Chapter 3: Methodology
3.1. Methodological approach
3.1.1. A case for exploring urban transitions in the Global South
The rationale for selecting the City of Cape Town as a case is briefly outlined in Chapter 1. The following chapter (Chapter 4) provides further context to the case in relation to the themes of this study. Specifically, the case, the City’s electricity system, refers to the electricity system operated and managed by the metropolitan municipality that governs the city of Cape Town. In terms of political management, the City is governed by a 231-member City Council elected in a system of proportional representation.10 The administration is made up of 11 directorates and 38 departments. The main organisational units in the City involved with the electricity system are the Utilities Directorate in general and Electricity Department in particular, the Utilities Portfolio Committee, the Energy Committee and the Energy and Climate Change Unit in the Environmental Resource Management Department. Of importance, both the City and Eskom distribute electricity
10 The executive authority vests in an Executive Mayor who in turn appoints a Mayoral Committee (Mayco) whose members oversee various portfolios.
61 in the city of Cape Town. The City distributes three quarter of total consumption in Cape Town, whereas Eskom is responsible for the remaining quarter (CCT, 2011e).
Using a case study in general and the City of Cape Town in particular was regarded as suitable for the enquiries of this study for a range of reasons. First, a case and site were needed to investigate the manifestation of change in a socio-technical system within an urban, Global South geography, from the perspective of a municipality. Second, the research questions required rich longitudinal information and data in order to assess the implications of applying the MLP in the Global South.
This is the type of information and data that a case could provide (Duminy et al., 2014). Third, a case is a means to summarise the key arguments within a specific area of research (Stake, 1994). In relation to the research questions, it was felt that a case could potentially highlight key arguments and enable critical reflection on transitions in Global South contexts (Duminy et al., 2014), the relationship between ‘cities’ and the niche-regime-landscape hierarchy and the role of regulation and organisational conditions in constraining or enabling sustainable transitions. A case could thus be used to promote critical reflection on existing theory (transition theories) and allow novel ideas to emerge from detailed observation (Baxter and Jack, 2008; Lincoln and Denzin, 1994).
Importantly, a case study is a powerful method to identify new insights in relation to existing theory.
Such a theory-building case study can be described as a heuristic case. As noted by George and Bennett (2005: 77) outlier cases are particularly well suited for heuristic case studies as ‘their outcomes are not what traditional theories would anticipate’. Although not strictly an outlier, as various cases theorise on transitions from the perspective of a city in the Global South, the City of Cape Town offers new variables that have not been sufficiently ‘anticipated’ (Duminy et al., 2014;
George and Bennett, 2005) in sustainable transition theory (Lawhon and Murphy, 2011; Hodson and Marvin, 2010). It is thus a useful site for exploring contextual conditions (Crabtree and Miller, 1999) and novel variables, including inter alia energy poverty and inequality, cross-subsidy systems, policy aimed at redistribution, issues of access to infrastructure and the beneficiaries of reconfigurations and examining the insights these conditions could offer transition theories.
The themes of this study require an examination of, inter alia, the ways in which actors involved in the City’s electricity system interpret and implement rules; the values and belief systems that underpin decisions; the organisational cultures and structures that constrain or enable change and the ways in which actors navigate and influence change within a complex social, technical, regulatory and organisational landscape. This is in essence constructivist approach to researching and understanding regimes (Genus and Coles, 2008), where much of the focus is on the social construction of a system (Searle, 1995). In this regard, a case study allows collaboration between the researcher and participant and enables participants to narrate their stories and describe their
62 views of reality (Crabtree and Miller, 1999). This enables a better understanding of the motives and actions of participants (Tashakkori and Teddlie, 1998) in relation to socio-technical reproduction and change. Notably, as a central critique of the MLP relates to an overly structuralist conception of socio-technical systems, a case study allows an exploration into subjective construction of meaning (Crabtree and Miller, 1999) with a focus on the dynamic tensions between structure and agency.
Consideration was given to whether comparative cases or multiple case studies should be undertaken. However, it was recognised early in field work that due to the heterogeneity within the City’s administration and the diversity in projects and programmes pursued by the City related to energy and climate change, a single case with ‘embedded units’ (Duminy et al., 2014; Crabtree and Miller, 1999) would be both feasible and desirable. According to Baxter and Jack (2008), exploring sub-units situated within a larger case enables a more complete understanding of the case and allows for analysis of separate sub-units (within case analysis), comparisons between sub- units (between case analysis) and across sub-units (cross-case analysis). In this study such an approach was utilised in two ways. First, it was necessary to thoroughly explore positions of different departments and functional units within the City. These different departments acted as sub-units. Second, several ‘sustainable energy’ projects, policies and programmes that the City is pursuing were explored in greater detail. These included the ECAP; Small-Scale Embedded Generation project and policy; a programme to pursue large-scale renewable and clean energy supply; programmes to promote city-wide uptake of energy efficiency including the Electricity Savings Campaign, Resource Efficient Development Policy and Mass Solar Water Heater Roll-out Programme; projects related to ripple control and the roll-out of smart meters and the Municipal Energy Efficiency and Demand-side Management Programme. These provided strong sub-units to better illuminate the overall case and allowed for between and cross-case analysis.
Two limitations of case studies identified in theory and the implications of these for this study require reflections. First, the insights from a case may not always be generalisable for theory (Lincoln and Denzin, 1994). In particular, this study sought to examine conditions common to cities in the Global South in relation to energy infrastructure and the insights these could offer transition theories. However, it is arguable that Cape Town is not the best exemplar of a city in the Global South due to its established and well-serviced electricity grid and considerable resources to maintain its electricity infrastructure. Nevertheless, the City provides a strong case for exploring inequality and marginalisation in relation to infrastructure provision (Duminy et al., 2014). The limitations of using the City as a case were thus weighed against the value of gaining a rich and in- depth understanding (Lincoln and Denzin, 1994) of the potential insights that could be highlighted
63 by using Cape Town as case. Further, the moderate constructivist leaning of this case study starts from a position that phenomena are context specific and thus rather than absolute general laws, only aspects of the case can be regarded as an instance of a broader recognisable set of features (Williams, 2002).
Second, the challenges of bounding a case are commonly identified in literature (Crabtree and Miller, 1999). Such challenges are specifically highlighted in relation to transition theories. Genus and Coles (2008) for instance argue that case studies using the MLP seldom specify the conceptual elements of the MLP that are being used and are unclear around bounding of cases. This leaves doubt as to whether the MLP has been properly applied in particular cases. Thus, Genus and Coles (2008) argue that cases using the MLP should properly identify and explain the selection of case studies; collection of case data; and defining the start and end points of a transition case. In response, the importance of bounding the case was acknowledged and considered in research design. First, it was necessary to bound and describe the regime under analysis. This description and bounding of the City’s electricity regime is outlined in Chapter 511. Second, it was necessary to bind the case in terms of time and place (Creswell, 2003) and by context (Miles and Huberman, 1984). Thus, the study focused primarily on the City of Cape Town’s (place) electricity distribution system (regime) during my period of fieldwork between 2012 and 2015 (time). As highlighted by Baxter and Jack (2008), binding a case according to specific issues ensures that it remains within feasible limits. Thus, a further means used to bind the case was a focus on and prioritisation of data collection and analysis related to the specific issues (Stake, 1994) or themes of this study12.