Working Paper: System Building: Towards a Conceptualisation of the Third Phase of Transitions
A new working paper by Sarah Olbrich and Dierk Bauknecht explores System Building and the Third Phase of Transitions.
Sustainability transitions occur in different phases: first, the emergence of new innovations, second, the acceleration of innovations, and third, the stabilisation of a new regime. While the processes of the first and second phase are well-described, comparatively little attention has been paid to the third phase. With the help of a literature review building on theories of socio-technical transitions as well as insights from the energy transition case in Germany, this paper introduces system building as a concept that accounts for the characteristics and challenges in the third phase. System building does not merely take place in the niche sphere, but asks for restructuring dynamics in the existing regime as well. It involves the institutionalisation of innovations, the alignment of old and new system elements as well as an interaction between old and new regime actors.