Chapter 1. Introduction -- Chapter 2. Eco-welfare in the field of social sciences -- Chapter 3. Eco-welfare and energy: navigating an emerging interplay -- Chapter 4. Eco-welfare, populations, and vulnerabilities -- Chapter 5. Eco-welfare tools: Renewable Energy Communities -- Chapter 6. Concluding remarks.

This book provides a comprehensive overview of the emerging interplay that runs between energy – seen as a basic need and a providential material service from the viewpoint of welfare studies – and eco-welfare, seen as an emerging analytical and policy paradigm that hold together the social crisis on the one hand, and the ecological crisis, on the other hand. At a time of energy transition, the interplay between the theoretical framework of eco-welfare and the topic of energy supply is little explored, and therefore, this book fills a need in the literature by providing a comprehensive framework to navigate this emerging relationship. Such a framework is strengthened by insights on energy poverty and renewable energy communities, identified as cornerstones of the analysis between energy transition and eco-welfare. Lorenzo De Vidovich is a sociologist with a PhD in urban planning and research fellow at the University of Trieste, where he teaches sociology of territory and energy transition. His main field of interest is the territorial dimensions of welfare policies, addressed through the themes of energy transition, energy poverty, the governance of welfare services in suburbs and peripheries, and the socio-spatial implications of the COVID-19 pandemic in suburban areas. He was project manager for the applied research Community Energy Map of RSE (Ricerca Sistema Energetico) and Luiss Business School, and he is currently working as project manager on energy poverty for C40 Cities, Climate Leadership Inc. and the Municipality of Milan.