Leisure mobility: Situating emotional geographies of friluftsliv in urban mobility transitions

In Norwegian culture, outdoor recreation in nature – such as hiking – is an important activity tied to the production of identity and aspirations of a ‘good life’. ‘Friluftsliv’ (outdoor life) in Norwegian entails a connection to specific places and particular forms of movement between and within these places. This paper examines such mobility practices among residents of Stavanger, a mid-sized coastal city, drawing on 24 interviews with leisure hikers, split between car owners and non-owners. We argue that friluftsliv remains closely connected to the automobility regime, and show the implications for the urban mobility transition, which builds on a strategy of moving past car-centric planning and aims to reduce car dependence. We show how urban mobility planning can benefit from a more nuanced and situated understanding of what mobility means, and how it produces meaning, in a local context. We do so by addressing how people engaged in friluftsliv around Stavanger situate this within their mobility practices, and how these individualised expressions of friluftsliv and mobility reflect upon the urban mobility transition. This article draws on literature from emotional geographies and mobilities research to conceptualise ‘friluftsliv’ as a form of ‘meaningful mobility’ produced through assemblages of emotions, space, and culture.publishedVersio

Double energy vulnerability in the Norwegian low-carbon urban transport transition

Household energy poverty and transport energy poverty are increasingly recognised as entangled in energy social science. The intersection of these related phenomena is growing due to twin transitions of decarbonisation and digitalisation, whereby transport modes are increasingly electrified, and household electricity use is digitalised. Sectoral coupling enables energy flexibility, which is crucial for enabling greater renewable energy penetration in the electricity mix to advance decarbonisation agendas. Yet there are potential negative outcomes of this cross-sectoral hyper-integration, in terms of exacerbating existing inequalities and creating new ones. Digitalised systems can exclude marginalised groups, constitute intrusion on privacy, reallocate resources such as public space and electricity to certain transport modes at the expense of others, and drive dynamic electricity tariffs that penalise those with inflexible usage patterns, who typically include energy-poorer households. This paper examines how these issues play out in the under-privileged neighbourhood Østre Bydel in affluent Stavanger, Norway – a city targeting low-carbon urban transport transitions where energy poverty is an under-studied concern. Based on 45 structured interviews with households in the neighbourhood conducted during autumn 2021 complemented by desk study, the paper analyses double energy vulnerability in the city’s systemic transition to low-carbon transport coterminous with rapidly digitalised electric infrastructure.publishedVersio

Are climate change discourses in line with the urgency required to meet the 1.5°C target? – A poststructuralist perspective on official Norwegian climate change narratives

Master's Thesis in Energy, Environment and societyThe “newest” science presented in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5°C show the severity of the climate change issue and the urgency required to meet it. A consensus in the climate science community agrees that a profound transition of our civilisation’s energy systems and socio-economic structures must rapidly take place if the world is to meet the common goal of limiting global warming to well below 2°C – as stated in the Paris Agreement. However, increasing emissions and systemic carbon lock-in suggests that this goal might fall out of reach if urgent and significant measures are not taken within the next decade. Norway is doing especially poor in this respect with emissions still increasing despite high and outspoken ambitions for reduction. Norway’s increasing emissions are mostly due to deep economic dependency on the country’s petroleum industry. According to poststructuralist theory, narratives are central to both the power structures within societies and to processes of cultural, historical and socio-economic change. Thus, a narrative perspective on climate change can provide insight and valuable guidance in the transitions that must occur if we are to limit or halt global climate breakdown. The thesis assumes two different angles of inquiry, 1) what climate science and transition theory can teach us about the severity of climate change and how to meet the challenge politically and technically, and 2) what prominent official climate change narratives and policies in Norway entail. Thus, the study aims to give insight into whether Norway’s climate change response is consistent with the critical reality of climate change. The thesis adopts a narrative analysis framework to inquiry into climate change narratives from within the official institutions most relevant to the climate change issue in Norway – the Ministry of Climate and Environment and the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy. It looks at the consistency of narratives over time and the relation between the two ministries in terms of there being any apparent narrative clashes or correlations. The thesis further assesses how the various actors incorporate science into the narratives and what role the IPCC’ SR15 might play. The analysis finds several dominant narratives with a varying degree of correlation between the two ministries. Most prominent are the narratives framing Norway as a ‘world leader’ on climate action, the narrative emphasising the importance of economic (green) growth and the narrative reconciling petroleum expansions with emission reductions by arguing the importance of replacing coal (abroad) with Norwegian gas. The thesis also finds that Norway’s current and intended climate policies are not in line with meeting the target set through the Paris Agreement for domestic emissions reduction nor with the 1,5°C target. I also argue that green growth is unfeasible for Norway as long as the petroleum sector remains the backbone of the country’s economy. Green growth through decoupling the economy from carbon emissions is also shown to be highly unlikely to occur at the rate required to limit global warming to below 2°C globally. Adopting a poststructuralist perspective, I conclude that Norway will remain a climate change mitigation laggard if official policies remain subject to current narratives. Within the scope of the 1,5°C target, I argue that continued economic dependence on the petroleum sector through expansion, is not reconcilable with reaching national emission reduction goals, the goals of the Paris Agreement nor consistent with global climate change mitigation.submittedVersio