Design and implementation of a community based sustainable development action research method

Abstract

Local community groups have been forming around taking action on the issues of Peak Oil and Climate Change. People perceive a risk to their security and are alarmed by the lack of action at the government level. Sustainability of local communities, their infrastructure and social assets is a field that should gain as much attention from the engineering professions as green technology. This paper reports the development of the Transition-Scape methodology and implementation in a weekend workshop in a rural town in New Zealand. The methodology was designed from first principles of action research and group psychology. The objective of the workshop was to transition the community from a point of fear and concern to a state of action by initiating community-generated projects that mitigate the risk of external un-sustainability. The workshop was a success, with numerous projects resulting from the one weekend. We recommend that Transition Engineering practitioners could deliver this workshop at a reasonable cost to communities around the world.