Towards Integral Transition Management: The Case of the Sustainable Materials Usage Transition in Belgium

Transitions are structural societal changes resulting from interacting cultural, economic, technological, behavioral, ecological or institutional developments. Transition management TM is as an evolutionary way of steering and creating the conditions for societal renewal to occur. The TM model proposes a cycle of activity clusters from (1) problem structuring, organizing transition arenas and developing sustainability visions; to (2) creating arenas, developing transition images and transition agendas; to (3) mobilizing a transition network and executing projects and experiments and (4) evaluating, monitoring and learning. These activities are initially carried out “in the shadow” of the mainstream, that is, they occur in a safe environment for optimal experimentation and learning. An arena is an open network that contains representatives of government, firms, societal organizations, knowledge institutes and intermediaries. TM addresses social complexity, which is a result of diverse interests and worldviews among stakeholders and which warrants a multi-stakeholder approach. Although TM is becoming an important tool in policy making in several European countries, the method is still in development. This paper introduces elements of Theory U and Integral Theory into the TM methodology and reports some action research results and experiences of implementing these new insights into the Flemish transition arena of sustainable materials usage which was established as the second transition experiment in Belgium in 2006.status: publishe