networks in the past, for example, and is being rediscovered and explored through
makerspaces and citizen science initiatives today. None of this is a panacea. Other,
more demanding and difficult practical steps need to be explored also. There is
not space to develop them here, but it connects to other chapters in this book
(e.g. see Stirling, Leach and Scoones).
Whatever gets considered, experience suggests that we need to guard against
idealizing or even romanticizing grassroots activism in design, experimentation and
development of innovations. People do not respond automatically to the provision
of a material facilities and training programmes. The spaces need to be in tune
with the contexts in which people live; they have to be designed and cultivated
carefully, through on-going community development processes. People have to
be supported in gaining confidence within these more structured spaces. Nor
will everyone wish to take up this support. Questions of inclusion, exclusion,
participation, and so forth are just as pertinent in these grassroots spaces as they
are in mainstream innovation institutions. Issues abound around expertise, knowing
how and knowing what skills, tacit knowledge and practices that push the
scope and flexibility of both high and low technological options. The point is that
the kinds of networked spaces and grassroots innovation activity flourishing today
allows experimentation and learning in democracy itself and what democratizing
innovation can mean practically.
Conclusions
The questions motivating this chapter were about what kinds of transformations
are envisaged and contested from ‘below’, and how does the politics of grassroots
innovation manifest itself?
Grassroots innovations involve very heterogeneous, dynamic and messy
processes. Frameworks for thinking and action in this area include those of
‘grassroots ingenuity’ and ‘grassroots empowerment’, but they are not the only ones,
and we touched on a structural critique framing towards the end of the chapter,
but there are others too. Within these different framings, grassroots innovation
movements often aim to challenge and transform existing systems that fail to serve
social needs across localities, or to enable ‘greener’ (see Chapter 1) directions of
development neglected by elite agendas. As such, movements for grassroots
innovation are driven by a plurality of visions and purposes, including those emerging
from within the grassroots itself, but also from beyond in the domains of formal
innovation, environment, and development institutions and structures. Our
argument tried to simplify and introduce some analytical clarity by drawing a contrast
between these policy insertion and political mobilization views of grassroots
innovation. Each can emerge from within or beyond the grassroots, as has been
illustrated by examples from diverse national contexts and current attention paid
by international organizations.
What distinguishes these two broad approaches to grassroots innovation is their
relationship to prevailing institutions. Looking to grassroots innovation within
Green transformations from below? 117
makerspaces and citizen science initiatives today. None of this is a panacea. Other,
more demanding and difficult practical steps need to be explored also. There is
not space to develop them here, but it connects to other chapters in this book
(e.g. see Stirling, Leach and Scoones).
Whatever gets considered, experience suggests that we need to guard against
idealizing or even romanticizing grassroots activism in design, experimentation and
development of innovations. People do not respond automatically to the provision
of a material facilities and training programmes. The spaces need to be in tune
with the contexts in which people live; they have to be designed and cultivated
carefully, through on-going community development processes. People have to
be supported in gaining confidence within these more structured spaces. Nor
will everyone wish to take up this support. Questions of inclusion, exclusion,
participation, and so forth are just as pertinent in these grassroots spaces as they
are in mainstream innovation institutions. Issues abound around expertise, knowing
how and knowing what skills, tacit knowledge and practices that push the
scope and flexibility of both high and low technological options. The point is that
the kinds of networked spaces and grassroots innovation activity flourishing today
allows experimentation and learning in democracy itself and what democratizing
innovation can mean practically.
Conclusions
The questions motivating this chapter were about what kinds of transformations
are envisaged and contested from ‘below’, and how does the politics of grassroots
innovation manifest itself?
Grassroots innovations involve very heterogeneous, dynamic and messy
processes. Frameworks for thinking and action in this area include those of
‘grassroots ingenuity’ and ‘grassroots empowerment’, but they are not the only ones,
and we touched on a structural critique framing towards the end of the chapter,
but there are others too. Within these different framings, grassroots innovation
movements often aim to challenge and transform existing systems that fail to serve
social needs across localities, or to enable ‘greener’ (see Chapter 1) directions of
development neglected by elite agendas. As such, movements for grassroots
innovation are driven by a plurality of visions and purposes, including those emerging
from within the grassroots itself, but also from beyond in the domains of formal
innovation, environment, and development institutions and structures. Our
argument tried to simplify and introduce some analytical clarity by drawing a contrast
between these policy insertion and political mobilization views of grassroots
innovation. Each can emerge from within or beyond the grassroots, as has been
illustrated by examples from diverse national contexts and current attention paid
by international organizations.
What distinguishes these two broad approaches to grassroots innovation is their
relationship to prevailing institutions. Looking to grassroots innovation within
Green transformations from below? 117