Renewable energy communities: paths to energy democracy for innovation in local welfare

Climate change and ecological transition constitute an inseparable conceptual and political pair, whose relevance has grown exponentially in response to the urgent need to reorganize energy production and consumption systems in a sustainable and resilient way. Within this framework, the energy transition cannot be interpreted only as a technical or infrastructural process, but rather as a deeply social phenomenon, capable of reshaping territorial arrangements, power relations, and forms of collective participation. From this perspective, this research examines the role of energy communities as territorial devices of the ecological transition, with the aim of identifying strategies capable of reducing the risk of energy poverty and strengthening the adaptive capacity of social and local systems in the face of climate change. In particular, the Thesis focuses on two case studies located in the Tavoliere delle Puglie area - the solidarity energy community of San Severo and the energy community of Biccari - selected for their different socio-spatial configurations and for the distinct development trajectories they have followed. From a methodological standpoint, the research adopts a qualitative and process-oriented approach, inspired by the tradition of the Chicago School of urban ecology and by approaches on social innovation. The research design integrates field observation, in-depth interviews, document analysis, and visual methods, enabling a situated and relational reading of energy practices. In this way, the Thesis contributes to the construction of a sociological theory of the ecological transition that is attentive to the spatial, territorial, and community dimensions of change. At the end of the analysis, the research highlights how energy communities are configured not only as instruments for the production and sharing of energy, but also as spaces of social experimentation in which welfare, everyday life practices, future imaginaries, and forms of territorial reappropriation intersect. Building on this empirical evidence and on the analysis of the reference socio-technical system, the Thesis advances an ambitious theoretical interpretation of the transition through the category of frontier space, understood as a sociological device capable of capturing the frictions, discontinuities, and transformative possibilities generated by decarbonization processes in local territorial contexts.