Laborgne, Pia | Germany

Pia Laborgne has studied Sociology, Historical Anthropology and Latin Languages in Freiburg, Helsinki and Bordeaux. Since 2004 she is researcher at the European Institute for Energy Research/Karlsruhe Institute for Technology (KIT). Her fields of research are climate protection/energy strategies in the local and regional context, acceptance of renewable and decentralized energy technologies, energy efficiency in buildings and energy consumption. Since 2010 she is also member of the Research Group “Political Ecology of Urban Infrastructures” at the Chair for Spatial and Infrastructure Planning/ Technical University of Darmstadt, writing her PhD on the Transformation of Urban Energy Systems (financially supported by the Hans-Böckler-Foundation).

Project at IAS-STS: Transformations in urban energy systems - Development and role of local niches

The urban socio-technical energy system is a key field for coping with global environmental changes and sustainable development of cities. Its forms and usages are decisive for resource consumption, but it also has important impacts on social and economical development. Cities are major context for the consumption of resources as well as centres for innovation and privileged level for experimentation and implementation. They are thus important starting points for sustainability transitions.
My doctoral research is based on case studies in three major German urban areas: Berlin, Frankfurt/Main and the Ruhr Metropolis. The starting point is that urban energy infrastructure faces major transformations concerning the technical structures of energy provision and consumption as well as the social organization of energy provision and governing structures. The core question is how the energy system can be transformed on the local level, also asking what role cities can have in the process of transforming the energy system and what specific local approaches for this exist. The research refers to the multi-level perspective in transition research.
During my stay at the IAS-STS, my main plan is to work on conclusions derived out of the comparison of the three case studies.

Selected Publications

Jobert, A., Laborgne, P., Mimler, S., Local Acceptance of wind energy: Factors of success identified in French and German case studies, In: Energy Policy, Vol. 35, Issue 5, May 2007

Laborgne, P., Leucht, M., Social Acceptance of New (Energy) Technologies, Paper for the efonet workshop, Paris, May 2009

Laborgne, P., Markl-Hummel, L., Eggert, M., Pfenning, U. Local strategies for climate protection: status quo and tendencies in Baden-Württemberg/Germany. Paper at the ERSCP-EMSU Conference in Delft, October 2010

Laborgne, P., Energy Sustainaility: The Role of Small Local Communities, In: Järvelä, Marja, Juhola, Sirkku: Energy, Policy and the Environment, Modelling Sustainable Development for the North, Springer New York 2011

Laborgne, P., Transformation of Urban Energy Infrastructure – The Role of local Niche Development, Paper at the Energy&Society Conference in Lisbon, March 2012

Laborgne, P., Wilts, H., Energy Efficiency in Public Buildings - Local Transition Strategies. paper at the eceee Summer Study 2013