Sustainable Urban Energy Policy : Heat and the City

Minimising the most severe risks of climate change means ending societal dependence on fossil fuels, and radically improving the efficiency with which we use all energy sources. Such deliberate transformative change is, however, without precedent.

Sustainable Urban Energy Policy debates the major public issue of developing a sustainable, clean and affordable energy system by adopting a distinctive focus on heating in cities. In this way, the book constructs an original account of clean energy policy, politics and provision, grounded in new empirical data derived from case studies of urban and multi-level governance of sustainable heat and energy saving in the UK and Europe. Offering an original conceptual framework, this study builds on socio-technical studies, economic and urban sociology, human geography, applied economics and policy studies in order to understand energy governance and systemic change in energy provisions.

This book is a valuable resource for students and academics in the areas of Science and Technology Studies, Sociology, Geography (Urban Studies) and Political Economy as well as energy policy makers, social housing providers and energy practitioners.

David Hawkey is a Research Fellow in the School of Social and Political Science, University of Edinburgh, UK.

Janette Webb is Professor of Sociology of Organisations in the School of Social and Political Science, University of Edinburgh, UK.

Heather Lovell holds joint positions as an Associate Professor in Sociology at the University of Tasmania, Australia, and as Reader in the School of Geosciences, University of Edinburgh, UK.

David McCrone is Emeritus Professor of Sociology, and co-founded the University of Edinburgh's Institute of Governance in 1999. He is a Fellow of the British Academy and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, UK.

Margaret Tingey is a Research Officer and PhD student in the School of Social and Political Science, University of Edinburgh, UK.

Mark Winskel is Chancellor's Research Fellow on Energy Innovation in the School of Social and Political Science, University of Edinburgh, UK.