Urban Futures Studio awarded VWS-grant for research on energy and social inequality
Reconfiguring Energy for Social Equity
A consortium led by the Urban Futures Studio has been awarded a grant of 1.5 million euro by the Volkswagentstiftung for comparative research on energy and social inequality. The ReSET consortium investigates how the global energy transition can have a positive effect on social equity in urban and rural areas around the world.
Reconfiguring Energy for Social Equity (ReSET)
The ReSET consortium is led by Maarten Hajer together with Jesse Hoffman and involves four country teams from institutions in Germany (Philipp Sp盲th, Freiburg), India (Aromar Revi, Bangalore), the Netherlands and South Africa (Mark Swilling, Stellenbosch) in the fields of urban development, geography, governance and economics.
The goal of the ReSET project is to illuminate how the transition from fossil to renewable energy can be leveraged to address the Sustainable Development Goals, specifically SDG7 (transition to renewables) and, while doing so, deliver on SDG5&10 (reducing inequalities) and SDG16 (just and accountable institutions). It aims to analyse how the energy transition can enhance social equity and how this may inform future policy.
In each country, the project will look at alternative pockets in urban and rural areas where renewable energy development is connected to a social equity agenda. In these ReSET alternatives it looks at different actors - municipalities, entrepreneurs, development banks, social movements, and others - how these actors are enabled and constrained by policy frameworks.
Agents of change
As part of the transdisciplinary research effort, the consortium aims to build a community of practice and communicate findings as the project proceeds. ReSET identifies development banks (DFIs) as key agents of change because they play a key role in financing the global energy transition. They will be involved throughout the project, just as representatives from bottom up initiatives.
Kick-off
Interested to learn more about this project? On Monday the 27 of January from 16.00 at the Green Office (Bestuursgebouw) Maarten and Jesse share the project鈥檚 core ideas and explore possibilities for future collaboration. If you want to join please send an email to j.g.hoffman@uu.nl.