Double unseeing or glimpses of recognition? Expert and community visions for hydrogen megaprojects

Thomas, Gareth H. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4959-2337 and Henwood, Karen ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4631-5468 2026. Double unseeing or glimpses of recognition? Expert and community visions for hydrogen megaprojects. Geo: Geography and Environment 13 (2) , e70101. 10.1002/geo2.70101

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Abstract

Hydrogen megaprojects are increasingly central to national and regional decarbonisation strategies, yet the expert-led imaginaries driving them often overlook the lived meanings and relations of the communities in which they are embedded. This paper examines how hydrogen futures are envisioned at the Port of Milford Haven (PMH) in west Wales, a focal point for United Kingdom and Welsh hydrogen ambitions. Drawing on Buck's (2022) concept of ‘double unseeing’, we use an interpretive, mixed-method design combining documentary analysis, digital ethnography and deliberative workshops to explore how experts and residents construct distinct but interdependent visions of place, risk and transition. Expert narratives emphasise industrial regeneration and geophysical interdependence, whereas community participants foreground ecological and social care rooted in coastal identity. Across these differences, we identify glimpses of recognition—partial alignments that reveal opportunities for more responsive and co-creative forms of governance. We argue that recognising such moments requires moving beyond distributive framings of just transition towards a relational ethics of shared reliance, attentive to the social and emotional infrastructures that sustain both industrial and community futures.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Schools > Social Sciences (Includes Criminology and Education) Schools > School of Social and Spatial Sciences
Publisher:	Wiley
ISSN:	2054-4049
Funders:	EPSRC
Projects:	EP/X038823/2
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	3 August 2026
Date of Acceptance:	6 July 2026
Last Modified:	30 Sep 2026 10:00
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/188673

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