Conclusion: The Central Role of Services in the Greening of the Economy

Abstract

In drawing this book to a conclusion, we do not intend to claim that all of the preceding contributions share the same theoretical perspective, definition of service industry activity or are approaching their various topics regarding greening the economy with equivalent research questions. It should also be obvious to the reader in reaching the end of this collection that the various authors have deployed a range of different theoretical and methodological approaches in order to address their respective topics. Imposing some kind of post hoc rationale or unifying order by way of a concluding intervention would thus be both inappropriate and unconvincing, but more importantly we would argue it is undesirable and unnecessary. As we set out in the introductory chapter, this book has sought to make the case of service-based economic geographical perspective on the greening of the economy, and despite various differences as well as different disciplinary backgrounds, we would argue that the contributions in this book all in different ways reinforce the significant value of this approach. Not least, this volume has demonstrated a full range of roles services play in moving our economies in a greener direction. In this short final chapter, we want to outline a range of common insights that emerge from the different chapters and that cut across the different objects of study and case studies explored throughout the book. Having done this, we then return to draw out what implications these common insights have for our arguments for an economic geographical service-based perspective that many of the contributions in this book align with. The book then ends with a number of arguments about how this research agenda might be developed in the future and what value that might bring to the wider debates about the transition to a greener economy.