A Research Agenda for Smart, Sustainable Uplands: Socio-Digital Innovations for the Uplands Twin Transition

Digitalisation and sustainable development are key trends in the uplands: the world’s higher-altitude regions of hills, plateaus and mountains. The two trends have been rather disconnected to date but there is an increasing logic for recognising their intersection in pursuit of the creation of smart, sustainable uplands. Some argue that incremental change will be insufficient to address the anthropogenic challenges faced by the uplands. From this emerges the concept of a more-fundamental “uplands twin transition” that integrates digital transformation with a sustainability transition. This paper reviews some of the arguments for, and features of, an uplands twin transition, and lays out a future research agenda on this new concept.