Multi-Level Perspective on Transitions

The Multi-Level Perspective (MLP) is a middle-range framework for analysing how large sociotechnical systems—energy, mobility, food, water—shift from one dominant configuration to another. It locates change in the interplay of three analytic levels: protected niches where radical novelties incubate, the incumbent sociotechnical regime that structures ordinary practice, and a slow-moving exogenous landscape. Transitions occur when landscape pressures destabilise the regime and open windows of opportunity for maturing niche innovations to break through.