Caution! Transitions Ahead: Politics, Practice, and Sustainable Transition Management

Abstract

The critique of the inanities and injustices of present society, however obvious they may be, is disqualified by a simple reminder that remaking society by design may only make it worse than it was.Alternative ends are invalidated on the strength of the proved ineffectuality of means" (Bauman 1991; 269) Green ( 2006) is not alone in contending that "environmental 'crises' require fundamental changes in the socio-technological structure of the way we live and work".For those concerned with sustainability, the idea of transition -of substantial change and movement from one state to another -has powerful normative attractions.If 'we' can steer change, shape future development and manage movement in desired directions, perhaps 'we' can make the environment a better and more sustainable place in which to live.But how so to do?In a manifestly complex world dominated by hegemonic ideologies of neoliberal capitalism, global finance and commodity flows is it really possible to intervene and deliberately shift technologies, practices and social arrangements -not to mention their systemic interaction and interdependencies -on to an altogether different, altogether more sustainable track?Across the board there is growing recognition of the holistic, unavoidably interrelated nature of contemporary environmental problems and of the need for fresh approaches and forms of governance capable of engaging with complex challenges of this kind.Theories and models of sustainable transition management (STM), derived from a blend of academic traditions in innovation, history and technology, appear to fit this bill and it is no wonder that they are now catching on across a number of policy domains.In the Netherlands, government sponsored programmes have explicitly adopted methods of 'transition management' (Kemp and Loorbach 2006) and in the UK, the policy relevance of similar theories and methods is being explored and actively promoted through projects and events like those supported by the ESRC's Sustainable Technologies Programme.Academically, and in just a few years, there has been rapid growth in the 'transition management' literature and in the appeal of approaches characterised by an alluring combination of agency, complexity, uncertainty and optimism.