| dc.description.abstract | This master's thesis wants to investigate how the EU's discourses on green transition affect
socio-technical imaginaries and exogenous development strategies in local development
projects. Morrow Batteries chose Arendal as its location for the establishment of a battery
factory, and it is expected that this project will have a significant impact on Arendal as a
municipality, both socially, economically and environmentally. In such a large development
process, it is interesting to see which discourses and arguments influence such an
establishment, and how the various dynamics between international organizations and actors
influence at municipal level. The purpose of the research is thus to understand how local
development strategies are influenced by dominant discourses about sustainability and green
transition, and what significance this has for local development in Arendal municipality.
The thesis' theoretical framework mainly consists of three theoretical perspectives: Discourse
theory to understand how language and communication shape and construct a hegemonic
structure in the green transition, socio-technical imaginaries to explore collective visions and
expectations around technological initiatives and their societal impact, and exogenous
development strategies for to examine the importance of external resources in local and
regional development, and how global and local trends and dynamics are connected. To
answer the research questions, the thesis uses a qualitative approach through document and
discourse analysis, semi-structured interviews and participant observation. This triangulation
method provides extensive insight into various stakeholders' perspectives and attitudes
towards the Morrow Batteries project, and also a deeper knowledge of the subject matter in
the thesis. The assignment is based on data from semi-structured interviews with three key
people, document analysis of articles, interviews and letters to readers in local newspapers, a
film recording of a digital public meeting as well as participant observation at seminars
related to Morrow Batteries. These sources provide a good basis for information and
narratives that illuminate the research questions.
The findings in the thesis presents how socio-technical imaginaries in Arendal reflect broader
discourses about green transition defined by global actors such as the EU, and that these
discourses have a major influence on which development strategies local authorities use in the
face of green industry and development. | |
