Abstract:

The Stuttgart region in Southwest Germany is traditionally perceived as the home base of the (German) car industry. This paper examines the locus of agency in such a "transition arena". How do key actors frame the challenge of sustainable mobility? What role is attributed to public policy at various governance levels and to the "local" industry, respectively? In the case of the Stuttgart region, the authors find a high ability of key industry actors to reframe transition initiatives for sustainable mobility and align public policy with their interests-particularly in local, i.e., place-bound contexts. This underlines the need for transition studies to pay more attention to the agency of incumbent actors and their capacity to absorb sustainable alternatives without changing dominant industry structures.