Noor Debets,
Tessa Vaendel,
In the following sections the concepts of sustainability and the lifestyle of the Texel case are developed. This is also the chapter where the socio-technical system of Texel is analyzed. As Texel is an island, it has a uniquely isolated position in the Netherlands, which allowed them to develop a culture quite distinct from others in the country.
A socio-technical system is the combination of the social and the technical system. It is about the interaction of these two different systems, and how this results in a reaction to change. A socio-technical system is always interwoven with other systems, though in Texel these connections are weaker due to the physical barrier the sea creates.
Out of the social and the technical system, it might the social system is the main focus in this chapter, as lifestyle is such an intrinsic component of this system. However, lifestyles are very dependent on how they react to new technologies and innovations, which are of course part of the technical system (Borrás & Edler, 2014).
These new technologies, which in this case are often new methods to live more sustainably, usually require a radical change in lifestyle. These new technologies are promoted by a very small group of actors, who try to convince other stakeholders of the positive effects of integrating this new way of being sustainable into their lifestyle. However this actor is only one stakeholder, and there is no certainty about how the other stakeholders will react to this. Every change and innovation involves all the stakeholders, who all hold different opinions, both positive and negative. Though not all stakeholders have the same influence, and economic and political power does play a role in this process. This way of interacting amongst societal and state stakeholders in order to cause a system change is called governance (Borrás & Edler, 2014).
Often these new technologies are still small, experimental techniques, called niche systems (Pesch, 2014). These are often considered to be the seeds for systematic change. A niche is the start of most types of new technologies. They are protected experiments, often funded by universities, states or grants. This means there is no pressure to produce profit. The scientists and technicians have the time to experiment, try out new techniques, and fail. This can happen without threatening the sustainable development in the area. After a new technique has been developed, the next goal is to spread it to the rest of the population. This upscaling phase is often where many of these projects fail. It is at this moment that state actors can come into play. As stakeholders with political power, they can set up a quality control for this new technology. This is called a regime. There are rules, and sanctions that would have gone into effect if the product ends up being unsafe or untrustworthy in any way, thus guaranteeing to new users that this technology is safe. This is where the first steps are taken towards embedding this technology into the socio-technical system. It is during this step that sustainable pioneers will start using it.
This deliberate type of governance creates quality control and trust. All this however will only embed it into the technical system. The next question is how to integrate it into the social system as well. Only after a majority of the target group is using this technique, a sustainable transformation on the way to a sustainable lifestyle will have been made.