Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden.
Soc Stud Sci. 2024 Aug;54(4):557-574. doi: 10.1177/03063127231217577. Epub 2023 Dec 19.
How can we trace differing normative values, and especially in alternative imaginaries of environmentally sustainable futures? To address this issue, this article extends the sociotechnical imaginaries framework by providing conceptual tools to understand the underlying rationale of alternative environmental imaginaries-through an envirotechnical analysis. I analyse an urban river restoration project called the Isar-Plan in Munich, Germany, where the notion of 'renaturation' was at the centre a controversy over designs for the project. By positing the river as an envirotechnical landscape, the normative dimensions of nature, science and technology within environmental transformations can be constructively integrated within co-productionist analyses in science and technology studies. The article shows how existing societal values are shaped by prior systems and regimes, constructing local imaginaries of desirable environmental futures. Envirotechnical analyses also increase our ability to identify differing normative values, and could thus be further applied in cases where the normative assumptions behind opaque notions otherwise would be left underexplored.
我们如何追踪不同的规范价值，特别是在环境可持续未来的替代想象中？为了解决这个问题，本文通过提供理解替代环境想象背后基本原理的概念工具，扩展了社会技术想象框架——通过环境技术分析。我分析了德国慕尼黑的一个名为“伊萨尔计划”的城市河流恢复项目，其中“自然再生”的概念是该项目设计争议的核心。通过将河流假设为一种环境技术景观，可以在科学和技术研究的共同生产分析中建设性地整合环境转型中自然、科学和技术的规范性维度。本文展示了现有社会价值观如何受到现有系统和制度的塑造，从而构建出对理想环境未来的地方想象。环境技术分析还提高了我们识别不同规范价值的能力，因此可以在其他情况下进一步应用，否则那些不透明概念背后的规范假设将得不到充分探索。
