Community engagement in the Transition movement: views and practices in Portuguese initiatives

Maria Fernandes-Jesus,Anabela Carvalho,Lúcia Fernandes,Sofia Bento

doi:10.1080/13549839.2017.1379477

Maria Fernandes-Jesus, Anabela Carvalho + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1080/13549839.2017.1379477

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Abstract

ABSTRACTAs the need to address climate change is ever more urgent, many have emphasised the importance of community-level responses. The Transition movement has advanced community-based action to increase resilience for over a decade and has expanded significantly. Thus, it is a critical setting for examining community engagement towards climate change in practice. Our study is based on 39 interviews with facilitators of Transition initiatives in Portugal, coupled with observational data, and is guided by two main research questions: how do Transition initiatives promote community engagement at the local level? What are the factors constraining or facilitating community engagement within Portuguese Transition initiatives? We identify several aspects of Transition’s constructions of community resilience and engagement that indicate ambivalence towards, or avoidance of, certain issues. They relate do agency, structure, power and inclusion, as well as to the modes of engagement and the communication practices of Transition initiatives. We argue that strategies for community engagement should be specific to social contexts rather than internationally uniform and be based on participatory approaches. Drawing on an extensive empirical analysis, the article contributes to theory building on the Transition movement beyond the Anglo-Saxon context and to the wider field of community-based environment initiatives.

Highlights

Collective action strategies at the community level have been proposed as one of the most appropriate scalar responses to global climate change (Aiken 2014, Hopkins 2008, 2013, North and Longhurst 2013) and there is a growing interest in the many ways communities are organising themselves to mitigate, resist and adapt locally (Aiken 2015, Christens and Collura 2012)
They relate to agency, structure, power and inclusion, the modes of engagement and the communication practices of Transition initiatives.We argue that strategies for community engagement should be specific to social contexts rather than internationally uniform and be based on participatory approaches
It is based on 39 interviews and observational notes from 14 Transition initiatives in Portugal, which allow us to offer a broad overview about how the Transition movement is embedding in the national context

Summary

Introduction

Collective action strategies at the community level have been proposed as one of the most appropriate scalar responses to global climate change (Aiken 2014, Hopkins 2008, 2013, North and Longhurst 2013) and there is a growing interest in the many ways communities are organising themselves to mitigate, resist and adapt locally (Aiken 2015, Christens and Collura 2012). Our study is based on 39 interviews with facilitators of Transition initiatives in Portugal, coupled with observational data and is guided by two main research questions: How do Transition initiatives promote community engagement at the local level?

Results

Conclusion