(Re-)locating ‘place’ in energy demand: Implications for research and policy

• The paper explores the key aspects of place that matter to understanding and advancing the energy transition.
• It places a more relational understanding of place in tension with dominant sectoral and spatial governance logics.
• Place is not just a variable which explains adoption rates but a lens through which to reframe problems.
• Political, infrastructural, socio-spatial and economic factors come together in place shaping the (in) equity of outcomes.

Addressing the climate crisis requires a complex mix of actions by policy makers, businesses and citizens. Policy pathways imply not only a transition to a cleaner energy system, but also a shift towards reduced energy use (Barrett et al., 2022), while ensuring that development needs of communities worldwide are met. For many years local governments have argued the importance of having the powers and resources to make decisions on decarbonisation and energy demand reduction (Eurocities, 2022, UK100, 2021, CCC, 2020). This has begun to be reflected in the language of national governments with the establishment of ‘place-based’ decarbonisation strategies (DfT, 2021, OEERE, 2023). A recent study by a major UK innovation agency estimated that, by taking a ‘place-based’ approach the same climate and energy outcomes could be achieved at around 25 % of the cost of a ‘place-agnostic’ approach while delivering greater financial savings to consumers and health and economic co-benefits (InnovateUK, 2022). It is, however, far from clear what ‘place’ means in these studies and what differentiates it from the ‘local scale’ (as in e.g. local government) or ‘locale’ (as in an area). Is ‘place’ anything more than a rebranding of the multi-scalar politics of climate and energy policy?

Devine-Wright and Peacock (2025) systematically review the literature on place in connection to the siting of energy infrastructures. The review identifies a wide lexicon of place related terms but a lack of coherence and a superficial or narrow use of place concepts. Crucially, for this paper, exploring place and energy transitions, the review found little work on “place-technology fit” (Devine-Wright and Peacock, 2025, 16). This paper builds a conceptual framework to guide researchers and policy-makers to make greater sense out of ‘place’ within the context of energy demand transitions, to enable a richer understanding of the potential for place-based approaches to be generative of new ways of thinking, acting and designing policy. It begins by reviewing the way in which energy demand is understood, drawing on practice theory perspectives (Shove and Walker, 2014). The paper explores how elements of the transition come together and connect people, places and policies spatially and temporally, moving beyond mapping the differences between territories (Bridge, 2018). It draws on examples largely from the Global North but, through its approach to territorial relationality explores why place is not simply a local or national concern.

Through the application of this framework, we argue that new insights into how to steer the energy transition will emerge, as a place lens enables the transformation of how we recognise problems and, therefore, understand the potential for action of different sorts.