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How to build (in) the future? Legitimacy of socio-technical visions in a bio-based construction sector

Fischer, Lennart and Losacker, Sebastian LU (2025) In Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions 56.
Abstract

The use of bio-based materials offers opportunities to mitigate the climate impacts of construction, with buildings potentially acting as carbon sinks. However, it remains unclear what a future bio-based construction sector will look like. One reason for this are diverse socio-technical visions for the use of bio-based construction materials. In this paper, we use discourse analysis across a comprehensive set of expert interviews to pinpoint (competing) socio-technical visions of a bio-based construction sector in China, India, Germany and Italy. Drawing on the sociological literature on legitimacy, we examine the legitimacy of socio-technical visions as a necessary condition for their collective adoption by stakeholders in the sector.... (More)

The use of bio-based materials offers opportunities to mitigate the climate impacts of construction, with buildings potentially acting as carbon sinks. However, it remains unclear what a future bio-based construction sector will look like. One reason for this are diverse socio-technical visions for the use of bio-based construction materials. In this paper, we use discourse analysis across a comprehensive set of expert interviews to pinpoint (competing) socio-technical visions of a bio-based construction sector in China, India, Germany and Italy. Drawing on the sociological literature on legitimacy, we examine the legitimacy of socio-technical visions as a necessary condition for their collective adoption by stakeholders in the sector. It enables us to conceptualize the development and validation of visions, providing a framework for transition studies to track one part of the collective adoption of visions. This, in turn, adds to the understanding of the formation of ideations that potentially influence transition processes.

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organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Bioeconomy, Construction sector, Legitimacy, Socio-technical visions, Sustainability transitions
in
Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions
volume
56
article number
100996
publisher
Elsevier
external identifiers
  • scopus:105003708333
ISSN
2210-4224
DOI
10.1016/j.eist.2025.100996
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
85ade474-5a44-452d-a3ea-b41d1cea19e9
date added to LUP
2025-07-17 09:19:14
date last changed
2025-07-17 09:19:20
@article{85ade474-5a44-452d-a3ea-b41d1cea19e9,
  abstract     = {{<p>The use of bio-based materials offers opportunities to mitigate the climate impacts of construction, with buildings potentially acting as carbon sinks. However, it remains unclear what a future bio-based construction sector will look like. One reason for this are diverse socio-technical visions for the use of bio-based construction materials. In this paper, we use discourse analysis across a comprehensive set of expert interviews to pinpoint (competing) socio-technical visions of a bio-based construction sector in China, India, Germany and Italy. Drawing on the sociological literature on legitimacy, we examine the legitimacy of socio-technical visions as a necessary condition for their collective adoption by stakeholders in the sector. It enables us to conceptualize the development and validation of visions, providing a framework for transition studies to track one part of the collective adoption of visions. This, in turn, adds to the understanding of the formation of ideations that potentially influence transition processes.</p>}},
  author       = {{Fischer, Lennart and Losacker, Sebastian}},
  issn         = {{2210-4224}},
  keywords     = {{Bioeconomy; Construction sector; Legitimacy; Socio-technical visions; Sustainability transitions}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  publisher    = {{Elsevier}},
  series       = {{Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions}},
  title        = {{How to build (in) the future? Legitimacy of socio-technical visions in a bio-based construction sector}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.eist.2025.100996}},
  doi          = {{10.1016/j.eist.2025.100996}},
  volume       = {{56}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}