Fundamentals of Volunteered Geographic Information in Disaster Management Related to Floods

The main purpose of this chapter is to introduce fundamental knowledge regarding the notion of volunteered geographic information (VGI) and its applications in disaster management (DM) of events related to floods. Initially, the meaning of the term is defined along with certain properties and general trends that characterize VGI. A brief literature review unfolds the range of activities that compose that certain term, along with its applications to flood event management. Those applications cover significant aspects of both VGI and DM cycle: from participatory activities of volunteers up to pure data analysis, extracted from social media and other VGI sources, while, in terms of DM cycle, from mitigation up to response and recovery. Finally, a set of four main clusters of open challenges is addressed. Those clusters accumulate the vast majority of open topics on this research field

An agenda for future Social Sciences and Humanities research on energy efficiency : 100 priority research questions

Decades of techno-economic energy policymaking and research have meant evidence from the Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH)-including critical reflections on what changing a society's relation to energy (efficiency) even means-have been underutilised. In particular, (i) the SSH have too often been sidelined and/or narrowly pigeonholed by policymakers, funders, and other decision-makers when driving research agendas, and (ii) the setting of SSH-focused research agendas has not historically embedded inclusive and deliberative processes. The aim of this paper is to address these gaps through the production of a research agenda outlining future SSH research priorities for energy efficiency. A Horizon Scanning exercise was run, which sought to identify 100 priority SSH questions for energy efficiency research. This exercise included 152 researchers with prior SSH expertise on energy efficiency, who together spanned 62 (sub-)disciplines of SSH, 23 countries, and a full range of career stages. The resultant questions were inductively clustered into seven themes as follows: (1) Citizenship, engagement and knowledge exchange in relation to energy efficiency; (2) Energy efficiency in relation to equity, justice, poverty and vulnerability; (3) Energy efficiency in relation to everyday life and practices of energy consumption and production; (4) Framing, defining and measuring energy efficiency; (5) Governance, policy and political issues around energy efficiency; (6) Roles of economic systems, supply chains and financial mechanisms in improving energy efficiency; and (7) The interactions, unintended consequences and rebound effects of energy efficiency interventions. Given the consistent centrality of energy efficiency in policy programmes, this paper highlights that well-developed SSH approaches are ready to be mobilised to contribute to the development, and/or to understand the implications, of energy efficiency measures and governance solutions. Implicitly, it also emphasises the heterogeneity of SSH policy evidence that can be produced. The agenda will be of use for both (1) those new to the energy-SSH field (including policyworkers), for learnings on the capabilities and capacities of energy-SSH, and (2) established energy-SSH researchers, for insights on the collectively held futures of energy-SSH research.Peer reviewe

Governing transitions: cases and insights from two periods in the history of the UK gas industry

The paper aims to inform historically the analyses of future sociotechnical transition pathways in the electricity sector, particularly those developed by the Transition Pathways to a Low Carbon Economy project. It also aims to inform the theoretical approach to transitions by focusing on key decisions at ‘branching points’ that led to transitions in the UK gas energy services regime, which occurred under different governance patterns. The first historical case study covers the market-led transformation of the manufactured gas regime from 1877 to 1914, which developed the end-uses of gas beyond lighting to include cooking, and extended access to working class consumers. The second case study covers the period from 1948 to 1977, historically reconstructing the transition from town gas to natural gas. This state-led and coordinated conversion to natural gas was preceded by a period of destabilisation of the manufactured gas regime, the co-existence of several niche technologies and the hybridisation of the key actors and technological infrastructures of the incumbent regime. Comparing the cases provides insights for future energy service transitions by addressing the significance of power, trust and networking in the decision making processes involved in the governance of energy transitions

An agenda for future Social Sciences and Humanities research on energy efficiency: 100 priority research questions

IN ENGLISH: Decades of techno-economic energy policymaking and research have meant evidence from the Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH)—including critical reflections on what changing a society’s relation to energy (efficiency) even means—have been underutilised. In particular, (i) the SSH have too often been sidelined and/or narrowly pigeonholed by policymakers, funders, and other decision-makers when driving research agendas, and (ii) the setting of SSH-focused research agendas has not historically embedded inclusive and deliberative processes. The aim of this paper is to address these gaps through the production of a research agenda outlining future SSH research priorities for energy efficiency. A Horizon Scanning exercise was run, which sought to identify 100 priority SSH questions for energy efficiency research. This exercise included 152 researchers with prior SSH expertise on energy efficiency, who together spanned 62 (sub-)disciplines of SSH, 23 countries, and a full range of career stages. The resultant questions were inductively clustered into seven themes as follows: (1) Citizenship, engagement and knowledge exchange in relation to energy efficiency; (2) Energy efficiency in relation to equity, justice, poverty and vulnerability; (3) Energy efficiency in relation to everyday life and practices of energy consumption and production; (4) Framing, defining and measuring energy efficiency; (5) Governance, policy and political issues around energy efficiency; (6) Roles of economic systems, supply chains and financial mechanisms in improving energy efficiency; and (7) The interactions, unintended consequences and rebound effects of energy efficiency interventions. Given the consistent centrality of energy efficiency in policy programmes, this paper highlights that well-developed SSH approaches are ready to be mobilised to contribute to the development, and/or to understand the implications, of energy efficiency measures and governance solutions. Implicitly, it also emphasises the heterogeneity of SSH policy evidence that can be produced. The agenda will be of use for both (1) those new to the energy-SSH field (including policyworkers), for learnings on the capabilities and capacities of energy-SSH, and (2) established energy-SSH researchers, for insights on the collectively held futures of energy-SSH research. --------------- IN CROATIAN: Desetljeća donošenja tehnološko-ekonomskih energetskih politika i istraživanja energetike obilježena su nedovoljnom iskorištenošću dokaza iz društvenih i humanističkih znanosti, što uključuje i kritičke osvrte na to što uopće podrazumijeva mijenjanje odnosa društva prema energetskoj učinkovitosti. Konkretno, (i) društveno-humanističke znanosti predugo su gurali u stranu ili preusko tematski definirali donositelji politika, financijeri i drugi koji su odlučivali o upravljanju istraživačkim programima, i (ii) okruženje društveno-humanističkih istraživačkih programa nije u prošlosti uključivalo inkluzivne i savjetodavne procese. Svrha ovoga rada je premostiti te razlike stvaranjem istraživačkog programa koji će naznačiti buduće prioritete društveno-humanističkih istraživanja energetske učinkovitosti. Primijenjena je vježba Horizon Scanning, kojom je identificirano 100 prioritetnih društveno-humanističkih (D-H) istraživačkih pitanja za istraživanje energetske učinkovitosti. Vježba je uključivala 152 istraživača s prijašnjim D-H iskustvom vezanim za energetsku učinkovitost, raspoređenih u 62 D-H (pod)discipline, iz 23 države i u svim stadijima karijere. Dobivena pitanja induktivno su podijeljena u sedam tematskih klastera: (1) Građanstvo, uključenost i razmjena znanja o energetskoj učinkovitosti; (2) Energetska učinkovitost u odnosu na jednakost, pravednost, siromaštvo i ranjivost; (3) Energetska učinkovitost u odnosu na svakodnevni život i prakse proizvodnje i potrošnje energije; (4) Smještanje u okvir, definiranje i mjerenje energetske učinkovitosti; (5) Upravljanje, javne politike i politička pitanja u vezi s energetskom učinkovitosti; (6) Uloge gospodarskih sustava, lanaca opskrbe i financijskih mehanizama u unaprjeđivanju energetske učinkovitosti; i (7) Interakcije, nenamjeravane posljedice i povratni učinci intervencija vezanih za energetsku učinkovitost. S obzirom na to da je energetska učinkovitost konzistentno središnje pitanje u programima javnih politika, ovim se radom ističe da su dobro razvijeni D-H pristupi spremni za mobilizaciju kako bi doprinijeli razvoju mjera i upravljačkih odluka vezanih za energetsku učinkovitost, i/ili razumijevanju njihovih implikacija. Implicitno, rad naglašava heterogenost dokaza za D-H politike do kojih se može doći. Program će koristiti s jedne strane (1) onima kojima je D-H područje energetike novo (uključujući praktičare javnih politika) za učenje o mogućnostima i kapacitetima D-H energetike, a s druge i (2) etabliranim istraživačima D-H energetike za uvide u zajedničku budućnost istraživanja u tom području