◆◆ Reflecting includes fostering a culture of reflexivity and learning within the municipality and the city as a whole. It includes learning-by-doing and doing-by-learning, learning from others, and from one’s own experiments. Each intervention includes monitoring & reflection.
ACTIVATING
ORIENTING
REFLECTING
AGENDA SETTING
Figure 2: The four types of interventions in transition management
The interventions are further elaborated in the next chapter. These types of interventions are operationalized through a number of instruments. For example the systems analysis to explore the state of the city and its dynamics, and transition experiments, projects that take a societal challenge as a starting point to develop alternative practices at a feasible scale. Our main focus is on the transition arena, which includes all four types of interventions: orienting, agenda-setting, activating, and reflecting. The transition arena is a temporary setting that provides an informal and well-structured space to a small group of change agents from diverse backgrounds (businesses, government, research institutes, NGOs, and citizens). The group engages in a series of meetings, jointly elaborates a transition challenge, drafts a long-term vision, and develops transition pathways to realize this vision. The transition arena gathers a group of ambassadors inspired to go beyond current interests and daily routines. Together, they develop a shared transition agenda, which provides a starting point for involving a wider group and instigating new activities, networks and collaborations. Obviously, a transition management approach does not replace the need for other policy interventions. Any application of transition management is complementary to other governance activities. For example, the system analysis can be built on an existing CO2 baseline study, and the transition agenda can inspire policy formulation.
“NOW THE CITY LOOKS TOTALLY DIFFERENT THAN IT DID 30 YEARS AGO. IN THE ENTIRE TRANSITION PROJECT THIS IS WHAT WE USE TO DEMONSTRATE THAT GHENT HAS BEEN THROUGH VARIOUS TRANSITIONS BUT IT NEEDS A NEW TRANSITION, WHICH WE ARE TRYING TO SPEED UP. WHETHER YOU ARE BIG OR SMALL, EVERYONE NEEDS TO FEEL PART OF THE LARGER WHOLE AND THAT THE LARGER WHOLE IS PROGRESSING.” City officer, Ghent
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