ABSTRACT
It is clear that, over the last few years, our defi nitions of transitions and transition management and our practices related to the transition arena model have matured. We have become more critical and accurate regarding the transition arena model in terms of actor selection criteria, in terms of the substance of transition visions and agendas and in terms of methodologies used. At fi rst we operated more or less intuitively in many areas, but nowadays we are able to defi ne and execute actor selection, facilitation and analysis based on a sound theoretical underpinning combined with empirical evidence. The actor selection, for example, while at fi rst more or less based on intense discussions with project leaders, is now structured-based on in-depth interviews, a competence check and an ideal group-composition. There were also elements that we underestimated beforehand, which came to the forefront during the various transition arenas. Examples of these elements are the importance of problem structuring, the mobilizing power of a transition agenda, the transformative capacity individuals can have and the impact transition experiments can have on the direction of transformative change. Increasingly, the elements of transition management are regarded as systemic instruments in their own right: through strategic transition experiments, other processes are infl uenced and directed and through problem structuring and envisioning processes individuals develop the capabilities and perspective to promote changes in their own regular environment. A fi nal important change in our thinking with regard to the transition arena is that now much more space is created for involvement of innovative, change-inclined regime actors, instead of exclusively focusing on niche-actors. In practice (for example in the transition arena Parkstad Limburg) regime-actors were always involved, but it was only later that we integrated this in our theoretical approach. The transition management approach has thus been refi ned and adapted over time based on lessons learned in practice and vice versa.
