Empirical studies on energy democracy (ED) tend to presume boundaries among community energy (CE) practices, corporate operations, and state leadership. This research note identifies three features underlying existing literature: an implicit binary thinking of state and society, the understated market influence, and a lack of urban features that enable ED functioning through spatial means. I therefore propose urban commons (UC) as a complementary framework to interrogate the interplay among the state, society, and market operations in CE research and practices. I examine how ED informs CE operations in Japan, Taiwan, and Korea, identifying a set of limitations to which UC can respond. Some latest thinking on UC and a body of strategies proposed by key interlocutors were discussed. I then propose “state-led, market-enabled commons” as a conceptual framework to account for urban civic energy initiatives in East Asia.
AnsellChrisGashAlison. 2008. “Collaborative Governance in Theory and Practice.” Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory18: 543–71.
2.
BakerShalanda Helen2017. “Unlocking the Energy Commons: Expanding Community Energy Generation.” In Law and Policy for a New Economy, edited by ScanlaM. K., 211–34. Northampton: Edward Elgar.
3.
BeckerSören.2022. “The State or the Citizens for Energy Democracy? Municipal and Cooperative Models in the German Energy Transition.” In Routledge Handbook of Energy Democracy, edited by Feldpausch-ParkerAndrea MEndresDaniellePetersonTarla RaiGomezStephanie L.. London: Routledge.
4.
BeckerSörenNaumannMatthias. 2017. “Energy democracy: Mapping the debate on energy alternatives.” Geography Compass11 (8).
BurkeMatthew JStephensJennie C.. 2017. “Energy Democracy: Goals and Policy Instruments for Sociotechnical Transitions.” Energy Research & Social Science33: 35–48.
ChoiSu Young. 2021. “Resilient Peripheralisation Through Authoritarian Communication Against Energy Democracy in South Korea.” Environmental Politics30 (6): 1002–23.
9.
ChouKuei-Tien.2018. Energy Transition in East Asia. New York: Routledge.
10.
DellenbaughMaryKipMarkusBieniokMajkenMüllerAgnesSchwegmannMartin. 2015. Urban Commons: Moving Beyond State and Market. Berlin: Birkhäuser Verlag.
11.
DeVarSubin G.2019. “Equitable Community Solar: California & Beyond.” Ecology Law Quarterly46 (4): 1017–47.
12.
Feldpausch-ParkerAndrea M.EndresDaniellePetersonTarla Rai. 2019. “Editorial: A Research Agenda for Energy Democracy.” Frontiers in Communication4: 1–8.
13.
Feldpausch-ParkerAndrea M.EndresDaniellePetersonTarla RaiGomezStephanie L.. 2022. Routledge Handbook of Energy Democracy. London: Routledge.
14.
FosterSheila R.IaioneChristian. 2016. “The City as a Commons.” Yale Law & Policy Review34 (2): 281–349.
15.
FosterSheilaIaioneChristian. 2019. “Ostrom in the City: Design Principles and Practices for the Urban Commons.” In Routledge Handbook of the Study of the Commons, edited by HudsonBlakeRosenbloomJonathanColeDan. New York: Routledge.
16.
FosterSheilaIaioneChristian. 2022. The Co-City: Collective Governance, Urban Commons and Experiments in Social and Economic Pooling. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Gibson-GrahamJ. K.CameronJennyHealyStephen. 2013. Take Back the Economy: An Ethical Guide for Transforming Our Communities. Minneapolis: Univ. of Minnesota Press.
19.
HamanakaHironori2016. “Community Projects in Japan: Challenges and opportunities for realizing the potential as a strong driver for energy transition, climate policies and local community revitalization.” Presentation prepared for German-Japanese Symposium. Retrieved September 12, 2023. https://www.dijtokyo.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/20161102-Hamanaka.pdf
20.
HankeFlorianLowitzschJens. 2020. “Empowering Vulnerable Consumers to Join Renewable Energy Communities - Towards an Inclusive Design of the Clean Energy Package.” Energies13 (7): 1615.
HarveyDavid. 2012. Rebel Cities:From the Right to the City to the Urban Revolution. London: Verso.
23.
HeffronRaphael J.McCauleyDarrenSovacoolBenjamin K.. 2015. “Resolving Society’s Energy Trilemma Through the Energy Justice Metric.” Energy Policy87: 168–76.
24.
HuronAmanda.2015. “Working with Strangers in Saturated Space: Reclaiming and Maintaining the Urban Commons.” Antipode47 (4): 963–79.
25.
HuronAmanda. 2017. “Theorising the urban commons: New thoughts, tensions and paths forward.” Urban Studies54 (4): 1062–1069.
26.
IaioneChristian. 2016. “The CO‐City: Sharing, Collaborating, Cooperating, and Commoning in the City.” The American Journal of Economics and Sociology75 (2): 415–455.
27.
KlaggeBrittaMeisterThomas. 2018. “Energy Cooperatives in Germany – An Example of Successful Alternative Economies?” Local Environment23 (7): 697–716.
28.
LaiHuei-Ling2019. “Situating Community Energy in Development History: Place-Making and Identity Politics in the Taromak 100 percent Green Energy Tribe Initiative, Taiwan.” Geoforum; Journal of Physical, Human, and Regional Geosciences100: 176–87.
29.
LaiHuei-Ling2022. “Foregrounding the Community: Geo-Historical Entanglements of Community Energy, Environmental Justice, and Place in Taihsi Village, Taiwan.” Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space5 (2): 666–93.
30.
LawhonMaryMurphyJames T.. 2012. “Socio-Technical Regimes and Sustainability Transitions: Insights from Political Ecology.” Progress in Human Geography36 (3): 354–78.
31.
MilunKathryn2020. “Solar Commons: A “Commons Option” for the 21st Century.” The American Journal of Economics and Sociology79: 1023–57.
32.
NamgungHyejinKimGawooHwangJin-Tae. 2022. “Putting New Wine in Old Bottles: Merging the Logic of the Urban Commons with Seoul’s Energy Transition Experiment.” Journal of Cleaner Production336: 130411.
33.
OstromElinor.1990. Governing the Commons: The Evolution of Institutions for Collective Action. Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press.
34.
ParkSeonaYunSun-Jin. 2021. “Multiscalar Energy Transitions: Exploring the Strategies of Renewable Energy Cooperatives in South Korea.” Energy Research & Social Science81: 102280.
SchlosbergDavid, and CollinsLisette B.. 2014. “From Environmental to Climate Justice: Climate Change and the Discourse of Environmental Justice.” WIRES Clim Change5: 359–74.
37.
SzuleckiKacper. 2017. “Conceptualizing energy democracy.” Environmental Politics27 (1): 21–41.
38.
TarhanDerya.2022. “Community Renewable Energy’s Problematic Relationship with Social Justice: Insights from Ontario.” Local Environment27 (6): 767–83.
39.
Van VeelenBregje. 2018. “Negotiating Energy Democracy in Practice: Governance Processes in Community Energy Projects.” Environmental Politics27 (4): 644–65.
40.
WalkerGordon2012. Environmental Justice: Concept, Evidence and Politics. New York: Routledge.
41.
WalkerGordon.2015. “The Right to Energy: Meaning, Specification and the Politics of Definition.” L’Europe en Formation378 (4): 26–38.
42.
WalkerGordonDevine-WrightPatrick. 2008. “Community Renewable Energy: What Should it Mean?” Energy Policy36 (2): 497–500.
43.
ZitcerAndrew.2021. Practicing Cooperation: Mutual Aid Beyond Capitalism. Minneapolis: Univ. of Minnesota Press.
