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Energy, transport and water management systems provide crucial services to society. In view of the widely recognized need for a change towards a more sustainable society, these systems are faced with the need for a structural improvement in the way they deliver their societal functions. This is more easily said than done. The technical components (or physical infrastructures) such as power and gas distribution networks, as well as road and rail networks have long lifetimes and are slow to change, contributing to overall system inertia. In addition to this, the large costs, the large number of institutions and actors involved in development, maintenance and improvement of such infrastructures present a barrier to fast and fundamental change. In this special issue we refer to the whole of the technical and the societal components that work together in providing societal services like energy, mobility and water-supply and …