Advance praise for Transformative Incrementalism
Reading Rob Buchan’s work on Transformative Incrementalism reminds me of Aesop’s “Tortoise and the Hare” moral – slow and steady wins the race! Today, complex community challenges require purposeful effort (versus crisis) to achieve sustainable results. He translates a known maxim into a user-friendly framework to help elected officials or any public servants to assume an enlightened leadership role. His message is clear – contemporary risk tolerance and capacity thresholds require us to understand the elements of change to enhance current community and strategic planning practices.
Gordon A. McIntosh, Ph.D., CLGM, Local Government Educator & Consultant, Victoria, British Columbia
Transformative Incrementalism is a fascinating, insightful, and very readable exploration of the way practical progress happens on the ground in British Columbia municipalities. Can incremental change be transformative? Can it be fast enough to achieve the kind of change needed to address the climate and ecological crises? These are crucial questions that everyone who works in local government must engage with, and Rob Buchan’s expedition into these stormy seas is a valuable aid to understanding the possibilities of change.
Guy Dauncey, FRSA, Author, Speaker, Futurist, Yellow Point, Ladysmith, British Columbia
Take the journey to sustainability
Sustainable development is grounded in change: whether it’s changing how we build our communities, how we design our transportation networks, grow our food, or build our homes. Current planning theories have a lot to say about how planning occurs, but not about how change occurs. This book introduces Transformative Incrementalism, a theory that explains the social processes involved in supporting innovative changes in sustainable communities of the future. Includes chapters from Robert Buchan, Larry Beasley, David Witty, Mark Holland, and Linda Geggie, as well as an interview with Andrea Reimer.
Transformative Incrementalism provides new perspectives on pursuing sustainability during major changes in our communities. The book features a wonderful set of case studies of practice in transforming cities, ranging from redeveloping downtown Vancouver to implementing community gardens. Rob Buchan’s extensive municipal experience is supplemented by the distinguished case study contributors, who are change masters in several fields of practice.
ISBN: 978-1-926843-40-7
Sku 0021/
