VIRTUAL: Livable Cities – New York

Abstract

Transition intermediaries are recognized as key actors in sustainability transitions. While the interplay between actors, agency, and institutional contexts is at the core of sustainability transitions literature, few studies have examined how the agency of transition intermediaries is affected by institutional contexts in which they are embedded. Without a deeper understanding of this interplay, the literature risks a naive perception of transition intermediaries as free agents. This study investigates transition intermediation in diverse institutional contexts using a typology of organizational fields that draws on institutional theory. Cases of local government commitments to fleet electrification and cycling infrastructure show that in less institutionalized unified fields, crises allow incumbent organizations to diverge from existing institutional arrangements and intermediate for systems change. Findings also indicate that the social position of transition intermediaries in a field is likely to mediate the enabling effect of crises on transition intermediation. Similarly, findings show that in highly institutionalized fragmented fields, transition intermediaries can legitimize their visions for systems change by using collective action framing to draw attention to conflict between existing institutions to diverge from existing institutional arrangements. As such, this study provides new insight into conditions affecting the agency of transition intermediaries for low-carbon mobility transitions.