Abstract
This paper analyses how transition intermediaries and participatory infrastructures shape an unjust energy licensing process and outlines implications for design for just transitions. Centring on the Fosen Wind Farm in Norway, where wind power development violated Indigenous Sámi cultural rights, it traces how licensing enabled renewable expansion while generating democratic and rights-based conflicts. Using historical case analysis and a synthesis of various literatures, the paper explores the intermediary ecology of licensing and shows how interactions among transition intermediaries structure power asymmetries. In dialogue with design research on infrastructuring, it proposes three practices for design in just transition contexts: unveiling institutional–cultural divides, platforming under-represented voices, and engaging in ongoing collaborative infrastructuring and reflexivity. It argues that designers must act in power-aware, rights-oriented ways if transitions are to be both sustainable and just.
Keywords
Transition intermediaries, just transitions, infrastructuring
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2026.2606
Citation
Laven, T., Maze, R., and Wallace, N. (2026) Intermediary ecologies and participatory infrastructures in wind power planning – towards a practice of design for just transitions, in Simeone, L., Gray, C. M., Verhoeven, A., de Götzen, A., Bakırlıoğlu, Y., Zohar, H., Stead, M., and Buwert, P. (eds.), DRS2026: Edinburgh, 8–12 June, Edinburgh, United Kingdom. https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2026.2606
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Included in
Intermediary ecologies and participatory infrastructures in wind power planning – towards a practice of design for just transitions
This paper analyses how transition intermediaries and participatory infrastructures shape an unjust energy licensing process and outlines implications for design for just transitions. Centring on the Fosen Wind Farm in Norway, where wind power development violated Indigenous Sámi cultural rights, it traces how licensing enabled renewable expansion while generating democratic and rights-based conflicts. Using historical case analysis and a synthesis of various literatures, the paper explores the intermediary ecology of licensing and shows how interactions among transition intermediaries structure power asymmetries. In dialogue with design research on infrastructuring, it proposes three practices for design in just transition contexts: unveiling institutional–cultural divides, platforming under-represented voices, and engaging in ongoing collaborative infrastructuring and reflexivity. It argues that designers must act in power-aware, rights-oriented ways if transitions are to be both sustainable and just.