Abstract
Initiatives pursuing sustainability transitions of small-scale communities offer rich learning opportunities on: to what extent they are making progress toward sustainability; what success depends on; and how success can be replicated in other communities. Yet, there is little empirical research addressing these questions. This article presents a cross-case analysis of sustainability transition initiatives in four small U.K. communities that tentatively identifies factors influencing transition outcomes as well as strategies to improve transition effectiveness. Our findings suggest a wide range of factors to be important including socio-demographics, community governance, community capacity, organization and management, resources, and mobilization. The article demonstrates how empirical studies of this nature can successively build a broad knowledge base to support effective community transition practices.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 22-40 |
Number of pages | 19 |
Journal | Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions |
Volume | 17 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Dec 1 2015 |
Keywords
- Case studies
- Community based initiatives
- Success factors
- Sustainability appraisal
- Sustainability transitions
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment
- Environmental Science (miscellaneous)
- Social Sciences (miscellaneous)