Stefan Bouzarovski, Department of Geography and Manchester Urban Institute, University of Manchester
Addressing the driving forces of climate change invariably requires significant structural shifts in patterns of energy recovery, transport and demand. Such transformations, inter alia, are expected to exacerbate existing and create new social inequalities within and among countries. One of these involves the existence of differing levels of access to energy services in the home across and within countries – due to the lack of adequate infrastructure (principally in the Global South), or income and housing differentials (mainly in the Global North). At the same time, it has been shown that even a 1.5 °C global temperature rise is likely to deepen the associated socio-economic risks faced by susceptible communities.
The spatialities of these two types of vulnerabilities – in the climate and energy domain – have rarely been considered jointly to date, and there is limited understanding of the manner in which their multiple political, social and economic implications interact across different spaces and places. My research aims to create the building blocks for a geographical approach towards climate and energy justice. Working in a variety of spatial sites – primarily in Europe, but increasingly in the Global South – I have sought to highlight the synergies and interactions that arise at the climate-energy nexus, while emphasizing the existence of unintended effects and feedback loops. A forthcoming paper in the International Journal for Urban and Regional Research, for example, emphasizes uncovers the links between carbon urban development and gentrification, while a recently published open access book explores patterns and policies associated with energy poverty in Europe and beyond.
Twitter handle: @stefanbuzar
website: urban-energy.org
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