Sabine Marr, Artem Korzhenevych (p), Markus Egermann, Alexandra von Brunn, René John, Leonie Liemich, Raj Kollmorgen, Franziska Görmar, Thilo Lang, Katrin Martens, Markus Hanisch

Loïc Giaccone

The improvement of "transformative capacities" (Wolfram, 2016; Sousa, 2023) to initiate, accelerate and stabilise change towards sustainability in cities and regions while safeguarding liberal democracies remains a key challenge in the 21st century. These capacities, as a general framework (Wolfram, 2016), include multiple governance modes, transformative leadership and empowered communities of practice as key agency components. They also include the processes that contribute to capacity building, namely creating system awareness, sustainability foresight, experimentation, innovation embedding and social learning. However, while the framework emphasises the importance of a spatial perspective regarding its components and underpins that perspective for urban contexts, both i) a systematic integration of spatial aspects deriving from other research fields and ii) application of the capacities framework for non-core regions, are lacking.

Typically not considered as arenas within which future development perspectives arise, the non-core regions (defined as areas outside of agglomerations typically associated with a range of negative connotations (Leick and Lang 2018)) are usually conceptualised as powerless (Lang 2015), and the agency and transformative power of actors in non-core regions is usually overlooked (Leick and Lang 2018). However, such regions can also be seen as playgrounds for alternative futures and development models because typical (urban/ metropolitan) models of development and transformation cannot be simply transferred to non-core contexts.

This paper examines how spatial perspectives from sustainability transitions, economic geography, research on (rural) social enterprises, and sociological studies of regional change enhance the transformative capacity framework and explores how this enhanced framework can serve to study transformative capacities in non-core regions.

The theoretical framework is informed by a theory-driven literature review and a literature synthesis. We specify its operationalisation and application for non-core regions by fomulating guiding questions for field work. First empirical results from 4 non-core regions in Germany are then presented.

Non-core regions often face challenges like demographic decline, financial resource scarcity and institutional limitations but offer opportunities for experimentation and innovation, with rural social enterprises and other hybrid organisations playing a vital role in promoting co-creation and addressing sustainability challenges. This work contributes to the ongoing dialogue between economic geography, regional studies, and sustainability transition research, offering insights for empirical studies on sustainability transitions in non-core regions.

Loïc Giaccone (p), Leïla Kebir, Emmanuel Reynard

Sabina Hodžić

Collective actions to manage resources of recent origin, known as “new commons” (Hess, 2008), have been observed in many regions of the Swiss Alps (Gros-Balthazard et al., 2024). Among the various categories of resources managed by these communities are mountain huts used for recreational activities such as hiking and mountaineering. In addition, traditional resource management institutions, historical commons, are still active in several Swiss regions (Ostrom, 1990, Haller et al., 2021), some of them managing mountain huts. Little is known about the organisations and communities that collectively manage mountain huts. This work presents an initial portrait of the characteristics of mountain huts as “commons”, here defined as a community that manages a resource (i.e. the hut) with its own set of rules (Bollier, 2020). Based on a field survey and semi-structured interviews, different forms of ownership and management of huts are studied in the canton of Valais, including both guarded and unguarded huts accessible by hikers. The results show a great diversity of cases in terms of organisation and structure, accessibility to the huts and user participation in their management, presenting various forms and levels of commoning, i.e. the social practices involved in the management of shared resources (Euler, 2018, Bollier, 2020, Agrawal et al., 2023). The traditional institutions of the historical commons in the Valais region, bourgeoisies and consortages (Haller et al., 2021), are found to be involved in many ways, either in the form of “historical commons in transition” (Angiolini, 2025) in the case of converted former pasture huts, or in the form of new commons with the creation of mountain huts dedicated to recreational activities. In some cases, particularly in huts run by volunteers, collective management seems to offer advantages in the context of the current challenges facing mountain huts, such as climate change (Miczka, 2022) and decrease of visitor numbers (Mourey et al., 2023), as dependence on profitability is less important than in commercial huts.

Sabina Hodžić (p), Asel Doranova, Veljko Jeremic

Léo Mocquelet

Nowadays, all countries around the world are facing environmental problems, i.e. climate change being the most challenging. Hence, all countries are trying to address these problems to achieve transition to a more sustainable future. This transition does not run easily and will for sure have implications on the economy, environment, and it will affect economic actors, but also different groups of society, including marginalized communities. The overall goal is to assure that all actors benefit from the transition following the concept of leaving no one behind. Therefore, this concept in the literature is known as just transition. The concept of just transition is presented as a framework that guides our transformation into ecological society in a socially just and equitable manner. The objective of this study is to improve the conceptual framework of the Just Transition monitoring and evaluation by identify the main themes capturing also the governance dimensions in this framework, in addition to economic, social, environmental. In this paper, we will critically review the exiting frameworks used by the European Commission, and other international organisations and discuss possibilities for more comprehensive coverage. In addition, propose a new monitoring tool: the Just Transition Index, which is a composite index that allows regions to see themselves in ranking. We applied I-distance method to the just transition index to evaluate its weighting scheme and structure. Furthermore, based on the I-Distance method for calculating the just transition index for the analysed EU Member States, we wanted to examine the scores and ranking of EU Member States involved in the just transition process. Based on selected dimensions and indicators with the latest publicly available data, the results of the analysis were very interesting. Based on the ranked list of countries and the I-distance values, the best performing countries are Luxembourg, the Czech Republic and Hungary. This can be explained by the fact that these countries are making great efforts (financially and socially) to achieve decarbonisation and involve all stakeholders in society in the just transition process.

Léo Mocquelet (p), Frédéric Wallet (p), Rachel Levy

Artur Ochojski

This communication analyzes the process of institutional innovation at work in a Regional Natural Park (PNR) project under development in the Gers region, aimed at facilitating the agroecological transition. It seeks to explore the ability of the PNR team members to innovate and build cohesion through a multi-stakeholder consultation approach.

The study is based on an analysis of territorial governance as a lever for establishing trust-based relationships and fostering knowledge coordination among actors. To this end, the concept of institutional innovation is used, referring to the processes of transforming institutions to address socio-economic challenges (AlMalki et al., 2023). The research question focuses on understanding how the implementation of a territorial project in partnership with various stakeholders enables institutional innovation from a transformative perspective in favor of the agroecological transition. The underlying hypothesis is that the establishment of a multi-stakeholder consultation process fosters institutional innovation, thereby facilitating the transition to agroecology.

To address this research question, the primary methodology adopted is participant observation, used to study four meetings organized by the PNR with farmers. This method is complemented by a preliminary diagnostic phase. Preliminary results highlight the establishment of coordination processes, as well as the mechanisms and tools mobilized by the PNR. They emphasize the diversity of the actor system, their representations, and the asymmetries between participants. The results also explore the most consensual topics and, conversely, the most divisive ones. Additionally, they shed light on mechanisms of collective construction, collective learning, knowledge capitalization, and the reorientation of participants' perspectives. This dynamic of collective construction has led to adjustments by the PNR members, such as the integration of new themes and the expansion of consultations to groups outside the initial framework.

Artur Ochojski (p), Adam Drobniak , Marcin Baron, Adam Polko

Artem Korzhenevych

In the face of profound socio-economic transformations driven by the shift to carbon neutrality, the Horizon Europe DUST project aims to democratize territorial responses to sustainability transitions by maximizing citizen participation and enhancing trust in democratic governance. Recognizing that accountable, transparent, and socially equitable policies are essential—especially for society’s least engaged communities—DUST employs Regional Future Literacy Labs (RFLLs) that combine innovative design-led territorial, digital, and participatory tools to enable direct citizen engagement in policymaking.

These place-based deliberative tools convene citizens, experts, and policymakers in open dialogue to address regional challenges and co-create just sustainability transition policies. RFLL experiments will be conducted in four regions—Norrbotten (Sweden), Lusatian District (Germany), Katowice (Poland), and Stara Zagora (Bulgaria)—with a focus on engaging marginalized communities such as ethnic minorities, youth groups, women, and workers from vulnerable sectors.
Central to the DUST approach is the application of futures literacy, drawing on the UNESCO Futures Literacy Lab (FLL) methodology.
By empowering citizens to anticipate and shape alternative future scenarios, the RFLL model emphasizes the regional design dimension—viewing space, place, and territory as vital cultural constructs influencing policy decisions.

Enhanced by e-democracy tools like Pol.is, this framework facilitates large-scale deliberation and proactive positioning in multi-level governance.

The project’s findings allow to pragmatically assess if and how these novel instruments empower citizens and communities to anticipate structural changes, build consensus in inclusive decision-making environments, and drive the co-creation of sustainability transition policies that are truly just, inclusive, and responsive to local needs.