Advancing shared energy transition through strategic regional future developments

Participation and public involvement often occur late in energy planning or only in the approval phase, limiting substantial discussions or exchange of perspectives. As a result, current participatory planning emphasizes acceptance rather than efforts to seek shared solutions for energy transition, which leads to considerable resistance to local energy transition projects. To identify shared solutions in local energy transition, understanding residents’ perspectives on regional energy transition and how they relate to residents’ perspectives on regional spatial developments is crucial. Therefore, this research explores residents’ perspectives on regional energy transition and regional future developments to set the basis for finding shared solutions, thereby advancing energy transition in spatial and energy planning. A standardized questionnaire (N=907) containing a public participation geographic information system (PPGIS) was used to investigate and gain insights into residents’ perspectives on energy transition and their preferred future regional developments in the Swiss region of Knonauer Amt. The results highlight three main findings: (i) skepticism toward energy transition often comes from a perceived lack of benefits rather than from concerns about impacts on the landscape; (ii) perspectives on energy transition and on regional development are closely linked, meaning that they should be discussed together in regional strategic planning; and (iii) incorporating residents’ perspectives early in future-oriented energy planning offers strong potential for developing shared solutions. These findings contribute to the identification of pathways for developing shared solutions in energy transition planning.