Weak spots for car-sharing in The Netherlands? The geography of socio-technical regimes and the adoption of niche innovations

Abstract

A geographical analysis of sustainability transitions allows one to better understand the emergence and upscaling of sustainable innovations. We first theorize about the spatial heterogeneity of regime, niche and landscape within the Multi-Level Perspective and then apply our framework to car-sharing adoption across all Dutch neighbourhoods. We distinguish between business-to-consumer and peer-to-peer car-sharing, which differ in terms of business model and greenhouse gas reducing impacts. For these two innovations, we demonstrate how the relation between niche innovation and the socio-technical regime of private car ownership affects adoption patterns. Our study can be read as a plea for full-fledged geographical analysis of sustainability transitions equally emphasizing the spatial heterogeneity of niche, regime and landscape.