Alternative and Resistance Movements: The Two Faces of Sustainability Transformations?

The goal of this commentary is to bring to the forefront four majors ideas/hypotheses to stimulate the debate regarding sustainability transitions: (i) we argue that “local environmental resistances” (the environmental justice movement) and “local economic/community alternatives” (the Transition, degrowth and alike movements) constitute the two faces of the same coin i.e. “the great transition toward sustainability” when transition is considered from a citizen, place-based and socio-political perspective; (ii) we argue that both of these two global decentralized movements are place-based, they are participating in the emergence of a place-based alterglobalism. Then, the role of place in creating spaces of re-politicization through opposition and experimentation should be acknowledged and more researched; (iii) if resistances and alternatives share some features in common, they also present differences that should be further investigated regarding their empowerment and politicization potential; and (iv) last but not the least, we stress the need for a more incarnated, politicized and place-based approach to “sustainability transitions” thus distancing us from the Transition Management approach.