earth science

Transition town

Transition town is a earth science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Transition town rather than just read about it. In short: The terms transition town, transition initiative and transition model refer to grassroot community projects that aim to increase self-sufficiency to reduce the potential effects of peak oil, climate destruction, and economic instability through renewed localization strategies, especially around food production and energy usage. In 2005, the founding of Transition Town Totnes in the United Kingdom became an inspirati…

Key takeaways

Transition town belongs to earth science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Transition town to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Transition town from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The terms transition town, transition initiative and transition model refer to grassroot community projects that aim to increase self-sufficiency to reduce the potential effects of peak oil, climate destruction, and economic instability through renewed localization strategies, especially around food production and energy usage. In 2005, the founding of Transition Town Totnes in the United Kingdom became an inspiration for other groups to form. The Transition Network charity was founded in early 2007, to support these projects. A number of the groups are officially registered with the Transition Network. Transition initiatives have been started in locations around the world, with many located in the United Kingdom and others in Europe, North America and Australia. While the aims remain the same, Transition initiatives' solutions are specific depending on the characteristics of the local area.

Etymology The term, "transition town" was coined by Louise Rooney and Catherine Dunne. The transition model can be applied to different types of places where people live, such as villages, regions, islands and towns. The generic term is "transition initiative", which includes transition neighborhoods, communities, and cities, although "transition town" is in common usage.

History

From Kinsale to Totnes

In 2004, permaculture designer Rob Hopkins set his students at Kinsale Further Education College the task of applying permaculture principles to the concept of peak oil. The output of this student project was the ‘Kinsale Energy Descent Action Plan'. This looked at across-the-board creative adaptations in the realms of energy production, health, education, economy and agriculture as a "road map" to a sustainable future for the town. Two of his students, Louise Rooney and Catherine Dunne, developed the Transition towns concept. They then presented their ideas to Kinsale Town Council, to which the councilors decided to adopt the plan and work towards energy independence. Hopkins moved to his hometown of Totnes, England, where he and Naresh Giangrande developed these concepts into the transition model. In early 2006, Transition Town Totnes was founded and became the inspiration for the founding of other Transition initiatives.

Transition Network founded

In early 2007, the Transition Network UK charity was co-founded by permaculture educator Rob Hopkins, Peter Lipman and Ben Brangwyn. Totnes based, it was initiated to support the Transition initiatives emerging around the world. It trains and supports people involved with the initiatives as well as disseminating the concepts of transition towns.

2008 to present day In 2008, the number of communities involved in the project had increased with many localities in the process of becoming "official" Transition towns. This was also the year that the Transition Handbook was published. The initiative spread and by May 2010 there were over 400 community initiatives recognized as official Transition towns in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the United States, Italy and Chile. The term transition initiatives became common to reflect the range and type of communities involved – e.g. villages (Kinsale), neighbourhoods of cities (Portobello, Edinburgh), through council districts (Penwith) to cities and city boroughs (Brixton). By September 2013, there were 1130 groups registered (462 Official, 654 Muller) in 43 countries. By May 2024 there were 992 groups registered and 21 hubs. Scholars have situated the Transition Towns movement as a "second wave" (2006–2015) of trans-local municipal climate politics, linking grassroots civil society initiatives with municipal governments, particularly in small and medium-sized "ordinary" cities.

Influences Influences include permaculture concepts as described in Bill Mollison’s Permaculture, a Designers Manual (1988) and David Holmgren’s Permaculture: Principles and Pathways Beyond Sustainability (2003), as well as David Fleming's work on community, culture and resilience.

Organization Each transition group has a high level of autonomy. However, to be called an official initiative certain criteria must be met. Additionally, there is nothing to stop an 'unofficial' initiative using ideas inspired by Transition towns. Further, there are various 'hubs' to coordinate work at a regional level. The hubs and groups are represented on the Transition groups website

Transition Network The Transition Network International (TNI) is a UK charity set up to support Transition initiatives. It has published books and films, trained people and facilitated networking. The TNI's website contains a listing of the initiatives that have registered, some of which are officially recognised. Some of the material has been translated and adapted to other languages/cultures, including Portuguese, Danish, German, Dutch, Spanish, French, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese and Irish. TN has run seven conferences: Nailsworth (2007), Royal Agriculture College, Cirencester (2008), Battersea Arts Centre (2009), Dame Hannah's at Seale Hayne (2010), Hope University, Liverpool (2011), Battersea Arts Centre (2012) and Dame Hannah's at Seale Hayne (2015).

Transition Together (UK) A project called Transition Together exists to support groups within the UK. It received funding from the National Lottery community fund 2021-2025. Transition Together runs a social networking platform called Vive to support activity in the UK

Transition Hubs In June 2026 there were 18 formally recognised hubs around the world operating at a regional or national scale

Guidance for new groups Some projects use the TN's guide the '12 ingredients', or the 'revised ingredients', when setting up their group.

Features The Transition Network's (TN) stated aim is to promote awareness of sustainable living and building local ecological resilience.

Peak oil and local resilience The Transition Handbook: From Oil Dependency to Local Resiliency by Rob Hopkins provides much of the framework behind the Transition Initiative and outlines ways for local Transition Towns to get involved.

Transportation

Communities are encouraged by The Transition Network to seek out methods for reducing energy usage as well as reducing their reliance on long supply chains that are totally dependent on fossil fuels for essential items (see environmental calculator).

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Transition town

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Transition town claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In earth science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Transition town before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Transition town ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Transition town

In research: Transition town appears in earth science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Transition town in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Transition town is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Climate change, Community development, Economic development, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Transition town outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Transition town in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Transition town means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Transition town out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Transition town in simple terms?

Why does Transition town matter?

Because it connects several earth science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Transition town?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Transition town.