Can Motorsport Valley drive us green?
Can Motorsport Valley drive us green?
Pursuing sustainability transition pathways that are compatible with our current growth-centred economic paradigm has turned out to be non-trivial. In particular, prohibiting certain 'wasteful' ways of life often seems to be unpopular or unrealistic, and it is a challenge to establish sustainability within a pleasure-seeking society. This paper explores the scope of a fun-centred, technology-driven approach for sustainability, exemplified by motorsport. It discusses the potential contribution of the Motorsport Valley in England for the emergence of clean technologies, which either reduce the use of natural resources or enable the use of renewable energy sources. Motorsport epitomizes a wasteful way of life. Yet, its focus on maximizing speed and efficiency could potentially be directed towards developing clean technologies. On the basis of expert interviews and document analyses, first, the paper discusses the enablers of, and barriers to, technology transactions between motorsport and cleantech within the context of the multi-level perspective of sustainability transitions. This highlights the vital role of sophisticated motorsport regulation and government-funded consortia. Furthermore, the spatial scales of the relationship between motorsport and cleantech are examined, which highlights intra-regional linkages that are embedded in multi-scalar institutional configurations. Overall, the paper argues that, given the right institutional regulation at multiple spatial scales, pleasure-seeking, 'lavish' institutions such as motorsport can be an important contribution to an innovation-based transition towards sustainability. However, the need to be critical of potential 'greenwashing' campaigns and the general limitations of technology-centered solutions within a growth-based economy are highlighted
Huber, Franz
2ddb1e89-a096-434b-88e0-10da081b5ef6
26 February 2012
Huber, Franz
2ddb1e89-a096-434b-88e0-10da081b5ef6
Huber, Franz
(2012)
Can Motorsport Valley drive us green?
Association of American Geographers Annual Meeting, New York City, United States.
24 - 28 Feb 2012.
Record type:
Conference or Workshop Item
(Paper)
Abstract
Pursuing sustainability transition pathways that are compatible with our current growth-centred economic paradigm has turned out to be non-trivial. In particular, prohibiting certain 'wasteful' ways of life often seems to be unpopular or unrealistic, and it is a challenge to establish sustainability within a pleasure-seeking society. This paper explores the scope of a fun-centred, technology-driven approach for sustainability, exemplified by motorsport. It discusses the potential contribution of the Motorsport Valley in England for the emergence of clean technologies, which either reduce the use of natural resources or enable the use of renewable energy sources. Motorsport epitomizes a wasteful way of life. Yet, its focus on maximizing speed and efficiency could potentially be directed towards developing clean technologies. On the basis of expert interviews and document analyses, first, the paper discusses the enablers of, and barriers to, technology transactions between motorsport and cleantech within the context of the multi-level perspective of sustainability transitions. This highlights the vital role of sophisticated motorsport regulation and government-funded consortia. Furthermore, the spatial scales of the relationship between motorsport and cleantech are examined, which highlights intra-regional linkages that are embedded in multi-scalar institutional configurations. Overall, the paper argues that, given the right institutional regulation at multiple spatial scales, pleasure-seeking, 'lavish' institutions such as motorsport can be an important contribution to an innovation-based transition towards sustainability. However, the need to be critical of potential 'greenwashing' campaigns and the general limitations of technology-centered solutions within a growth-based economy are highlighted
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Published date: 26 February 2012
Additional Information:
Funded by ESRC: Innovation across boundaries: Knowledge transactions between the UK motorsport industry and the emerging UK cleantech industry (RES-073-27-0031)
Venue - Dates:
Association of American Geographers Annual Meeting, New York City, United States, 2012-02-24 - 2012-02-28
Organisations:
Strategy, Innovation & Entrepreneurship
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 334004
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/334004
PURE UUID: f294d02e-80fc-48c4-8dab-c84d1c560a8b
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Date deposited: 08 Mar 2012 13:23
Last modified: 22 Jul 2022 18:00
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