We make transition!
Focus of the project
Local and regional authorities have a crucial role in driving resilience – societal ability to adapt and react. Due to the complexity of sustainability challenges, there is a need to mobilise all levels of society to develop solutions that enable a needed change in our unsustainable practices. Various civil society actors – associations, social entrepreneurs, cooperatives, communities, individuals – can have a pioneering role in enhancing sustainability.
We make transition! project engages a great number of regional and local authorities, civil society, and business actors from the Baltic Sea region. Partners from Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Poland, Germany and Norway cooperate with altogether 12 cities and municipalities in implementing local transition arena workshop processes. Transition arena is a series of workshops including co-creation of a joint vision, pathways towards the vision, concrete actions and initiatives. Each partner location focuses on a selected sustainability Topic. Topics of the arena processes are related to 1) sustainable lifestyle, 2) agriculture & food, 3) biodiversity and 4) circular & sharing economy.
The project has invited altogether 30 change agents from the six partner countries to co-create a sustainability vision and recommendations on empowering the cooperation between local authorities and civil society actors to enhance ecological and social sstainability. The transnational change agent group includes representatives of civil society, entrepreneurs, and local authorities. The Baltic Sea region vision of sustainable life 2035 has provided an inspirational framework for all theg local transition arena workshop processes.
The project partners have organised the following transition arena workshop processes: 1) Hämeenkyrö Agriculture Arena, 2) Helsinki-Uusimaa Circular Transition, 3) Sustainable Future Kimitoön, Finland, 4) Uusikaupunki – Nature in my neighbourhood, Finland, 5) Tartu Circular Economy Transition, Estonia, 6) Organic food transition in Bremen schools, Germany, 7) Organic Food, Cesis, Latvia, 8) Sustainable food chains Trondheim, Norway, 9) Tampere Future Arena of sustainable Life, Finland, 10) Sustainability in education, Lääne-Harju, Estonia, 11) Cross-sectoral sustainability, Gdynia, Poland, 12) Circular building materials, Namsos, Norway.
The main output of the project will be a practical manual for applying the transition management approach to make strategy processes such as climate plans, roadmaps, and other local strategies more interactive involving different levels of society. The participatory processes implemented in 12 locations during the project will be disseminated to local and regional authorities and other interested parties in the Baltic Sea Region.
Key activities of the project include:
– Focus group discussions on sustainability topics in each partner region with local authorities, decision-makers, companies and civil society actors
– Webinars on transition management, transition arena method and role of civil society actors
– Selecting transnational group of change agents to create a transnational inclusive sustainability vision for the Baltic Sea region
– Organising transition arena in each partner location in cooperation with local authorities
– Workshops for local and regional authorities on how to utilise transition arena method to empower and co-create eco-social sustainability solutions with civil society and other innovation actors.
Partners:
1. The Baltic Institute of Finland (Lead partner)
2. Council of Tampere Region, Finland
3. Regional Council of Helsinki-Uusimaa, Finland
4. Council of Southwest Finland, Finland
5. DD StratLab, Estonia
6. Social Innovation Centre, Latvia
7. Vidzeme Planning Region
8. City of Gdynia, Poland
9. Baltic Institute of European and Regional Affairs – BISER, Poland
10. Trondelag Region, Norway
11. University of Bremen, Germany
Associated organisations:
City of Tampere, Finland
Hämeenkyrö Municipality, Finland
City of Helsinki, Finland
Municipality of Kemiönsaari
City of Uusikaupunki, Finland
Tartu County, Estonia
Lääne Harju, Estonia
Cēsis Municipality, Latvia
Trondheim Municipality, Norway
Federal State Bremen, Germany
The Project is co-financed by the EU Interreg Baltic Sea Region Programme.
Total project budget is EUR 3,3 million, out of which EU co-funding is EUR 2,5 million.
Project website
Contact in the Baltic Institute of Finland
Johanna Leino, Development manager
e-mail: johanna.leino(at)tampere.fi