Fuelling energy-transition with regional design ateliers

Many countries are ‘planning’ for energy-transition in the light of the challenges imposed by climate change. Energy-transition is expected to radically change the structure, the institutional design and the physical appearance of our energy system. One of the critical issues is to integrate energy-transition with other land-uses and spatial issues. In the Netherlands, regional design ateliers were organised to address these challenges. We studied eleven regional design ateliers to find out what the design ateliers contributed to dealing with energy-transition. Our analysis showed that the design ateliers played an important role in creating insights on the spatial implications of energy-transition. This raised awareness amongst regional stakeholders on the impact of energy-transition, and affected their perspectives. However, our study also showed that some important (spatial) aspects, such as smart combinations with other land-uses and the transport and storage of energy, received little attention. Understanding energy-transition took up a lot of time, leaving little room for a full exploration of relationships with other land-uses, of possible solutions, and of integrated strategies. Therefore, we conclude design ateliers should also be organised in upcoming stages of ‘planning’ for energy-transition to further fuel the transition process and fully employ the benefits of regional design ateliers.