Abstract:

To achieve successful sustainability transition, "justice" must be considered as its core guiding principle and intrinsic social foundation. This process has profound geographic attributes that must take into account spatial, scale, and relational dimensions to avoid reproducing or exacerbating existing inequalities. Grounded at the intersection of social-technical transition theory and the concept of just transition, this article systematically discusses the following: Low-carbon transition as a profound transformation of social-technical systems, its complexity necessitates the inclusion of justice as a core consideration, as mainstream "technology-efficiency" pathways often neglect the social dimension, leading to unfair distribution and resistance. Therefore, justice is the moral prerequisite and social foundation for the smooth progress of transition. The concept of "justice" is rooted in various justice movements and has evolved into a comprehensive framework encompassing recognition, procedure, distribution, and corrective justice, requiring the recognition of the rights of vulnerable groups, ensuring their participation in decision-making, fair sharing of benefits, and compensation for losses. Additionally, the article critically reflects on the theoretical shortcomings that may arise from the dominance of the "Global North" in current concepts, inability to reflect the demands of the "Global South," as well as practical issues such as the disconnect between theory and policy, over-reliance on technology, and binary opposition in governance pathways. Importantly, the article emphasizes that just transition inherently involves numerous geographic issues, with geographical perspectives on space, scale, and relationships revealing geographic imbalances in the consequences of transition, tensions in multi-scale interactions, and spatial manifestations of power struggles. Therefore, spatial justice, scale politics, and cross-border responsibilities must be central considerations. Finally, the article calls for a comprehensive, multidimensional, and interdisciplinary approach to advance research and practice, highlighting the irreplaceable role of geography in identifying unjust patterns, analyzing formation mechanisms, and designing context-specific pathways.

Key words: just transition, sustainability transition, geographic perspective

摘要：

若要实现成功的可持续转型，须将“公正”作为其核心指导原则和内在社会基石。这一过程具有深刻的地理属性，须充分考虑空间、尺度和关系维度，以避免再现或加剧现有不平等现象。本文立足于社会-技术转型理论与公正转型理念的交汇视角，系统论述以下内容：低碳转型是社会-技术系统的一场深刻变革，其复杂性要求必须将公正纳入核心考量范畴。主流的“技术-效率”路径常忽视社会维度，进而导致转型中的分配不公和转型阻力，因此公正是转型顺利推进的道德前提和社会基础；“公正”内涵根植于多项正义运动，在长期发展中已演进为包含承认、程序、分配与矫正正义的综合框架，要求承认脆弱群体的合法权利、确保其有效参与决策、公平分享收益并补偿损失；同时，通过批判性反思指出，当前由“全球北方”主导的概念可能无法体现“全球南方”诉求的理论缺陷，以及实践中存在理论与政策脱节、过度依赖技术、治理路径二元对立等问题；尤为重要的是，本文强调公正转型内在地涉及诸多地理问题；地理学的空间、尺度和关系视角分别揭示了转型后果的地理不均衡性、多尺度互动的张力以及权力博弈的空间体现，因此必须将空间正义、尺度政治和跨地域责任纳入核心考量；最后，本文呼吁采用全面、多维且跨学科的方法推进研究与实践，并特别强调地理学在识别不公正格局、分析形成机制及设计因地制宜路径方面不可替代的作用。

关键词: 公正转型, 可持续转型, 地理学视角