STREAM 12
Social Innovation and Just Sustainability Transitions

Just sustainability transitions are processes of transformative change that (aim to) contribute to more sustainable societies, while (a) improving the quality of life of current and future generations within ecological boundaries and (b) eliminating injustices that are triggered or exacerbated by unsustainability and its underlying causes. We consider the notion of just transitions to be useful to scrutinize the directionality of innovations and transformations, and to assert that sustainability transitions comprise more than decarbonization, namely a broad range of counterhegemonic struggles (e.g. food sovereignty, energy democracy, just mobility, innovation democracy, decolonization of knowledge, social inclusion, empowerment of marginalized groups, environmental citizenship, right to the city, and many others).

This panel is specifically focused on unpacking the dynamic interaction between social innovations and just sustainability transitions. Here we build on a broader understanding of social innovation as changing social relations, involving new ways of doing, thinking and organizing. This includes alternative social practices, narratives and organizational forms, within governments, but also across markets, communities and hybrid organisations (e.g. social enterprises, cooperatives, networks, etc.). Examples of social innovation initiatives that aim to contribute to just sustainability transitions include sharing platforms, citizens’ assemblies, community energy initiatives, participatory budgeting, food cooperatives, urban farming, co-working spaces, digital fabrication, ecovillages, and many more.

We welcome both empirical papers that explore the role of social innovation initiatives in just sustainability transitions, as well as more conceptual papers that deepen the normative debate about social innovation and transitions (their purposes, the stakes, the evaluative standards, the tradeoffs). We are particularly interested in papers that take a critical perspective to unravel and discuss the political contestations, tensions and contradictions that can be observed at the intersection of social innovation, justice and sustainability transitions.