No Cover Image

Journal article 2 views 1 download

“It’s not a very certain future”: Emotion and infrastructure change in an industrial town

Gareth Thomas, Catherine Cherry, Chris Groves, Karen Henwood, Nick Pidgeon, Erin Roberts Orcid Logo

Geoforum, Volume: 132, Pages: 81 - 91

Swansea University Author: Erin Roberts Orcid Logo

  • 68532.VoR.pdf

    PDF | Version of Record

    © 2022 The Author(s). This is an open access article under the CC BY license.

    Download (619.56KB)

Check full text

DOI (Published version): 10.1016/j.geoforum.2022.04.003

Abstract

Four decades on from the onset of deindustrialisation in the UK and other late-capitalist societies, industrial places are again emerging as key objects of policy discourse. Under the dual pressures of decarbonisation, and the recognition of ‘left behind’ regions as potential hotspots for feelings o...

Full description

Published in: Geoforum
ISSN: 0016-7185
Published: Elsevier BV 2022
Online Access: Check full text

URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa68532
Abstract: Four decades on from the onset of deindustrialisation in the UK and other late-capitalist societies, industrial places are again emerging as key objects of policy discourse. Under the dual pressures of decarbonisation, and the recognition of ‘left behind’ regions as potential hotspots for feelings of political marginalisation, new strategies for clean growth are emerging, aiming to boost local economic and environmental performance. Presenting data produced via biographical interviews and deliberative workshops in Port Talbot, South Wales, we explore how experiences of life in one of the UK’s most significant manufacturing towns has shaped local feelings towards four place-based scenarios for industrial and energy systems decarbonisation. Drawing on the rich literatures detailing the cultural and emotional impacts of deindustrialisation, we illustrate how situated experiences of industrial dependence and decline shaped how Port Talbot residents made sense of visions for the town’s future. In so doing we show how, in the face of industrial decline, alternative aspects of place emerged as locus points of emotional and cultural identification, ‘public things’ (Honig, 2017) in which alternative hopes for the future are invested. As emergent policies for clean growth become enacted in concrete projects, we argue for a clearer focus on experiences of and relationships embedded in industrial places, to ensure such strategies meet the desires of local communities.
Keywords: Deindustrialization; Deliberation; Decarbonisation; Energy systems; Lived experience; Public things
College: Faculty of Science and Engineering
Funders: This research was funded by the Welsh Government through the European Regional Development fund as part of the FLEXIS project: https://www.flexis.wales/. Karen Henwood and Nick Pidgeon received part-funding from the UKRI Industrial Decarbonisation Research and Innovation Centre (IDRIC): EP/V027050/1.
Start Page: 81
End Page: 91

Similar Items