Placemaking Transitions in Frome: Consequences of Independence and Relocalisation on Transformative Change

In this chapter, we take a deeper look at the strategic and emergent form of ‘transitions’ in the context of Frome’s environmental networks, namely those centring around Sustainable Frome, the local Transition (town) Initiative and its relationship to broader shifts in the environmental movement landscape with the presence of Extinction Rebellion (XR). We look at what has transitioned— such as role transitions (stepping up, walking away or coming to a crossroads within one’s roles at an individual or an organisational level), or where attempted changes didn’t yield a shift towards relocalised outcomes because of their relation to other driving forces. Here we assess the consequences of the occupation of the state by protagonists in the form of niche-directed transitions and the intended and unintended effects on local placemaking dynamics. We compare such shifts within the environmental movement landscape using the New Economy ‘tribes’ defined by the Real Economy Lab (2016) (Transition and Relocalisation) with those between tiers of government and broader (independent) political agendas (the New Economy tribe Government and Politics, explore more fully in the next chapter).