimised as a project domain - national building codes that regulate the construction design, - organised markets for building components, materials and construction services organised towards construction phase activities - contracting models for how to organise construction phase activities - organised interest organisations defined by their various professional roles in relation to construction phase activities.

Totalization, contradictions and praxis in the energy efficiency agenda The path dependent energy saving agenda: Design requirements stipulated in the building codes

Contradictions and praxis in the energy saving agenda Energy service companies: (delivers energy savings in the phase of operation) contradiction: The construction phase cost / use phase cost / energy efficient building operation Smart energy consumption Contradiction: Built environment / Smart energy system / smart building operation

Towards a transitional awareness? Embedded navigation: When embedded actors used new logics to organize and displace experienced contradictions and tensions