Publication year: 2010
Source: Technological Forecasting and Social Change, In Press, Corrected Proof, Available online 1 June 2010

Niki, Frantzeskaki , Derk, Loorbach

This paper investigates the interplay between changes in infrastructural systems (or infrasystems) and societal context. The driving question of this paper is whether infrasystems which are inherently rigid and hard to change radically are likely to block desired transitions to sustainability, or that there are pathways in which infrasystem changes might be utilized as drivers for accelerating desired transitions. Based on synthesizing insights from research on infrastructures and on transitions, we present a typology for identifying different types of infrasystems (infrasystem architectures), what underlies infrasystem complexity (infrasystem interplays), and how infrasystems might respond to change in the form of alternative...