supply chain interruptions when transport or credit in one part of the chain is
hampered. Meanwhile, sustainable communities, according to Hopkins, do not
subscribe to a culture of consumerism but seek to link “satisfaction and happiness to
other less tangible things like community, meaningful work, skills and friendship”
(Hopkins 2012: 20–21).
Here we find a direct connection with findings on human well-being and its
origins. It was insightful to see that some workshops of the Transition Town
movement were using Max-Neef’s human need matrix to discuss a diversity of
strategies for a high quality of life beyond ‘having’ things. This also ties back to the
criticism of ecological economists like Paul Ekins and Robert Costanza in Chap. 3,
who state that the social utility gained through the human interactions during
production processes should get much more attention when assessing productivity.
Meanwhile, many resilience researchers also emphasize the importance of trust as a
core ingredient to well-functioning, adaptable communities and individual perceptions of well-being.
The 2012 High Level Panel on Global Sustainability did not get this far in its
report to the UN Secretary-General before Rio+20. Resilient People, Resilient
Planet: A Future Worth Choosing describes the world system as volatile and
uncertain, and suggests that the panel start their recommendations with a call to
“empower people to make sustainable choices” as a response to this. It does not
seek to empower people to build their own communities though, but rather focuses
on how the social safety nets of governments are set up so they can be resilient in
times of structural change, and how disaster risk reduction and adaptation programs
could be improved (United Nations Secretary-General’s High-level Panel on Global
Sustainability 2012: 46–47).
The Transition movement, on the other hand, makes these self-empowerment
processes the essence of its existence and adapts them to systems or communities of
any size, not just towns. Its mission is summarized as follows: “to inspire,
encourage, connect, support and train communities as they adopt and adapt the
transition model on their journey to urgently rebuild resilience and drastically
reduce CO 2 emissions.” The seven principles for guiding such processes in towns
are set out by Hopkins and Peter Lipman on the Transition Network website
(transitionnetwork.org) and can be summarized as follows:
1. Positive Visioning: Campaigning for rather than against something.
2. Help People Access Good Information and Trust Them to Make Good
Decisions: Raising awareness and hearing many opinions lies at the core of
rational decision-making.
3. Inclusion and Openness: Banning ‘them and us’ thinking and reaching out to all
subsystems in the town, early in the process.
4. Enable Sharing and Networking: Acknowledge everything, including stories of
failure.
5. Build Resilience: With the primacy of environmental resilience, change food,
energy and economic systems in the town and across governance levels.
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4 Mapping an Emerging New Economic Paradigm in Practice
hampered. Meanwhile, sustainable communities, according to Hopkins, do not
subscribe to a culture of consumerism but seek to link “satisfaction and happiness to
other less tangible things like community, meaningful work, skills and friendship”
(Hopkins 2012: 20–21).
Here we find a direct connection with findings on human well-being and its
origins. It was insightful to see that some workshops of the Transition Town
movement were using Max-Neef’s human need matrix to discuss a diversity of
strategies for a high quality of life beyond ‘having’ things. This also ties back to the
criticism of ecological economists like Paul Ekins and Robert Costanza in Chap. 3,
who state that the social utility gained through the human interactions during
production processes should get much more attention when assessing productivity.
Meanwhile, many resilience researchers also emphasize the importance of trust as a
core ingredient to well-functioning, adaptable communities and individual perceptions of well-being.
The 2012 High Level Panel on Global Sustainability did not get this far in its
report to the UN Secretary-General before Rio+20. Resilient People, Resilient
Planet: A Future Worth Choosing describes the world system as volatile and
uncertain, and suggests that the panel start their recommendations with a call to
“empower people to make sustainable choices” as a response to this. It does not
seek to empower people to build their own communities though, but rather focuses
on how the social safety nets of governments are set up so they can be resilient in
times of structural change, and how disaster risk reduction and adaptation programs
could be improved (United Nations Secretary-General’s High-level Panel on Global
Sustainability 2012: 46–47).
The Transition movement, on the other hand, makes these self-empowerment
processes the essence of its existence and adapts them to systems or communities of
any size, not just towns. Its mission is summarized as follows: “to inspire,
encourage, connect, support and train communities as they adopt and adapt the
transition model on their journey to urgently rebuild resilience and drastically
reduce CO 2 emissions.” The seven principles for guiding such processes in towns
are set out by Hopkins and Peter Lipman on the Transition Network website
(transitionnetwork.org) and can be summarized as follows:
1. Positive Visioning: Campaigning for rather than against something.
2. Help People Access Good Information and Trust Them to Make Good
Decisions: Raising awareness and hearing many opinions lies at the core of
rational decision-making.
3. Inclusion and Openness: Banning ‘them and us’ thinking and reaching out to all
subsystems in the town, early in the process.
4. Enable Sharing and Networking: Acknowledge everything, including stories of
failure.
5. Build Resilience: With the primacy of environmental resilience, change food,
energy and economic systems in the town and across governance levels.
128
4 Mapping an Emerging New Economic Paradigm in Practice