Urban energy transitions in ordinary cities: Philadelphia’s place-based policy innovations for socio-technical energy change in the commercial sector

Abstract

Studies of urban energy transitions place less attention to governance dynamics in diversified contexts. This paper thus focuses on an ordinary city, Philadelphia, and its place-based policy innovations in commercial energy efficiency. It develops an analytical framework at the intersection of multi-level governance and socio-technical urban energy change, which applies for a set of key policy initiatives in Philadelphia. The analysis demonstrates the importance of local and broader economic conditions, as well as actor political orientations, for the city’s transformative capacity. It also offers a fine-grained view of transition actors, stressing the key role of third-sector entities for systemic change.