Local Sustainability and Democracy
My decision to focus on sustainability at the local (city, rural, and state-government) level emerged out of an attempt to identify and understand opportunities for change when the federal government in the U.S. was not leading the way similar to what is found in some other national governments in Europe and other world regions. Much of this work had support from National Science Foundation grants, which are described at the end of this page.
The first project became the basis for a group of studies that focused on the connections among the small-business sector, city governments, and sustainability projects in American cities that I described as "localism" and wrote about in my book Localist Movements in a Global Economy. I also became involved in establishing an affiliate organization of what was then called the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies. The project also emphasizes how locally owned organizations can be sources of technological and design innovation and how the issue of independent, small businesses can be linked to sustainability and justice goals at the local level.
The second and third projects involved state and local governments, again with an eye on the pathways toward policy consensus in an increasingly polarized political environment. The second project was an analysis of state and local government policies in support of green job creation. I examined how a focus on economic development could be the basis for achieving broad political consensus in support of renewable energy, energy efficiency, and other industries that reduce carbon and toxic chemical footprints of industry. The third project examined the conditions under which state governments could achieve bipartisan context in support of energy-transition policies. This approach took a sociotechnical design perspective from the STS field and showed that the types of technologies and how they were designed and framed was important. One implication is what I called the "red states, green laws" phenomenon.
The fourth project involved an analysis of conditions (social and environmental) that affected urban water conservation policies in U.S. cities and a method for measuring progress on water conservation policies. Subsequently, I have worked on city government policies that address sustainability and energy transition goals (such as the "100% renewable energy" paper) and on local social movement mobilizations in opposition to energy infrastructure. The latter includes some more complex cases where there are conflicts between renewable energy goals and local democracy and control goals. See the All Research page for other articles. Below is a selection.
Here I list together various papers that we published on the challenges, strategies, policies, and conflicts that have emerged with efforts to make local regions (cities and states) more sustainable. I also include some of the talks that I have given for community groups.
2023. David J. Hess and Meagan Jordan. Demunicipalization as Political Process: Strategic Action and the Sale of Municipal Electricity Utilities in the United States. Utilities Policy 82: 101523. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jup.2023.101523. Available open access at the journal web site here.
2022. Ryan T. Trahan and David J. Hess. Will Power be Local? The Role of Local Power Organizations in Energy Transition Acceleration. Technological Forecasting and Social Change 183, 121884 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2022.121884. Available open access at the journal web site here.
2022. Hess, David J. Undone Science and Smart Cities: Civil Society Perspectives on Risk and Emerging Technologies. Johannes Glückler, Heinz-Dieter Meyer, Laura Suarsana (eds) Knowledge and Civil Society (Knowledge and Space, Vol 17). Cham: Springer International. Pp. 57-73. Available open access at https://www.springer.com/gp/book/9783030711467.
2021. David J. Hess, Rachel McKane, and Caroline Pietrzyk. End of the Line: Environmental Justice, Energy Justice, and Opposition to Power Lines. Environmental Politics. 10.1080/09644016.2021.1952799. Available open access here.
2021. David J. Hess, Rachel G. McKane, and Kaelee Belletto. Advocating a Just Transition in Appalachia: Civil Society and Industrial Change in a Carbon-Intensive Region. Energy Research & Social Science 75 (May): 102004. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2021.102004. Available open access here.
2021. Hess, David J., and Rachel G. McKane. Making Sustainability Plans More Equitable: An Analysis of 50 U.S. Cities. Local Environment 26(4): 461-476. https://doi.org/10.1080/13549839.2021.1892047. Available open access here. See also Hess, "The Value of Analytic Diversity in Urban and Sustainability Studies, Local Environment, 2022, here.
2020. David Hess and Dasom Lee. Energy Decentralization in California and New York: Value Conflicts in the Politics of Shared Solar and Community Choice. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 121: forthcoming. This is available open access.
2019. David Hess and Brandi Collins. Recycling water in U.S. cities: understanding preferences for aquifer recharging and dual reticulation systems. Water Policy 21 (6): 1207-1223. https://doi.org/10.2166/wp.2019.162. Available open access.
2019. David J. Hess and Haley Gentry. 100% Renewable Energy Policies in U.S. Cities: Strategies, Recommendations, and Implementation Challenges. Sustainability: Science, Practice, Policy 15(1): 45-61. https://doi.org/10.1080/15487733.2019.1665841. Available open access.
2019. David J. Hess and Lacee A. Satcher. Conditions for Successful Environmental Justice Mobilizations: An Analysis of Fifty Cases. Environmental Politics 10.1080/09644016.2019.1565679. This is available open access.
2019. David J. Hess. Coalitions, framing, and the politics of energy transitions: local democracy and community choice in California. Energy Research and Social Science 50: 38-50. Available open access here.
2019. Thushara Gunda, David Hess, George Hornberger, and Scott Worland. Water Security in Practice: The Quantity-Quality-Security Nexus. Water Security 6: 100222. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wasec.2018.100022. Available open access here.
2018. David Hess and Magdalena Sudibjo. Supporting Regional Cleantech Sectors in North America. Sustainability: Science, Practice, and Policy 14(1): 22-30. https://doi.org/10.1080/15487733.2018.1536308. Available open access here.
2018. Jonathan M. Gilligan, Christopher A. Wold, Scott C. Worland, John J. Nay, David J. Hess, and George M. Hornberger. Urban Water Conservation Policies in the United States. Earth’s Future 6(7): 955-957. http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2017EF000797.
2018. David J. Hess and Kate Pride Brown. Water and the Politics of Sustainability Transitions: From Regime Actor Conflicts to System Governance Organizations. Journal of Environmental Policy and Planning 20(2): 128-142. 10.1080/1523908X.2017.1341304. Prepublication version here.
2018. Rachel G. McKane, Lacee Satcher, Stacey L. Houston II, and David J. Hess. Race, Class, and Space: An Intersectional Approach to Environmental Justice in New York City. Environmental Sociology 4(1): 71-92. Prepublication version here.
2018. David J. Hess, Quan D. Mai, Rachel Skaggs, and Magdalena Sudibjo. "Local Matters: Political Opportunities, Spatial Scale, and Support for Green Jobs Policies." Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions 26:158-170. Abstract here. Final prepublication version here.
2017. David J. Hess and Rachel G. McKane. “Renewable Energy Research and Development: A Political Economy Perspective.” In David Tyfield, Rebecca Lave, Samuel Randalls, and Charles Thorpe, eds. Routledge Handbook of the Political Economy of Science. Pp. 275-288. (Focus on state government policies and political parties.) Final, prepublication version is here.
2017. David J. Hess and Kate Pride Brown. Green Tea: Clean-Energy Conservatism as a Countermovement. Environmental Sociology 3(1): 64-75. DOI 10.1080/23251042.2016.1227417. Available open access here.
2017. David J. Hess, Christopher A. Wold, Scott C. Worland, and George M. Hornberger. Measuring Urban Water Conservation Policies: Toward a Comprehensive Index. Journal of the American Water Resources Association. 53(2): 442-455. 10.1111/1752-1688.12506. Abstract here. Prepublication version here.
2017. Kate Pride Brown and David J. Hess. The Politics of Water Conservation: Identifying and Overcoming Political Barriers to Successful Policies. Water Policy 9(2): 304-321. 10.2166/wp.2016.089. Abstract here. Prepublication version here.
2016. Hess, David J., Quan D. Mai, and Kate Pride Brown. “Red States, Green Laws: Ideology and Renewable Energy Legislation in the United States.” Energy Research and Social Science 11:19-28. Final, open-access version is available at the publisher web site here. Correction: In Table 1, SB 409 should read SB 418 Solar Tax Exemption for Equipment. The vote is correct. The tax credit for thermal was HB 1917 in the previous year. A data set from this project is available. Please cite as Hess, David J., Quan D. Mai, and Kate Pride Brown. 2016. "Red States, Green Laws: Ideology and Renewable Energy Legislation in the Untied States. Supplemental Data Set." Energy Research and Social Science 11: 19-28. The data set is here.
2016. Kate Pride Brown and David J. Hess. Pathways to Policy: Partisanship and Bipartisanship in Renewable Energy Policy. Environmental Politics. 26: 971-990. 10.1080/09644016.2016.1203523. This article is available open-access at the publisher web site here.
2016. David J. Hess, Christopher A. Wold, Elise Hunter, John Nay, Scott Worland, Jonathan Gilligan, and George M. Hornberger. Drought, Risk, and Institutional Politics in the American Southwest. Sociological Forum 31(S1): 807-827. 10.1111/socf.12274. Final, open-access version at publisher web site here.
2015. Hess, David J., Jonathan S. Coley, Quan D. Mai, and Lucas Hilliard. “Party Differences and Energy Reform: Fiscal Conservatism in the California Legislature.” Environmental Politics 24(2): 228-248. This is available open access at the publisher web site here: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/09644016.2014.973222
2015. Hornberger, George M., David J. Hess, and Jonathan Gilligan. Water Conservation and Hydrological Transitions in American Cities. Water Resources Research 51(6): 4635-3649. Abstract here.
2015. Hess, David J., and Quan Mai. The Convergence of Economic Development and Energy Transition Policies in State-Government Plans in the United States. Sustainability: Science, Practice, and Policy 11(1): 5-20. http://sspp.proquest.com/static_content/vol11iss1/1404-006.hess.pdf.
2013. Local and Not-so-Local Exchanges: Alternative Economies, Ethnography, and Social Science. In Jeff Juris and Alex Khasnabish, eds., Insurgent Encounters: Transnational Activism, Ethnography, and the Political. Duke University Press. Pp. 151-170. Prepublication version here.
2013. On the Conditions Affecting Successful Sustainable Consumption Programs and Policies. Sustainable Consumption Research and Action Network, Annual Meeting, Clark University, June 13. These are discussant comments that develop my line of thinking on the conditions that are favorable and unfavorable for green-transition policies. Paper here.
2012 Good Green Jobs in a Global Economy: Making and Keeping New Industries in the United States (MIT Press, 2012; Google Books Preview).
2012 Green Energy Laws and Republican Legislators in the United States. By Jonathan Coley and David Hess. Energy Policy 48 (1): 576-583. Prepublication version here.2011 "Building the Local Living Economy." Lecture given at Nashville Public Library, "Thinking Outside the Box" series. Video available on YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jl3dOEBlCl0&feature=relmfu. The talk gives a summary of both my localist research and green jobs research for a broad public audience of about 200 people.
2012 Green Energy Laws and Republican Legislators in the United States. By Jonathan Coley and David Hess. Energy Policy 48 (1): 576-583. Prepublication version here.
2011 Pathways to a Great Transition. Invited lecture, Tellus Institute. Here.
2011 "Electricity Transformed: Neoliberalism and Local Energy in the United States ." Antipode. 43(3): 1056-1077. Final draft here.
2010 Plenary talk at the Live Green conference. Here.
2010. "Sustainable Consumption and the Problem of Resilience." Sustainability: Science, Practice, Policy. 6(2): 1-12. Open source, available at the journal web site. Link here.
2009 Localist Movements in a Global Economy: Sustainability, Justice, and Urban Development in the United States (MIT Press, 2009; Google Books Preview). More detailed description above.
2010. "Declarations of Independents: On Local Knowledge and Localist Knowledge." Anthropological Quarterly 83(1): 147-170. Article here.
2008 “Localism and the Environment.” Sociology Compass 2(2): 625-638. Prepublication version here.
2008 "Some Ways in to Research on Locally Owned, Independent Businesses." This is a bibliography for a talk that I gave at Capital District Local First. I helped found this affiliate network of the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies. Here.
2007 David J. Hess and Langdon Winner. "Enhancing Justice and Sustainability at the Local Level: Affordable Policies for Urban Governments." By David Hess and Langdon Winner. Local Environment 12(4): 1-17. Prepublication version here.
2006 “The University and Sustainable Regional Industries.” In Arthur C. Nelson, Barbara Allen, and David Trauger, eds., Toward a Resilient Metropolis: The Role of State and Land Grant Universities in the 21st Century. Alexandria, VA: Metropolitan Institute Press. Pp. 29-51. Here.
2006 "Community Choice, Public Power, and Energy Conservation: Democracy, Sustainable Consumption, and the Problem of Scale." Paper presented at the RC-24 Conference on Sustainable Consumption. Available at www.michaelmbell.net/suscon-papers/hess-paper.doc or here.
2002 Workshop at Renssealer on "Technologies for Communities." The workshop included presentations on sustainable, healthy communities as well as work on information technologies, electronic media, and the built environment as they relate to building more sustainable, just, and democratic regions. More information is available here.
Project on Localism and Sustainability
Some of publications and case studies (the first set of case studies, the Local Environment paper, and the book Localist Movements in a Global Economy) are direct products of the grant "Sustainability, the Politics of Design, and Localism," sponsored by the National Science Foundation through the STS Program (“Sustainable Technology, the Politics of Design, and Localism,” Science and Technology Studies Program, NSF, SES-00425039). Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation. This project created case studies (see database link above) for teaching purposes and use by NGOs above as well as the publications above. The case studies examine organizational, technological, design, and social change where the goals of environmental sustainability, social fairness, and economic localism intersect. Langdon Winner served as co-PI on the project. Four graduate students--Colin Beech, Rachel Dowty, Govind Gopakumar, and Richard Hernandez--conducted some of the interviews and received training as part of the project.
Below are links to our two case study collections on localism and my publications and talks on the topic. I define localism as a reform movement that supports increased local ownership of the economy, including in the public, private, and nonprofit sectors.The connections with sustainability and social justice issues are historically contingent, and I study places where those connections are stronger and weaker. In Localist Movements I argue that localism is a distinctive political ideology, and in Good Green Jobs (MIT Press, 2012) I also develop a comparison with mainstream forms of economic development.
The main research product coming from this project is Localist Movements in a Global Economy: Sustainability, Justice, and Urban Development in the United States (MIT Press), which is the first book-length social science study of localism.This project analyzed the tensions between the goal of increased local ownership--which is often mobilized in "buy local" movements that support locally owned, independent businesses--and goals of achieving greater sustainability and social fairness in regional economies. I argue that localism in this sense is an ideology that has roots in the progressive and populist movements and is distinguishable from social liberalism and neoliberalism. There is a literature, especially in the sociology of food and agriculture, that dismisses localist institutions such as farmers' markets as middle-class networks of "foodies." I expand the scope of the analysis to a wide range of locally owned organizations, and I focus especially on areas where there is some potential for convergence of localism with sustainability and justice goals, such as in community gardening, the reuse sector of local retail, BALLE networks of local businesses, and some community media.
Urban Sustainability Programs: Case Study Collections
The project involved developing two case study collections. The first set is based on research conducted in 2005 as part of a graduate student research training project (see details below) that analyzed localism, sustainability and the design of industrial and technological systems. Students received training in qualitative social science research methods. The case studies are made available here for general public educational purposes. They are also discussed in my 2009 book on Localist Movements in a Global Economy. The cases are listed below.
1. The greening of urban public transit and electricity: This document contains case studies of the greening of public transit systems (Alameda-Contra Costa Transit District, Chattanooga (CARTA), San Francisco Muni, and Seattle Metro Transit) and of the greening of electricity (Austin Energy, San Francisco Community Choice, and Seattle City Light and Public Power).
2. Reuse centers and building deconstruction organizations: This document contains case studies of the Habitat for Humanity Re-store (Austin), the Loading Dock (Baltimore), Urban Ore (Berkeley), Recycle North (Burlington), the Reuse People (Oakland), Construction Junction (Pittsburgh), and the Rebuilding Center (Portland).
3. Locally oriented and green business networks: This document contains four case studies. One is of an AMIBA network, the Austin Independent Business Alliance, and the others are of the Sustainable Business Network of Greater Philadelphia, Local Exchange (San Francisco), and the Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund.
4. Community gardens and sustainable local agriculture: There are separate case studies here for community gardens in Boston, Denver, Cleveland, Detroit, New York, Philadelphia, Portland, Sacramento, San Francisco, and Seattle. There is also a case study of an urban farm in Sacramento and a farmers' market in San Francisco.
The second set of case studies is based on undergraduate research projects at Vanderbilt University as part of a course that included the analysis of local sustainability politics and policies. The student papers discussed sustainability plans and programs as well as a specific area of relative strength. Papers are posted with students' permission. Contents include discussions of overall initiatives and a selected leading initiative in various cities, including Amsterdam, Barcelona, Berkeley, Berlin, Bogota, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Ithaca, London, Madrid, Melbourne, Montreal, New York, Oakland, Ottowa, Paris, Portland, San Diego, San Francisco, Seoul, Shenzen, Singapore, Sydney, Vancouver, Washington (DC). This set of case studies is available as a single document here.
Project on Economic Development and Sustainability Policies
This project grew from a grant from the National Science Foundation, Science and Technology Studies Program, to study the "greening of economic development" (“The Greening of Economic Development.” Science and Technology Studies Program, NSF, SES-0947429). Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this report are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation or of the sponsoring university.
The project was funded just when the bipartisan funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) was reaching state and city governments. The grant supported training in STS and environmental sociology and policy for eight graduate students during the summer of 2010. The main product of the summer training seminar was a large research report on the state of green economic development policies in a wide range of state and city governments. The project also served as the basis for my book project Good Green Jobs in a Global Economy (MIT Press, 2012).
Students also received training in interviewing and the ethics of human subjects research, and the report on state and local government policies in the United States involved over 50 student interviews with representatives of state and local programs and advocacy organizations to describe the policies on green jobs and green economic development. The project also led to a presentation at NYSERDA and request for a report (below).
Building Clean-Energy Industries and Green Jobs (6MB; best viewed if downloaded)
Some programs may give a virus message due to the size of the file. You may want to open the text-based version
Building Clean-Energy Industries and Green Jobs text version (3MB) or the Executive Summary (4MB)
Press release
About the Authors
Report to New York State Climate Action Council on climate change and jobs
The research report is independent of political affiliations, parties, and nongovernmental advocacy organizations.
The grant enabled a summer training seminar led by David Hess (then a professor of Science and Technology Studies at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute), with support from coinvestigator Abby Kinchy (then an assistant professor of Science and Technology Studies at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute). Eight doctoral students in the social sciences who focus on science, technology, and environmental studies were selected for participation in the seminar based on a national competition. The training seminar enabled coursework and hands-on experience for the graduate students based on interviews and documentary research for sections of this report. In addition to the research report, the grant provided the basis for launching the research program on the politics of sustainability transitions, especially the book Good Green Jobs in a Global Economy (MIT Press 2012), and acknowledgements are given where applicable in the publications. I also developed subsequent research projects on economic development and green jobs with Rachel Skaggs and Quan Mai when I moved to Vanderbilt.
Corrections: The photo of the Northeast is by John Peter Gray. The statement on page 69 that Aquinas College has reduced energy consumption by 19 percent should instead read that the college has reduced transportation-related carbon emissions by 13 percent.
Project on State Government Policies and Bipartisanship
This section summarizes research funded by a research and training grant on “Conditions Favoring Consensus in State-Level Energy Policy,” Science and Technology Studies Program, National Science Foundation, SES-1329310. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.
We show a variety of strategies that state-government legislators are using in order to build cross-party consensus for energy policy, with a focus on renewable energy and energy efficiency. The research is also discussed in chapter five of my book Undone Science: Social Movements, Mobilized Publics, and Industrial Transitions (MIT Press. 2016).
The research portion of the study addresses an important policy issue while also making fundamental contributions to the research fields of STS and energy policy. With respect to the policy issue, we challenge the widely held view that policies in support of renewable energy and energy efficiency (REEE) have become entirely polarized by providing evidence for ongoing support of Republican legislators for some types of REEE laws, and we show that this support occurs not only in Democrat-controlled legislatures but also in split and Republican-controlled legislatures. Using both qualitative interviews with state legislators and quantitative analysis of support for proposed bills and votes on passed laws, we show that it is important to look at the diversity of types of REEE laws in order to understand better which types of policy proposals have a greater or lesser chance of gaining bipartisan support. Although general factors are important (such as bipartisan sponsorship), we show that support increases when REEE legislation is linked to issues that are consistent with conservative values. For example, we show that the following characteristics of a bill will tend to increase support: reduce government regulations for REEE projects (such as making less onerous the sometimes difficult approval process for solar panels), reduce taxes by providing tax credits for REEE projects, reduce government spending by providing guidelines for energy efficiency for government buildings, and provide consumer and business choices (such as by enabling REEE improvements to buildings). Conversely, bills configured as government mandates or that increase the size of government will tend to lose support. We also suggest some other strategies that have been associated with higher levels of bipartisan support, such as having a pre-legislative stakeholder process, finding support from business communities that benefit from the REEE policies, and shifting some issues from the legislative process to the public utilities commission. Although the strategies that we analyze will not solve the problem of gridlock and partisan conflict on this issue, they provide an explanation of an important factor that has practical policy implications.
Some of the papers (above) that emerged from this project are "Red States, Green Laws," "Pathways to Policy," and "Green Tea." The research project also makes general contributions to areas of social science literature involving energy policy. We bring a perspective into the energy and environmental policy studies literature that is based on work in science and technology studies (STS) by showing how choices among different types of technology (and the policies associated with them) become imbued with social and political meanings. Rather than study a general category such as energy policy or even a subcategory such as REEE policy, we show the importance of breaking down the category into the many different forms of REEE policy. In doing so, we bring a design perspective into the field of energy policy that draws on the rich body of work in STS on the social meanings of technology design. We then bring this STS perspective together with work in political sociology that provides the basis for analyzing frames and ideology associated with policy. Specifically, we develop a methodology for linking these detailed policy types (e.g., a solar tax credit) to specific meanings or frames attached to the bill (e.g., reduce taxes) that in turn have ideological valences (conservative or liberal). Using this combination of approaches, we can explain why, for example, a solar energy carve-out of a renewable portfolio standard may be controversial, but a law to reduce government regulations (“red tape”) for businesses and homes that want to have rooftop solar will be less controversial. We also suggest the general value of integrating the perspectives of these three research fields.
This grant provided support for training of graduate students and for research on the conditions affecting consensus in state-level energy policy. For the graduate student training, a summer seminar was held at Vanderbilt University that provided access to training for research at the intersections of sociology, energy policy, and science and technology studies (STS). Students were selected from a pool of applicants at the PhD level who were at the pre-dissertation stage and who did not have full access to these areas of expertise in their universities. Fifteen students from PhD programs across the country as well as three students from Vanderbilt and one student (self-funded) from the Netherlands attended the training seminar. The students noted that the week was transformative for their thinking about their dissertation projects. In addition, the project provided more intensive training for three Vanderbilt students: an undergraduate, graduate student, and postdoctoral fellow.
Project on Urban Water Conservation Policies
This project was a team-based research project with cooperation from earth and environmental scientists and graduate students, sociology graduate students, and undergraduates, led by PI George Hornberger ("Water Conservation and Hydrological Transitions in American Cities," Hydrologic Sciences, NSF, EAR-1416964). Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.
In the project an index of US cities' water conservation policies was developed based on over 70 metrics. Quantitative analysis published in Earth's Future (above) showed how a combination of sociopolitical and climatological variables predicted water conservation policy adoption. Qualitative analysis based on interviews by Kate Pride Brown led to insights into the strategies and conditions for policy adoption. We found some surprising similarities but also some differences from previous research on the adoption of energy-related sustainability policies.