Writeups from Transition Cities Conference 2008

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Just 10 days after the conference, Nottingham City Council passed the first UK Peak Oil motion. Coincidence...? Mebbe.

Introduction

The conference took place in Nottingham, UK in November 2008, and you can view the conference page for details about it.

Below you'll find the most important element of the conference - the output.

The session write-ups and videos below show the wide range of discussions and scintillating creativity of the attendees of the Transition Network Cities conference held in November 2008 in Nottingham.

The write ups are split between Videos, Workshops and Open Space meetings.

There's one piece of the jigsaw that we've yet to co-produce, and that's the Transition Cities Blueprint. This is a significant piece of work and will draw from the insights and ideas from the conference and from wider work currently taking place. Keep an eye out for its first iteration early next year (2009).

It's worth pointing out that the writeups below don't necessarily represent the official opinions of Transition Network, although looking at some of the "unelectable policies", we'd be very happy to see a maximum wage and zero GHG by 2030 codified in law.

Some of the writeups below have a contact email address, so if you want to find out more, please feel free to get in touch with that person.

Video

There are now three versions of a brilliant 8 minute snapshot of the conference:

Kudos and thanks to Sally and Ed Collard for this - they've done a great job of capturing the flavour.

This film is for free use by transition groups. If other organisations want it for commercial use, please contact transition network to discuss.

Workshops

  1. Energy Descent Plans... The story so far
    • Presenters:
      • Rob Hopkins (Transition Town Totnes)
      • Peter Green (Transition Nottingham)
      • Lucy Neal (Transition Tooting)
    • writeup (word doc)
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  2. Diversity
    • Presenter: Shilpa Shah. (one Open Space group's notes from this session still to come...)
    • writeup (word doc)
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  3. Cities of Sanctuary
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  4. Nourishing our Cities
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  5. Sustainable Communities Act - proposals we could put forward in support of transition
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Open Space sessions

It's worth noting that the write ups of these sessions can vary from the intensely detailed to just a few high level bullet points. The latter doesn't imply that the content was any less meaty, but it's certainly less likely to convey the learnings from that session, and that can be frustrating for those that weren't there.

For 2009 main conference (scheduled for late April), we'll be far more savvy on web technology so that transitioners from elsewhere can listen and participate in the open spaces. Because there's nothing like "being there" even if you're not actually "there".

  1. Can "place-based change" create institutional level "structural change"?
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  2. Unelectable policies that will need to be in place in order for an orderly transition to resilience and low carbon
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  3. How do we find our transition playmates?
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  4. What is "local" in a city context?
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  5. Does the Transition Model work for cities?
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  6. How can we make sure that Transition Cities are Healthy Cities?
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  7. Developing Jobs for City Resilience & Sustainability
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  8. Reskilling for Transition
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  9. Conflict and Creativity
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  10. Cities as sustainable growing areas
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  11. How do we take advantage of the Credit Crunch?
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  12. The Link between City and Neighbourhood Initiatives
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  13. Twinning/Sibling with 3rd World Cities Impacted by Climate Change
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  14. Encouraging Commitment for the Long Haul of Transition
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  15. 7 More "Buts" and how to counter them
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  16. Funding Transition Cities
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  17. Steady State Economics in Transition Cities
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  18. Taking Direct Action in our transitioning cities
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  19. Creating Support For Ourselves
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  20. How would a global perspective enhance transition?
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  21. Universities In Transition
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  22. How best can we support SubGroups?
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  23. Unleashings - ideas, tips and tricks
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  24. How do we help create a sense of community where there isn't one?
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  25. Using National web-based resources (eg Landshares)
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  26. How can cities grow enough food?
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  27. Defining local in a large metropolis
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  28. How groups can constitute themselves
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  29. Role of post-imperial cities
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  30. Post peak oil transport in Cities
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  31. How to use energy and ideas of transition towns to inform national and local policy on climate change and social justice
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  32. How can we ensure that Transition is truly INCLUSIVE?
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  33. Do we need Entrepreneurs and Enterprise as part of Transition?

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Coincidence?? Nottingham City Council unanimously passes Peak Oil motion after Transition Cities conference!!

It might just be a coincidence, but a mere 10 after the Transition Cities Conference took place in Nottingham, the City Council there unanimously passed the following motion today....

This Council acknowledges the forthcoming impact of peak oil. The Council therefore needs to respond, and help the citizens it serves respond, to the likelihood of shrinking oil supply but in a way which will nevertheless maintains the City’s prosperity. It acknowledges that actions taken to adapt to and mitigate against climate change also help us adapt issues around peak oil.
It will do this by:
  • developing an understanding of the impact of peak oil on the local economy and the local community
  • encouraging a move across the city towards sustainable transport, cycling and walking throughout the city
  • pursuing a rigorous energy efficiency and conservation programme through its carbon management plan, the work towards EMAS accreditation and on leading on raising energy awareness across all sectors to reduce dependency on oil based energy in the city
  • supporting research and production within the city which helps develop local effective alternative energy supplies and energy saving products in order to encourage a move away from oil based fuels and also in order to create local ‘green collar jobs’
  • co-ordinating policy and action on reducing our city’s carbon dependency and in response to the need to mitigate and adapt to climate change and peak oil.
In this way Nottingham City Council will not only be helping the city to rise to the challenge of peak oil but also encourage the city to grasp the opportunities which peak oil offers.

Some may recall that it was Nottingham who signed the first City level climate change "declaration", (henceforth dubbed the "Nottingham Declaration"). Looks like they're pioneering again...

FYI, the unanimous motion received cross party support and it's worth saying that Transition Towns were mentioned as having an important role to play!