TY - JOUR
T1 - A transition in the Dutch wastewater system? The struggle between discourses and with lock-ins
AU - Ampe, Kasper
AU - Paredis, Erik
AU - Asveld, Lotte
AU - Osseweijer, Patricia
AU - Block, Thomas
PY - 2019
Y1 - 2019
N2 - Recently, calls have increased for a paradigm shift or transition towards resource recovery and a circular economy in the Dutch wastewater system. However, we have observed diverging interpretations on the nature of the transition. This reflects the political environment of sustainability transitions: political struggle emerges over the definition of problems, futures and strategies to be used. In order to help clarify the emerging debate and identify political choices, we conducted a discourse analysis. We identified three discourses that reveal some of the political choices to be made. One discourse is becoming dominant and focusses on optimising the large-scale infrastructure, market development and legislative changes. The discourse draws on the existing infrastructure and current political-economic institutions, which gives it an advantage in becoming dominant. Our findings also suggest that this discourse shapes a transition pathway that is characterised by lock-in effects and, at most, incremental changes instead of a fundamental shift in the established Dutch wastewater system
AB - Recently, calls have increased for a paradigm shift or transition towards resource recovery and a circular economy in the Dutch wastewater system. However, we have observed diverging interpretations on the nature of the transition. This reflects the political environment of sustainability transitions: political struggle emerges over the definition of problems, futures and strategies to be used. In order to help clarify the emerging debate and identify political choices, we conducted a discourse analysis. We identified three discourses that reveal some of the political choices to be made. One discourse is becoming dominant and focusses on optimising the large-scale infrastructure, market development and legislative changes. The discourse draws on the existing infrastructure and current political-economic institutions, which gives it an advantage in becoming dominant. Our findings also suggest that this discourse shapes a transition pathway that is characterised by lock-in effects and, at most, incremental changes instead of a fundamental shift in the established Dutch wastewater system
KW - Wastewater
KW - transition
KW - discourse
KW - politics
KW - circulareconomy
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85074504489&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/1523908X.2019.1680275
DO - 10.1080/1523908X.2019.1680275
M3 - Article
SN - 1523-908X
VL - 22
SP - 155
EP - 169
JO - Journal of Environmental Policy and Planning
JF - Journal of Environmental Policy and Planning
IS - 2
ER -