Wednesday, April 07, 2010
Current Research Plans! Comments Welcome
Here is a current snapshot of my research ideas =) Comments are welcome!
Transition Towns (TT) have been identified as a key player in Strengthening the Movement for the 2010 Summit on a People-Centered Economy. TT seek to put forwards solutions for community adaptation to climate change and peak oil, and as such embody a practical response to the following question that emerged as a priority for SE research for our times: “what explicit strategies are being used for the social/solidarity economy to play a role in sustainable development and the “green” or conservation economy in the face of climate change and how can this be strengthened?” (Downing, 2009). While it is clear that the interface between the sustainability and social economy (SE) movements is linked in theory, with the literature on de-growth, re-localization and ecological economics, and in practice through the work of the Canadian Centre for Community Renewal (CCCR), there has been very little applied research on the topic in Canada (McPherson and Fontan, pers. comm., 30/03/10; Tremblay, pers.comm., 16/02/10). Transition Towns are creating a groundswell momentum for applied sustainability in Canada, and now is a real opportunity to research resilience indicators as put forwards by TT (Colussi, pers.comm., 01/04/10) and to share those with other non-profit organizations seeking to increase resilience. This study will provide insight towards other needed research outputs such as a scan of community responses to climate change and peak oil in Canada with a comparative rural/urban and TT/non-TT lens (Côté, pers.comm., 09/03/10), in order to help the Canadian non-profit community understand how TT build systems of communications, social learning and advocacy that best stimulate success and policy insight (Downing, pers.comm., 15/02/10). As a result, the research question addressed is: how does the TT movement in Canada mainstream and evaluate resilience into its community visioning and planning activities, and what are the implications for SE organizations?
This study abides by principles of action research with the researcher taking an active role in the beginning process to establish an Energy Action Descent Plan (EADP), as discussed in preliminary community research design conversations. It adopts an original triangulated mixed methods basket. Data collection will happen over the May-December 2010 time period, and will consist of in-depth case studies of Transition Guelph and Eden Mills Going Carbon Neutral, which will include participant observation, a series of community meetings for visioning and backcasting following the TT model, and a digital storytelling workshop on resilience. This will be supplemented by a questionnaire on best practices and indicators circulated to TT groups in Canada. This will be based on a literature review of sustainability planning.
It is expected that this research, of whose results will be shared widely and which has small/rural as well as Canadian national implications, will provide a backbone sample of resilience indicators for increased sustainability. The action research methodology will act as a catalyst for the establishment of the first Canadian EADP, while allowing for reflection on the processes for setting resilience indicators, and for important evaluation questions to emerge. The digital stories will constitute a creative asset for Canadian communities to foster dialog on resilience.
Transition Towns (TT) have been identified as a key player in Strengthening the Movement for the 2010 Summit on a People-Centered Economy. TT seek to put forwards solutions for community adaptation to climate change and peak oil, and as such embody a practical response to the following question that emerged as a priority for SE research for our times: “what explicit strategies are being used for the social/solidarity economy to play a role in sustainable development and the “green” or conservation economy in the face of climate change and how can this be strengthened?” (Downing, 2009). While it is clear that the interface between the sustainability and social economy (SE) movements is linked in theory, with the literature on de-growth, re-localization and ecological economics, and in practice through the work of the Canadian Centre for Community Renewal (CCCR), there has been very little applied research on the topic in Canada (McPherson and Fontan, pers. comm., 30/03/10; Tremblay, pers.comm., 16/02/10). Transition Towns are creating a groundswell momentum for applied sustainability in Canada, and now is a real opportunity to research resilience indicators as put forwards by TT (Colussi, pers.comm., 01/04/10) and to share those with other non-profit organizations seeking to increase resilience. This study will provide insight towards other needed research outputs such as a scan of community responses to climate change and peak oil in Canada with a comparative rural/urban and TT/non-TT lens (Côté, pers.comm., 09/03/10), in order to help the Canadian non-profit community understand how TT build systems of communications, social learning and advocacy that best stimulate success and policy insight (Downing, pers.comm., 15/02/10). As a result, the research question addressed is: how does the TT movement in Canada mainstream and evaluate resilience into its community visioning and planning activities, and what are the implications for SE organizations?
This study abides by principles of action research with the researcher taking an active role in the beginning process to establish an Energy Action Descent Plan (EADP), as discussed in preliminary community research design conversations. It adopts an original triangulated mixed methods basket. Data collection will happen over the May-December 2010 time period, and will consist of in-depth case studies of Transition Guelph and Eden Mills Going Carbon Neutral, which will include participant observation, a series of community meetings for visioning and backcasting following the TT model, and a digital storytelling workshop on resilience. This will be supplemented by a questionnaire on best practices and indicators circulated to TT groups in Canada. This will be based on a literature review of sustainability planning.
It is expected that this research, of whose results will be shared widely and which has small/rural as well as Canadian national implications, will provide a backbone sample of resilience indicators for increased sustainability. The action research methodology will act as a catalyst for the establishment of the first Canadian EADP, while allowing for reflection on the processes for setting resilience indicators, and for important evaluation questions to emerge. The digital stories will constitute a creative asset for Canadian communities to foster dialog on resilience.
