A complex adaptive system perspective of the green-restructuring of clusters

Given the adverse efects of climate change (such as drought and fooding, damage to ecosystems and infrastructure, depletion of resources, deterioration of human health), society needs to transition to using sustainable systems of production and consumption. Regions and countries increasingly view the creation of green-clusters that can nurture green-innovation and spur new green-industries, as a solution to this challenge. In fact, the formation of green-clusters, and the greening of existing industrial clusters has been identifed as an important tool to achieving the GHG-reduction goals of the European Green Deal. However, Green-clusters need not be intrinsically sustainable. Especially when green-clusters are derived from existing clusters, they will inherit unsustainable processes. This means before these clusters can help regions and nations transition, they must themselves transition to greener products and production techniques. The green-restructuring of clusters has become a key area of interest to Evolutionary Economic Geography; and to the emerging feld of Geography of Transitions, which bridges Evolutionary Economic Geography and Sustainability-Transition Studies. However, owing to extant cluster-evolution frameworks' and cluster-evolution studies' inability to settle still ongoing discussions regarding the development of clusters, scholarship risks falling behind policymakers. This thesis contributes to the resolution of some of these discussions. Most importantly, we address the debate regarding the dynamics behind the process of clusters' green-restructuring. We then address debates regarding the role of place-based structures in shaping cluster-evolution, the role of agency in shaping cluster-evolution, the role of proximitydimensions in shaping the greening of clusters, and the multiscalar nature of cluster-evolution.