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.... [Show full abstract]
Keywords
community; transition; local initiatives; action research; engineering; projectsFields of Research
170113 Social and Community Psychology; 160810 Urban Sociology and Community Studies; 0502 Environmental Science and Management; 0907 Environmental Engineering; 160802 Environmental Sociology; 160807 Sociological Methodology and Research MethodsDate
2012Type
Journal ArticleCollections
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