Energy landscapes

Energy leaves marks on the ground. Wind turbines, solar arrays, pylons, pipelines, reservoirs, mines and the sites left behind when a fuel is exhausted all remake the landscapes they pass through, and the move away from fossil fuels is producing the largest wave of that change in a generation.

Research in this theme examines energy systems as landscape transformation: how infrastructure is sited and by what procedure, why particular schemes attract support or opposition, what a community is offered in return for hosting one, and how energy landscapes are seen, valued and inherited. The group’s own work has approached this through four linked questions of power, planning, participation and perception, which between them cover the political economy of energy, the mechanics of consent, and the look of a countryside being rebuilt.