Our 10th birthday party heard a special message from Rob Hopkins, founder of the Transition movement (see below), watched a fantastic short film, heard from many of the TTB originated projects such as Incredible Edible Lambeth, the Brixton Pound, Brixton Remakery, Brixton Energy, Repowering, Open Project Night as well as Crystal Palace Transition Town and Transition Town Tooting. We ate delicious food, 99% from surplus, prepared by Sean of the Brixton Pound Cafe and Mala, local surplus food guru, drank local booze, and generated an inspiring list of visions for Brixton in 2028. See below.
Rob Hopkins mentions the ‘beautiful short film’, assembled by Jake Fairnie, about the achievements we were celebrating. (5 mins)
And Rob Hopkins’ inspirational special message for our 10th birthday:
Visions for Brixton in 2028
These came out of four or five group discussions and were posted on a tree similar to what we did at the Great Unleashing in 2008.
(you might like also to see the visions from the Great Unleashing in 2008)
| VISIONS OF BRIXTON IN 2028 | Category |
| Transition dancing – once a month | celebration and fun |
| Transition bands/talent contest | celebration and fun |
| TTB go for an awayday! Come to Tooting, all of you! For food and hugs! | celebration and fun |
| Community leadership to reach people’s hearts | Community |
| Green gyms club | Community |
| Street share (including skills) | Community and sharing |
| Community caring for individuals and kids | Community care |
| Vibrant community spaces brought to life by neighbours, young and old, in every corner of Lambeth | Community spaces |
| Spaces for active connection in every ward/estate | Community spaces, Language and communication |
| Inclusive community for safety | Community, Youth and intergenerational, diversity. |
| Decentralised currency, B£, tokenised social impact | Economy |
| Surviving without shopping | Economy |
| Transition jobs training centre/skills exchange | employment and skills |
| Roster of volunteer experience | employment and skills |
| Revive LETS scheme | employment and skills |
| People not working to just pay the bills but to achieve satisfaction and a sense of meaning. | employment and skills |
| Empowered and resourced people everywhere irrespective of wealth | employment and skills |
| Education for life | employment and skills |
| The Full Set – tools that move us on – eg hot composter, precious plastics | employment and skills |
| Sewing bee, knitting, sewing, clothes repair, skills revival and sharing and community building. | employment and skills (and community, sharing) |
| Tidal power station | Energy |
| Free domestic energy – paid by commercial business | Energy |
| Organic food | Food and beauty |
| Vibrant floral and edible Brixton | Food and beauty |
| Pop up transition ‘slow’ food | Food and beauty |
| Free food for everyone | Food and beauty |
| Veg and herbs growing on every street, wall, rooftop | Food and beauty |
| Grow our own salads | Food and beauty |
| Everyone had (food growing) boxes in front of their house on every street. | Food and beauty |
| Warehouse growing | Food and beauty |
| Every wall a green living one | Food and beauty |
| Self sufficient Brixton | Food and beauty |
| Doggy bag scheme for local restuarants’ customers | Food and beauty |
| Local supergreens high capacity warehouse hydroponic farming | Food and beauty |
| Brixton Herb Farm, Herb Library, and sensory garden, with LED factory growing. | Food and beauty |
| Community kitchens/cooking skills exchange | Food and beauty (and community, skills) |
| More community gardens | Food and beauty (and community) |
| Merging individual gardens into communal | Food and beauty (and community) |
| Transition shelter to battle homelessness | Housing and homelessness |
| Build in resilience, adaptability eg re-use of old building, conserving embodied carbon. Plus a low energy approach eg fabric insulation rather than mechanical services | Housing and homelessness |
| More caps on private rents | Housing and homelessness |
| Affordable Housing – creating links supply and demand for affordable housing | Housing and homelessness |
| Speaking the same language for everyone to understand sustainable transition | Language and communication |
| Changing our language | Language and communication |
| Breakdown social barriers | Language and communication |
| Spread the news | Language and communication |
| Keeping keeping on! A 20 year story of transition will be very inspiring | Language and communication |
| Sitting around together and listening circles | Language and communication |
| Mutual advocacy – multi-lingualism. | Language and communication |
| TTB Metro, free newspaper for commuters talking up visions and stories of a positive future. | Language and communication |
| Regenerate language – a project to nurture communication to be popular | Language and communication |
| Group dialogues of difference – in the park – in community spaces – feeling together – sharing stories – no agenda – listening | Language and communication |
| Listening circles | Language and communication |
| Wooden book cabins | Language and communication |
| Enhancing contact between different people/kids through new technology | Language and communication, Youth and intergenerational |
| Elect more green councillors | Representation |
| More sustainable public transport | Transport |
| Clean air | Transport |
| Free public transport | Transport |
| Free public transport | Transport |
| Garden bridge and cable car linking E and W London | Transport |
| Safe cycle parking | Transport |
| No fossil fuel vehicles | Transport |
| Old and young – all ages cycling, walking, laughing as they travel | Transport (Youth and intergenerational) |
| Decentralised air quality monitoring at a granular level | Transport, Air quality |
| Free of smells of cooking oils, petrol, diesel etc. | Transport, Air quality |
| Day of putting out unwanted items for others to have – if not picked up council collects | Waste and resources, sharing |
| Bartering days | Waste and resources, sharing |
| Engaging younger people | Young and intergenerational |
| Youngsters confident enough to assert their individuality to build their own future | Youth and intergenerational |
| Envisioning for young people | Youth and intergenerational |
| More youth | Youth and intergenerational |
| Confidence building for children | Youth and intergenerational |
| Intergenerational child care | Youth and intergenerational |
| Young people with autonomy living in a community they are fully contributing to and enjoying | Youth and intergenerational |
| Young people living in freedom not fear | Youth and intergenerational |
| Active involvement of kids and teenagers in multi-generational groups working on practical projects | Youth and intergenerational, community spaces and projects |
| Peace | |
| Sunshine | |
| Transition App. | |
| Bottle the taste of Brixton. It would taste of peaches and cream mixed with vanilla with the faintest hint of respberry like the BFG’s Frobscottle | |
| Free blu-tac for all! | |
| Free space travel for the homeless | |
| Interplanetary travel made easy and new foods from those planets | |
| More free drinking fountains in Brixton | |
| Mild climate | |
| Open air swimming | |
| Big love from @tttooting from Rich and the gang! Come for a curry! |
Get involved in making these happen. Add some more and ideas of actions to take here. Join us, sign up for the newsletter, join our facebook group, email us at info@transtiontownbrixton.org. Come to Open Project Night, every Monday at the Impact Hub Brixton (back of Pop Brixton) from 6.30pm.