Inner-city community energy in London

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a) Basic characteristics and ambitions of the intervention

1. What is the name and the urban context (e.g. city/district) of the intervention? Please also indicate the geographical scale of the intervention (e.g. neighborhood, district, small/medium/ capital city, metropolitan area ...). [Example: “Brixton Energy in Brixton, London (neighborhood in capital city)”]

Repowering, previously called Brixton Energy, in Lambeth Borough of London, England (neighborhood in capital city).

Repowering is a cooperatively owned community energy initiative for multi-unit residential buildings. It began with one project in Brixton, and later became an organization called Repowering, which now actively creates and manages replications of the original project throughout London, and also helps support other community energy projects in London (PATHWAYS_03:4).


2. What sector(s) (alias domain/ policy field) is the intervention primarily implemented in ? [e.g. housing, mobility, energy, water, health, local economy, biodiversity, CC adaptation, etc.]

Energy. More specifically, the policy fields of (renewable) energy policy, community energy policy, and fuel poverty policy.


3. What is the intervention (i.e. situated experiment) aiming to achieve in terms of sustainability and justice? [If possible, please copy from a project website and give a reference]

Repowering is trying to promote the small-scale generation and use of renewable energy among communities in London as well as facilitating energy efficiency initiatives, meanwhile aiming to reduce energy poverty in its project regions and build skills and knowledge about renewable energy via (paid) internships for local youth. The key goals as stated by the group include: start generating renewable energy in Brixton develop opportunities for a community investment vehicle increase resilience by reducing dependence on big energy companies use retained profits to educate residents about energy efficiency tackle fuel poverty, and provide training and employment for local people. (TT Brixton)


4. What is the interventions’ timeframe?

The formation of the original Brixton Energy group and the planning and implementation of the three projects, BES1, BES2, BES3, occurred roughly between 2011-2013 (PATHWAYS_03:6). Since BES3 until present day, Repowering London has continued to create its own, and engage with others’, community solar initiatives. In May 2018, Repowering installed the world's first blockchain energy trade on a national grid.

5. By what governance mode is the intervention characterized primarily? (see Appendix 1: Three modes of governance)

Non-government led and implemented. The case is characterized by leadership of non-government actors, community members. However, the Lambeth Council was very supportive (helped build connections and hold regular meetings in the beginning stages, provided knowledge in energy and project management, assisted with planning permissions for the projects, financially supported projects through a small fund) (PATHWAYS_03:8) and the Council and other local governmental organizations are official partners of the intervention (Repowering website_our partners).


6. Why do you consider it worthwhile to study and share experiences made in the context of this governance intervention for sustainable and just cities?[1]

This intervention is a good example of a successful initiative studied within an EU-funded research project that connects sustainability and justice in an urban setting, and demonstrates the role of local initiatives in energy transitions.

7. In which project deliverable(s) or other documents can information be found on this situated (i.e. place specific) governance intervention?

PATHWAYS’ in-depth case report on Brixton Energy (PATHWAYS_03) and the current Repowering website (Repowering website) are the main source of information. They are in the zotero library. An interview in July 2020 with Agamemnon Otero, Co-Founder Brixton Energy complimented the information found from these sources.

b) Additional basic characteristics, links to earlier UrbanA work

8. EU Project-context of the intervention:

  • a. Has the intervention been developed or studied in the context of an (EU-funded?) project? (please name the project, its duration and include a link to the project website here).

This intervention was documented as a case study within the PATHWAYS project (2013-2016) (PATHWAYS_04). PATHWAYS explored the transition pathways to sustainable, low carbon societies through analysis of select cases using integrated assessment modelling, socio-technical transition analysis, and initiative-based learning. Initiative Based Learning (IBL) was used to study the evolution of Brixton Energy, a cooperatively owned solar energy project in London, England, and the UK’s first inner-city renewable energy co-operative. PATHWAYS studied the gestation, development and implementation of the initial program, and analyzed its potential for replication and transfer across contexts and scales.

  • b. According to WP3’s database of approaches, which approach(es) does the intervention best fit under? Where applicable, please indicate if the intervention is found in a project that has been explicitly mentioned in the database.

Energy and Mobility solutions, Governance and participation processes, Policies and practices for inclusion of disadvantaged groups, Sustainable households. Brixton case was explicitly highlighted in (Impact) evaluation and assessment framework.

  • c. Have some project deliverables been coded in the context of UrbanA’s WP4?

No.

9. Problematization and priority:

  • a. How exactly has inequality and exclusion been problematized (by whom) in the context of this intervention?

The problematization of energy poverty, and the desire for education, employment, and projects for estates came directly from listening to community needs (Otero interview).

Inequality is most directly shown on Repowering’s website through the concept of energy poverty. Energy poverty occurs when a “household suffers from a lack of adequate energy services in the home” which includes “adequate warmth, cooling, lighting and the energy to power appliances are essential services needed to guarantee a decent standard of living and citizens' health.'’ (EU energy poverty observatory). Since energy poverty is a consequence of low income, healthy standards of living in urban dwellings can be positioned as a social inequality. A more specific component of energy poverty is fuel poverty, which refers to the inability to keep a dwelling adequately heated.

This specific problematization appears to be raised by Brixton community members during the early stage of the first solar initiative. The team discovered, through door-to-door consultations, that the most important issue for residents was their electricity bills. Therefore, the initiative became more focused on trying to address this via the Community Energy Efficiency Fund (PATHWAYS_03:11).

Repowering also recognizes the need for skill building, employment, and engagement in the area, which has high unemployment and low income relative to other London boroughs.


  • b. Has the achievement of justice explicitly been named as a major motivation behind the intervention?

Yes, addressing energy/fuel poverty and increasing opportunity in the neighbourhood is a strong and explicit motivator behind the intervention, as seen in the intervention’s goals (Q3).

Drivers of injustices Based on WP4 coding Based on own assessment
1. Exclusive access to the benefits of sustainability infrastructure
2. Material and livelihood inequalities
3. Racialized or ethnically exclusionary urbanization
4. Uneven and exclusionary urban intensification and regeneration
5. Uneven environmental health and pollution patterns
6. Unfit institutional structures
7. Limited citizen participation in urban planning
8. Lack of effective knowledge brokerage and stewardship opportunities
9. Unquestioned Neoliberal growth and austerity urbanism
10. Weak(ened) civil society

c) Actor constellations

10. Who initiated the intervention?

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11. Who are the envisioned benefiters of the intervention? (both at a local level and higher, if applicable)

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12. Who else is (going to be) involved in the intervention, and what was/is their main role?

Actor types[2] Yes Actor name and role[3]
Academic organizations
Religious organizations
Civil society organizations
Hybrid/ 3rd sector organizations
Platforms
NGOs
Social movements
Political parties
Media
Unions
Social entreprises
For profit entreprises
Local/regional government
Regional organizations
National government
Supranational government
International networks
Other initiatives

13. Which particular interactions among various stakeholders (stakeholder configurations) were crucial in enabling the intervention to emerge successfully? This could include direct or indirect impacts on interventions.

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14. To what extent, in what form and at what stages have citizens participated in the shaping of the intervention?

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15. How are responsibilities and/or decision-making power distributed among actors?

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16. Exclusion:

  • a. Which stakeholders or social groups were excluded (at which stages)?

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  • b. Is there any indication why this may have happened? With what outcomes? Has anything been done to overcome such exclusions?

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d) Enabling conditions for the implementation of the intervention

17. What circumstances or events are reported to have triggered the intervention? (In what ways?)

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18. Are particular substantive (multi-level) governmental policies considered to be highly influential in the genesis and shaping of the intervention? (If easily possible, please specify the policy, the policy field and the governance level mainly addressed, and characterize it along Appendix 2: Policy typology)

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19. What constitutional responsibilities and rules does the intervention build upon? In other words, what rights, powers, and/or responsibilities, does the country's constitution (in a broad sense) award municipalities, states, utilities, NGOs, citizens etc. and how does this impact the intervention?

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20. According to project material/and or interviews, in what ways have particularities of (local) political culture influenced the character and success of the intervention? (i.e. trust in political institutions, citizens’ will to interact with policy makers and vice versa, traditions of cooperation etc.)

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21. What are financial arrangements that support the intervention?

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22. Have any of the above conditions changed within the intervention’s timeframe, which have (significantly) influenced it in a positive or negative way?

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Note: Certain contexts, which provide opportunities to learn from other relevant experiences, may also be a supportive framework condition. Please see section h, questions 26 + 30 on learning context.

e) Obstacles to successful intervention implementation

23. What obstacles to implementing the intervention (both generally, and in this particular context) have been identified, relating to:

  • a. Regulatory framework

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  • b. Legitimacy

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  • c. Public awareness

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  • d. Finances

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  • e. Others (please name)

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f) (Institutional) Work done to overcome obstacles

24. What has been done by each central actor group to overcome which particular obstacles in the way of successfully implementing the intervention? (this may include institutional Work - maintaining, disrupting, and creating new rules, applying to both formal laws/regulations and informal norms and expectations.)

Name of obstacle What work was/is being done to overcome this obstacle and by what actor groups?
1.
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g) Reported outcomes

25. What are reported outcomes of the intervention? This may include economic outcomes, political outcomes, ability to reach sustainability and justice targets, etc.

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h) Learning involved in establishing the intervention

Please fill in any information on social learning that has occured in this intervention (conceptualized here as “Learning context, content, and process” in line with the FOODLINKS project)[4]. Where possible, please differentiate your response into learning done by specific actor groups.

Learning context

(i.e. the configuration and social environment enabling the learning process)

26. According to the TRANSIT project’s four mechanisms for empowerment – i. funding; ii. legitimacy; iii. knowledge sharing, learning, and peer support; or iv. visibility and identity – please briefly describe the following, and indicate where the intervention has been developed or supported as part of which formal collaborations, networks or projects:

  • a. any previous experiences in the same urban context (e.g. city…) that the intervention is (reportedly) building upon? This could include any relevant experiences in the same or another sector.

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  • b. any inter-city partnerships, or transfers from experiences elsewhere that have (reportedly) been important in the emergence of this intervention?

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Learning content

27. Has any acquired knowledge (e.g. technical knowledge, awareness of local political procedures etc.) been reported as particularly helpful to this intervention?

  • a. from previous experiences in the same urban context

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  • b. from inter-city partnerships, or transfers from experiences elsewhere

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  • c. from other knowledge gathering/research

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Learning process

28. In what ways has the intervention been adapted to specific circumstances of the targeted urban context based on the learned content reported in question 27?

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29. Based on your answers to question 24, how has overcoming obstacles (reportedly) contributed to the learning process?

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30. Please list any tools that enabled the learning process (e.g. various Knowledge Brokerage Activities from pg. 24 of FOODLINK’s Deliverable 7.1 - linked in footnote)[5] and the actors involved in using them.

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i) Learning involved in establishing interventions elsewhere (transferability)

31. Suggestions regarding transferability.

  • a. Have any suggestions been made about a replicability, scaleability or transferability of the intervention? [e.g. in the documentation of the intervention in a project or the press? Links would be perfect]

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  • b. Transferability to what kind of contexts has been suggested?

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  • c. Who has made the claims?

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  • d. What limits to transferability to broader contexts have been discussed?

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32. In what forms has the learning process, including stories of overcoming obstacles, been recorded for, and/or made accessible to city makers also from elsewhere?[6]

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33. Have any signs of collaboration, support, or inspiration already been reported between actors involved in this intervention and others that follow its example? (e.g. in “follower cities”?)

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j) Structural learning

34. Has the intervention influenced higher-level governance arrangements such that sustainability and justice are considered (together) in a more durable, structural way? In other words, are there any observations about more structural, long-term changes as a result of the intervention?

  • For example: new programs run by local councils, new modes of citizen participation, new mediating bodies
  • Is there other evidence that the project has contributed to enhancing sustainable and just governance in cities in a general sense?

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k) Reflections on important governance concepts

35. What other aspects of governance, that were not covered above, are important to highlight, too?

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36. From your perspective as a researcher, which word or phrase characterizes this governance intervention most concisely? (Please attach your name to the characterization) In other words, what is the biggest takeaway from this intervention about governance arrangements?

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Appendix 1: Three modes of governance

(from NATURVATION project)

NATURVATION's NBS-Atlas distinguishes three categories of governance arrangements (dubbed "management set-ups":

  • Government-led (Gov)
  • Co-governance or hybrid governance (mix of responsibilities between government and non-government actors) (c/h)
  • Led by non-government actors (NGO)

Alternatively or additionally, the following four modes of governing (as distinguished also by Bulkeley/Kern 2006 and Zvolska et al. 2019) could be used as a typology: Castan Broto/ Bulkeley 2013:95

  1. Self-governing, intervening in the management of local authority operations to ‘‘lead by example’’;
  2. Provision, greening infrastructure and consumer services provided by different authorities;
  3. Regulations, enforcing new laws, planning regulations, building codes, etc.; and
  4. Enabling, supporting initiatives led by other actors through information and resource provision and partnerships”

Appendix 2: Policy typology

(from NATURVATION project)

Policy typology Description Examples
Regulatory (administrative, command-and-control) Mandatory fulfillment of certain requirements by targeted actors Legislations, regulations, laws, directives, etc.
Economic (financial, market-based) Financial (dis)incentives to trigger change by providing (new) favourable (or unfavourable) economic conditions for targeted actors Positive incentive include subsidies, soft loans, tax allowance and procurments. Negative incentives are taxes, fees and charges.
Informative (educational) They aim at providing information or knowledge to target actors in order to increase awareness and support informed decision-making accomplish or prevent social change Information and awareness raising campaigns, informative leaflets, advertisements in different media.
Voluntary Commitment and/or actions beyond legal requirements, undertaken by private actors and/or non-governmental organisations. Voluntary actions and agreements.


test tableau

  1. Background to this question: Our four main criteria for selecting particular governance interventions and develop rich descriptions of them were: A) The intervention has been studied in a specific urban context (e.g. city), B) this context is located in Europe (and, preferably, the study was EU-funded), C) the intervention considers to a large extent sustainability AND justice (at least implicitly), and D) it is well-documented, ideally including assumptions or even critical reflections on enablers and barriers to implementation and on transferability (i.e. ‘de-contextualizability’). Additionally, we aimed at a diverse portfolio of domains (see Q2.) and governance modes (see Q5): https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1nCPcUd-COIQ1MsBjir20_F1CBbnSu6HqKH9nNLshiVQ/edit?usp=sharing.
  2. Actor types according to TRANSIT’s Critical Turning Point Database, http://www.transitsocialinnovation.eu/about-ctps-in-tsi-processes.
  3. If easily possible mention sources for your association of roles.
  4. Deliverable 7.1 Synthesis Report on results from Monitoring and Evaluation (p.14) : http://www.foodlinkscommunity.net/fileadmin/documents_organicresearch/foodlinks/publications/karner-etal-d-7-1.pdf .
  5. http://www.foodlinkscommunity.net/fileadmin/documents_organicresearch/foodlinks/publications/karner-etal-d-7-1.pdf .
  6. Feel free to include learning that has been made available through EU project documentation, intervention initiatives, or other channels. In addition to the forms in which the learning process has been shared with others, please indicate whether the learning process that’s being shared has been recorded in a self-critical/reflexive way.