Send message to Author

Paper short abstract

The Rhenish mining region is transforming due to the lignite phase-out and climate neutrality goals. A survey compares the acceptance of future scenarios and captures visions on key domains. A qualitative analysis examines sociotechnical imaginaries and visions of the future.

Paper long abstract

The German mining region “Rheinisches Revier” is undergoing significant economic and social transformations. This is driven by Germany's effort to achieve climate neutrality by 2045 through the phase-out of lignite. To this end, political decision-makers are planning numerous changes, thereby creating and stabilising sociotechnical conceptual worlds. These include plans to establish the region as a model for climate-neutral industry, to fill opencast mining areas with water, to significantly expand regional mobility, and to develop hydrogen as a central focus.

In this context, a population survey for the Rhenish region was conducted at the beginning of 2026. The aim was to compare the acceptance results of five possible future scenarios, understand the residents' visions of the future, and examine the acceptance of topics related to structural change.

For imaginaries regarding the future, open-ended questions were used to ask residents about their visions and concerns regarding the future of the region. Specifically, they were asked about the key domains energy, transport, tourism, landscape, society, and the economy. From an STS perspective, these expressed ideas represent empirical articulations of sociotechnical imaginaries. Qualitative content analysis was used to determine the nature of these ideas within society, whether they differ between population groups, and the extent to which political top-down visions converge or diverge with the bottom-up visions of the residents. The analysis also examines the extent to which residents’ visions reproduce dominant techno-solutionist imaginaries or articulate alternative, socially embedded pathways for the regional future.