Energy citizenship research has been investigating how people contribute to a more climate-neutral environment through their handling of energy-related issues in their role as citizens. In our presentation, we highlight the importance of connecting this question to the discussion of environmental justice and social inequality issues such as eco-gentrification. As not many research has been empirically looking into its social psychological processes and impacts, we turn to Positive Energy Districts (PEDs) as a case study. PEDs are neighborhoods that produce more energy than they consume. We conducted semi-structured interviews (N=20) with local stakeholders who mediate urban regeneration process in Torres Vedras, a PED in Portugal, to understand how they make sense of the changes induced by PED in their town, thus proposing different scripts of action for energy citizens in everyday life. The analysis shows that the representation gap between a new way of normative energy usage and technology in contrast to an imagined old way legitimizes behavior change interventions and normalizes a conventional neoliberal script for energy citizenship. The polarizing effect of this gap in communities linked to different privilege creates the tension between an urgent energy transition and inclusivity, which helps participants to reconstruct another representation of energy citizenship that is more collective and sensitive to people-place relations and biographical trajectories. This study contributes to the understanding of environmental justice and praxis of energy citizenship by advocating for more empowerment of vulnerable citizens in energy decisions in both private and public life.

--

Energy Citizenship,Environmental Justice,Social Inequality,Identity,Social Representation,Life Course Perspective,Eco-gentrification,Positive Energy Districts