Urban energy transition: a critical reading of SDGs 7 and 11 from an urban political ecology perspective
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This article critically analyses the urban energy transition (UET) in relation to SDGs 7 and 11, with particular attention to Latin American cities and the Global South. It argues that the territorialisation of these agendas, when shaped by technocratic and technocentric approaches, can reproduce socio-spatial inequalities, energy exclusion and territorial conflicts. Methodologically, it adopts a qualitative, critical-theoretical and documentary approach based on a review of specialised literature on energy transitions, urban sustainability and urban political ecology (UPE), complemented by a relational analysis of the global discourses of the 2030 Agenda and the territorial conditions of their implementation. The analysis shows that the UET is not merely a process of technological substitution, but a socio-technical and political transformation shaped by power relations, institutional capacities and structural inequalities. It concludes that technological innovation and decarbonisation require territorially grounded, socially inclusive approaches oriented towards energy justice if the transition is to avoid reproducing the inequalities it seeks to address.
Received: 6 February 2026. Accepted: 1 June 2026.
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