Monteveglio, Granarolo, L’Aquila, Lucca and Carimate are the first transition towns in Italy. But what are transition towns?
The Transition Towns movement was founded in England in 2006 in the town of Totnes by Rob Hopkins.
It is a cultural movement engaged in shifting the current economic model in our industrialised society, which is profoundly reliant on a large availability of cheap oil and the logic of resource consumption, to a new model characterised by respect for the environment, living without oil and a high level of flexibility.

This initiative is based on two phenomena which are increasingly becoming ever-more evident in public opinion in the whole world: peak oil and global warming.
Peak oil is the point in time when the maximum rate of world petroleum extraction is reached. Once the peak is reached, the rate of production enters terminal decline which, in practical terms, means the end of cheap petrol.
The theory of global warming is the progressive increase of the average temperature of the planet. This phenomenon is attributed to the emission by man of enormous quantities of so-called greenhouse gases into the environment.

On the basis of these premises, Rob Hopkins understood that cities and towns all over the world need to become more resilient, putting in place a series of practical initiatives based on good sense, and the involvement and collaboration of citizens. Becoming more resilient means increasing the capacity of our cities to survive large changes, even dramatic ones, maintaining a high level of well-being for their citizens and increasing the quality of life and relations within the community.

Transition projects aim to create communities which are oil independent and to build strong resilience through adaptations of energy production and restructuring of key community resources (production of food, goods and basic services).

Starting with the first experience in England, there are now hundreds of cities and communities around the world which, led by a push from their own citizens, have decided to adopt the transition model.

If you are interested in knowing more about the Transition initiatives in Italy and the world, you can visit the following websites:

Transition Italia
Io e la transizione
Transition Culture

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