In this chapter, we demonstrate the suitability of Participatory Geographic Information Systems (PGIS) as a long-standing critical-spatial method to capture, manage, and display these different socio-spatial beliefs, enabling us to disentangle these overlapping interests and to reveal where, how, and why issues of contestation arise between stakeholders operating across, and between, different scales.
In this chapter, we reflect upon our experiences of utilising critical-spatial approaches and PGIS across two interrelated research projects in Sweden, offering important considerations and advice for employing such an approach in the future. We conclude by suggesting that critical-spatial approaches combined with PGIS have the potential to ensure democratic legitimacy within energy transitions by drawing out diverse forms of socio-spatial knowledge from relevant stakeholder groups.
