This introduction presents the fields of peripheries, conflicts and transformations as core topics of critical energy geographies. These fields point to different ways how the provision of energy is interwoven with social inequalities and uneven spatial development. Tackling the relations between energy technology and social power, the contributions to this Theme Issue highlight how power and resistance unfold in different spatial contexts and are linked to various notions of justice.

Empirical research on pet cemeteries demonstrates that ambivalent attributions to pets as social partners, material objects, and abject cadavers shape the place and related practices. Situated within the frameworks of more-than-human geographies and animal geographies, the article argues (1) that analysing the multidimensional status of dead animals provides a productive lens for understanding human-animal relations and illustrates (2) how loss processing can be read in a more-than-human way.

This article contributes to studies on and interventions in the quality of old persons' everyday environments. First, it draws on work in geography and psychology to develop an innovative theoretical and methodological framework for interventions aiming to improve the quality of this environment. Second, it shows, step by step, how this framework was used in the context of a project in Switzerland targeting the prevention of old people's social isolation.

The loss was commonplace in Aleppo during the recent war. This paper explores how various groups at the front lines in East Aleppo sought to preserve heritage to reconstruct it after the war. I argue that these individuals were exposed to existential fear. Their efforts to localize grief and loss imagined the UNESCO World Heritage Site of the old city of Aleppo as an eternal object that preceded their human life span. In exile, their attitudes diverted toward this legacy.

Using memes, maps, and audio collages, we discuss the politics of giving and its impact on urban development in the city of Heilbronn. Focusing on the activities of one powerful philanthropist, the perspectives of local residents reveal ambivalent interpretations of recent urban developments. While acknowledging the new opportunities and dynamics offered by philanthropy, they also raise concerns about its effects on local democratic decision-making processes and unequal urban power relations.