Just (A) Transition: The Role of Co-design in Preventing Polarising Energy Transition Policies in the European Union

Abstract

The present research observes the role and value of co-design processes in inclusive policymaking. Co-design and logic model theories are applied to the Fair Energy Transition for All (FETA) case study - a pan-European project whose analysed stages took place between 2020 and 2022. FETA’s twofold goal aimed at making energy transition policies nationally and at the EU level more representative by including a total of 917 vulnerable citizens in a total of 93 focus groups. In parallel, it aimed at preventing policy’s polarisation, as so-cial movements like the Yellow Vests are an example of. The research question of this paper is: How can co-design methods and logic models foster the cre-ation of more resilient and representative energy transition policies at the Eu-ropean Union level? This thesis argues that while these two theories allow for inclusive policymaking, they increase the complexity of policy formulation and evaluation. More, as policy-making follows a bureaucratic logic, nuanced ap-proaches like the design-led need advocacy towards decision-makers. Never-theless, this research argues that while challenging, co-design increases pol-icy resiliency by demonstrating through logic models the needs of co-design participants, ultimately decreasing social alienation. This research followed a qualitative approach using a case-study strategy. While the intersection of de-sign and policy is not new in academia, the interest in studying such for this thesis came from design’s potential in innovating the public sector. Thus, this paper contributes to the field’s literature by discussing two theories whose joint use can prevent policy backlash.