Paper short abstract:

Phasing out of lignite mining within the next years, the Lusatia in eastern Germany is undergoing significant transformation. This paper will explore how the perception of energy transition as a political process is interconnected and interacts with the region and its landscape.

Paper long abstract:

The Eastern German region Lusatia has been a coal region for centuries. The coal industry did not only affect people and mindsets but also shaped the landscape significantly. The end of Germany's brown coal mining by 2038 therefore set the starting point for a huge transformation process, which is accompanied by uncertainties for individuals as well as other entities.

The regions long standing self-image is basically dominated by the coal industry and its impact on the appearance of the landscape. The exit of coal extraction will result anew in a change of the landscape and thus also ties in with concepts of remembrance landscapes. The history and presence of lignite overlap in the present, highly influenced by experiences over the past 30 years. With the line between the past and the present repeatedly being redrawn, locals experience insecurity at the intersection of time and identities.

Structural change, however, is forcing a new landscape image relying on visions and integrating the idea of sustainability. Necessarily, already negotiating between the remembrance as a coal region and finding a new identity, this adds to the uncertainties for those, who have to reorient themselves in the midst of the transformation process. I will trace this conglomerate of structural change, landscape change and uncertainties in my talk.