Performing economic imaginaries of regional transformation: an ethnography of stakeholder events on structural change in Lusatia

This paper examines how the idea of a green knowledge-based economy shapes economic transformation in Lusatia, Germany, following the country’s planned coal phase-out by 2038. Framed as technological and green innovation-driven renewal, this “structural change” imaginary is deeply rooted in the region’s cultural political economy. Drawing on ethnographic research at stakeholder events and desk research, we show how the imaginary is staged, rehearsed and consolidated. The imaginary enables the formation of a hegemony project, and silences alternatives while downplaying political-economic power dynamics. The paper reveals the ideation-structuration process through which the imaginary drives regional development towards a particular envisioned future.