Multi-scalar view on niche diffusion - Understanding agency and institutional strategies in the process of diffusion of niche innovation

Abstract: Only recently has a geographical viewpoint on sustainability transitions opened up the containerized view on transition trajectories. Next to the important step of institutionalising niche logics transforming them into regime rationalities, the multi-scalar perspective reveals that niches, as well as regimes, can also upscale. This means that the socio-technical configuration of the niche or regime diffuses beyond the original territorial context. Different trajectories of how niche innovation could be institutionalized and upscaled were conceptualized. However, there is a gap in understanding what strategies intermediary actors implement in this process to achieve the diffusion. This is also because agency was not looked at from a geographical perspective yet. Therefore, this study combines an institutional perspective of transitions with conceptions of scale from human geography to develop a framework that analyses the strategy of actors looking at the engagement in institutional work at different spatial scales. The framework is applied on the case of the National Blue Ribbon Commission (NBRC) that aims at diffusing a transformative niche innovation of the water sector throughout the US. Results from a qualitative content analysis of publications by the commission demonstrate that scale is an integral part of institutional strategy in the process of diffusing a niche innovation. Moreover, the NBRC effectively accelerates the diffusion of the innovation and achieves political change in the highly regulated water sector. Policy makers could support the formation of multi-scalar actors such as the NBRC in order to make sustainable innovation spread in the fight of climate change.