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been deconstructed and consolidated in Chap. 9 (Sareen 2019a). As illustrated above, multiple cases feature legitimation within each dimension;
for clarity, we only present practices from two cases for each dimension.
10.2.1
The Spatiality Dimension
Within this dimension, discursive legitimation plays out at specific sites in
situated ways, with consequences for what kind of energy transition is
legitimated. In Berlin’s historical energy transitions case, discursive legitimation appears spatially in the use of energy security arguments during the
Cold War to push for self-sufficient energy production within city limit. It
is also illustrated by the protest camp against the planned power plant in
the Spandau Forest in 1976 (Fig. 4.2), which signifies contested territorialisation under energy transition. In the Nordic electric mobility transitions case, spatiality is implicit in people’s critique of subsidies for luxury
electric cars, which are equated with 30,000 transport tickets for each
beneficiary, drawing attention to the spatial concentration of privilege and
elitism, and its equity effects during transitioning mobility systems.
Bureaucratic legitimation is spatially expressed in the Berlin case as the
municipal imposition of city-wide unitary tariffs across utilities and uniform service standards in the 1920s. This constitutes a smoothening and
unification of urban territory for energy service delivery. Technocratic
legitimation manifests spatially in the same case: the large incumbent utility Vattenfall’s contemporary emphasis on technical expertise and track
record for managing electricity and gas networks is a mode of ensuring
continued relevance for actors with large spatial coverage, despite sectoral
shifts towards openness to new small-scale actors. Financial legitimation
also operates spatially in this case, as revealed in the adoption of city-wide
fair and equal sectoral employee wages and service quality improvements
to justify massive urban infrastructure investment (partly financed through
foreign debt) in 1920s Berlin.
10.2.2
The Temporality Dimension
Here, discursive legitimation shows temporal significance in the Berlin
case, pinpointed as discursive shifts from criticism of the regressive effects
of tariff increases (by the local Communist Party during the 1920s) to a
distinct emphasis on ownership in the campaign poster of the Berlin
Energy Roundtable in 2013 (Fig. 4.3 shows this proclaiming ‘Our
S. SAREEN ET AL.
been deconstructed and consolidated in Chap. 9 (Sareen 2019a). As illustrated above, multiple cases feature legitimation within each dimension;
for clarity, we only present practices from two cases for each dimension.
10.2.1
The Spatiality Dimension
Within this dimension, discursive legitimation plays out at specific sites in
situated ways, with consequences for what kind of energy transition is
legitimated. In Berlin’s historical energy transitions case, discursive legitimation appears spatially in the use of energy security arguments during the
Cold War to push for self-sufficient energy production within city limit. It
is also illustrated by the protest camp against the planned power plant in
the Spandau Forest in 1976 (Fig. 4.2), which signifies contested territorialisation under energy transition. In the Nordic electric mobility transitions case, spatiality is implicit in people’s critique of subsidies for luxury
electric cars, which are equated with 30,000 transport tickets for each
beneficiary, drawing attention to the spatial concentration of privilege and
elitism, and its equity effects during transitioning mobility systems.
Bureaucratic legitimation is spatially expressed in the Berlin case as the
municipal imposition of city-wide unitary tariffs across utilities and uniform service standards in the 1920s. This constitutes a smoothening and
unification of urban territory for energy service delivery. Technocratic
legitimation manifests spatially in the same case: the large incumbent utility Vattenfall’s contemporary emphasis on technical expertise and track
record for managing electricity and gas networks is a mode of ensuring
continued relevance for actors with large spatial coverage, despite sectoral
shifts towards openness to new small-scale actors. Financial legitimation
also operates spatially in this case, as revealed in the adoption of city-wide
fair and equal sectoral employee wages and service quality improvements
to justify massive urban infrastructure investment (partly financed through
foreign debt) in 1920s Berlin.
10.2.2
The Temporality Dimension
Here, discursive legitimation shows temporal significance in the Berlin
case, pinpointed as discursive shifts from criticism of the regressive effects
of tariff increases (by the local Communist Party during the 1920s) to a
distinct emphasis on ownership in the campaign poster of the Berlin
Energy Roundtable in 2013 (Fig. 4.3 shows this proclaiming ‘Our
S. SAREEN ET AL.