Abstract for: Infrastructure interdependencies in urban sustainability transitions: a case study of Rotterdam’s heat network

Cities are seen as hubs of innovation since municipalities have the authority to address complex societal challenges such as the urban emission mitigation. Cities have the power to manage infrastructure systems that ensure the continuity and quality of urban services. However, the complexity of the sustainability transitions is still severe at the urban level. Urban sustainability transitions are multi-actor processes which require collaboration and commitment from a wide range of actors with diverging mental models. Moreover, urban infrastructures have to operate in close proximity in densely populated urban areas and thus give rise to infrastructure interdependencies that can influence urban transitions significantly. Our objective is to explain the socio-technical interdependencies amongst infrastructure systems that influence sustainability and inclusiveness in urban transitions. In this paper, we applied a case study of the Rotterdam Noord's transition out of gas into district heat network. We utilized GMB workshops and qualitative SFDs to show how socio-technical interdependencies in infrastructure systems can influence sustainability and inclusiveness in urban transitions.