Facilitating regional development becomes increasingly demanding as complexity grows and multi-level and multi actor governance is required to achieve transformational change moving away from fossil dependence and enabling neo-industrialisation. Meta governance is a “practice by (mainly) public authorities that entails the coordination of one or more governance modes by using different instruments, methods, and strategies to overcome governance failures” (Gjaltema et al., 2020). In Skaraborg, a sub-region of Region Västra Götaland in West Sweden a common energy supply plan is being established through a joint decision of 15 municipalities. The municipalities are also establishing energy plans as mandated by law, and some are developing plans for wind power. The more than 20 energy companies serving the region are also driving parts of the transition. This multi-actor, multi-level context is understood as complex and non-linear (Mowles, 2016) where relations of power and negotiation is central.
As an industrial PhD-candidate the question of what I am trying to do is multi-layered. On the one hand I am trying to prevent the loss of jobs in Skaraborg, and even enable new ones being added by addressing lack of electricity. This, in turn, supposedly safeguards tax income for the municipalities ensuring funding for schools, nursery homes and more. On the other hand my hope is that the contributions of the article will impact, and speed up, regional development and transition in other places.
The purpose of the research is to enable more productive planning and decision making through a widened discourse. This article presents initial interpretations of the transition of energy systems in Skaraborg and West Sweden. Strategies based in existential sustainability are then employed to enhance the productivity of the facilitation, including re-scaling, temporal aspects and a deepened understanding of identities.
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