'Transition Darebin' in the pub

The event ‘Transition in the Pub Social Meetup’ on the 30^th of April at The Thornbury Local was organised and run by ‘Transition Darebin’ who are part of the global group ‘Transition Network.org’ (Transition Darebin, 2019a).

According to ‘Transition Network’ (2016), they are a growing campaign in over 50 countries which brings local communities together to support and create practical local solutions on big issues. Therefore, ‘Transition Darebin’ has the vision of “a relocalised and resilient Darebin that is liveable for current and future generations’ (Transition Darebin, 2019a). This comprises of providing locals with sustainable, practical actions through regular pub meetups and hands-on projects that all aim to bring the community together (Transition Darebin, 2019a; Transition Darebin, 2019b).

Two other projects by ‘Transition Darebin’ are weekly food swaps and the bi-monthly ‘Repair Café’. The ‘Repair Café’ normally occurs in northern suburbs including Reservoir to try and embrace broader demographics compared to most events occurring in the south. According to an active member, the pub meetups usually comprise of a speaker talking on a sustainability issue such as plastic packaging and ethical shopping. In comparison, the 30^th of April was an informal opportunity for people to discuss any topic on mind and therefore there was no specific purpose surrounding the event apart from the social side of it.

            Account:

The meetup was advertised from 7pm though I arrived at the pub at around 7:05pm with no evidence of the meeting downstairs. I wondered if I was in the right place and to increase doubt, I heard the bartender say there was going to be a pub-quiz at 8pm. Before leaving the pub, I walked upstairs but only saw one man sitting at an 8-person table. After waiting a little downstairs, I went up and asked if he was there for the meet up. He confirmed. By this stage it was already about 7:20pm and there were only two of us though soon after, a woman arrived. This gave me great relief that others may also turn up and therefore the informal discussion wouldn’t only last about 20 minutes.

For 30 to 40 minutes the three of us discussed various topics including what ‘Transition Darebin’ is about, local sustainable solutions, personal gardens and the upcoming election. The man (approximately 30 years old) was the only who is a regular group member due to the woman (approximately 40 years old) only hearing about the meeting earlier in the week at the food swap. This dynamic enabled great conversation surrounding who ‘Transition Darebin’ is.

Around 8pm when conversation was dying, Ned and Daniel turned up before Steven and two local women. With more people, discussion topics changed including hearing about a sustainability event the ladies just attended run by Darebin Council. This topic in addition to discussing the reality of planning theories continued until I left about 9pm before the scheduled finish time of 9:30pm. Another RMIT student also turned up about 8:30pm.

There was no key moment or agenda due to it being an informal social event though the conversations when there were only three of us would be my highlight of the night. This is due to the topics encouraging me to think more about what I can do on a personal level and the scale of change for sustainability.

        Governance present?

Having this opportunity to think and discuss sustainability with each other was not organised by the government but instead the non-government organisation ‘Transition Darebin’ run by volunteers. Therefore, civil society was taking a grassroots approach to governance. It may be classified as participatory governance though with only involvement of those at the meeting and therefore no government or other organisations, this would probably not be the case (Hurley, 2019). Despite this disconnect, one interaction the man mentioned between ‘Transition Darebin’ and the Darebin Council was positive though turned bitter. Apparently, a project started by the organisation was given over to the council due to being too hard to manage by volunteers, though the council never gave credit to them for initiating it. With a few annoyed members, this may present an unpleasant relationship for future governance work between the council and ‘Transition Darebin’.

            Reflection:

Reflecting on the meeting; it was disappointing. I understand it was an informal social version of Transition Darebin’s usual pub meetups with no speaker, though I would still expect the usual attendees there. With minimal people, there was not much opportunity to bring the community together and be social. The number of RMIT students outweighed the number of local residents from Darebin Council 5 to 4. One theory on the reduced number is the occurrence of Darebin Council’s event “Sustainability Matters” which the two ladies came straight from. This event about sustainability in local business’ would have attracted the same demographics who want to talk about any sustainability or urban topic with others. In addition to this negative, the meetup was hard to find and especially for someone who arrived on time when only one person was there. This is due to it being upstairs in a pub with no signage for the meetup. The information was not stated on ‘Transition Darebin’s website or in the information section of the Facebook event but only in a post in the discussion section.

Despite disappointing numbers and ambiguity around the location, the social event by ‘Transition Darebin’ was a good opportunity to discuss and get ideas on sustainability and urban topics.

Reference List

Hurley, J. (2019) ‘Week 6: Governance to Governance”, lecture notes, POLI1034, RMIT University, Melbourne

Transition Darebin (2019a). About. [Blog] Transition Darebin. Available at: https://transitiondarebin.org/about/ [Accessed 1 May 2019].

Transition Darebin (2019b). Existing Projects. [Blog] Transition Darebin. Available at: https://transitiondarebin.org/existing-projects/ [Accessed 1 May 2019].

Transition Network (2016). What is Transition? [online] Transition Network. Available at: https://transitionnetwork.org/about-the-movement/what-is-transition/ [Accessed 1 May 2019].