Provisioning Systems

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Description

Living Well Within Limits:

“Provisioning systems” is the broad term used to describe the chain linking the production, distribution and consumption of the goods and services through which human needs are met. Provisioning systems form the link between social resource use and social outcomes. The study of social provisioning systems, known under the term “systems of provision” has been formalised Fine & Leopold. A key consideration is that social aspects of provisioning systems influence physical aspects, and vice-versa. For instance, electricity is often dominated by monopolistic or oligopolistic generation organisation and centralised technologies: heavy regulation aims to check their power, but also protects the status quo by shielding it from competition by fundamentally different providers (local micro-generation, for instance). Similar mechanisms can be seen for personal transportation and the role of the automobile industry. Therefore it is vital to consider both social and physical aspects of provisioning systems, since their interdependencies may constitute significant opportunities or constraints. By elaborating the systems of provision approach, embedded within the wider unifying notion of social provisioning, analysis will go beyond exchange to “the study of the on-going economic process that provides the flow of goods and services required by society to meet the needs of those who participate in its activities” (Gruchy 1987)." (https://lili.leeds.ac.uk/)


Discussion

Living Well Within Limits on Studying decoupling:

"Studying alternative provisioning systems, in both their physical and social aspects, is necessary to understand how well-being may be decoupled from resource use. Depending on social and physical supply chains and efficiencies, more or less energy may be required to reach high levels of well-being. Interestingly, some of the most important decoupling opportunities are likely to be found at the community level: economies of scale through provision of efficient networks of energy service delivery or collective demand-side measures. Examples of socio-technical provisioning systems between energy and well-being could be the existence of collective systems (local supply networks, public transit …), in contrast with highly individualised systems, where each household has to use its own forms of energy to procure goods and services. Such collective systems may also provide more resilience to shocks in energy supply or prices than highly efficient, but individualised, technologies." (https://lili.leeds.ac.uk/)