Transitioning : towards a life sustaining society?

In this paper I investigate an initiative that promotes systemic change: the Transition Model, which emerged from Totnes Transition Town in the UK in 2006. This model is premised on the need for communities to build resilience in the face of climate change and peak oil. It provides a framework that is based on strengthening and developing all aspects of a community. Since its inception in 2006, the Transition model has spread rapidly across the UK, New Zealand, the USA and Australia and many more residential communities across the globe are continually registering interest. The Great Turning, a conceptual descriptor for this time, is proposed as an appropriate framework for the Transition model. This model, and the insights of participants in a local Transition initiative, is considered using a complexity approach. It is suggested that only through engaging with complexity will we be able to fully meet the challenges of these times.