Send message to Author

Paper short abstract

Drawing from multiple visits to World Expo 2025 in Osaka, Japan, I explore how future cities, based on hydrogen technologies, are envisioned and materialised. In two pavilions, hydrogen technologies are portrayed as necessary for a smart, sustainable society, with prototypes of different scales.

Paper long abstract

Energy transition relying on green hydrogen is at a pivotal crossroad, with its viability constantly questioned and compared with that of battery technologies, particularly in the mobility sector. Green hydrogen is said to hinge on an inefficient and energy-intensive processes – hence its promises necessitate an unprecedented scale-up of existing hydrogen-producing infrastructures. Large-scale initiatives such as the EU’s hydrogen valleys is indeed one such attempt, but their actualisation is away from the view of the public, and their futures beyond their status as ‘proofs of concept’ are opaque. Green hydrogen thus is kept at the margins of future energy transition despite existing strategies and policies, taken as a complement to the larger green infrastructures. Turning away from the EU for a contrast, Japan has put hydrogen infrastructures front and centre in their ambition for the future fossil-free society. Drawing from multiple visits to World Expo 2025 in Osaka, Japan, I explore how future cities, based on hydrogen technologies, are envisioned and materialised. The study focuses on two pavilions: the Iida Group x Osaka Metropolitan University pavilion, and the Future City pavilion. Both pavilions portray hydrogen technologies as necessary for a smart, sustainable society, with prototypes ranging from personal mobility to large-scale energy infrastructures. Despite these complementary elements, the two pavilions enact hydrogen futures differently, illustrating how materialisations stabilise futures in distinctive ways. The key to stabilisation lies in the diorama of a future city, showcasing the theoretical endpoint of a scaled-up project and everlasting happiness.