Shove and Walker (2010:474) specifically propose replacing the MLP with social practice theory,
which emphasises “the horizontal circulation of elements and argues for a flatter model characterized
by multiple relations (rather than hierarchical levels) of reproduction across different scales”. Social
practices in daily life are seen as the outcome of actors who combine and reproduce different elements
(technology, meaning, skills), which themselves circulate between practices. Their practice approach
“underlines the extent to which systems of practice are subject to continual, ongoing reproduction.
This is again in contrast to the more hierarchical aspect of the multi-level perspective” (p. 472). To
explain transitions, practice theory distinguishes between: (a) more “enduring and relatively stable
practices” (p. 475), which are routinely reproduced and characterized by predictable trajectories, and
(b) new practices, which are more fluid and unstable. Transitions can be studied by analysing how
new practices come into being, how they stabilize, and how established practices disappear.