Transition Urbanism and the Contested Politics of Ethical Place Making Kelvin Mason Graduate School of the Environment, Centre for Alternative Technology, University of East London, UK; kelvin.mason@cat.org.uk Mark Whitehead Institute of Geography and Earth Sciences, Aberystwyth University, UK; msw@aber.ac.uk Abstract: This paper explores the contested construction of more relational urban imaginaries within a movement that is simultaneously committed to enhanced systems of care for distant places/others, and intensified regimes of (re)localisation. Transition Culture initiatives explore ‘how to prepare for a carbon constrained, energy lean world’ and stem from a concern for a post peak-oil global future. While the radical political openness of Transition Culture is in keeping with the vision of a more diverse polity imagined by advocates of relational space (for instance Amin, 2004), we argue that this openness is predicated upon an apolitical pragmatism that masks latent tensions between an environmentally benign localism and an ethics of care at-a-distance. If a transitional ethics of space occupies the uncertain ground between a relational and territorial geographical imagination, the Transition Culture movement provides a rich context within which to explore the ethical conundrums that stem from different tactics of place-making. Keywords: Transition Culture, ethics, relational space, progressive urbanism, subpolitics Introduction: on World Towns and Post Peak-Oil Place-Making The Transition Culture 1 movement has been spreading rapidly through a range of British and Irish villages, towns and cities over recent years. According to a 2009 survey conducted by Seyfang, there were 94 transition communities in the UK and a further 40 worldwide (2009:2) 2 . The movement is a response to two critical twenty-first century concerns: the approach of peak-oil production and the social consequences of the decline of our petrochemical economy; and the ensuing socio- environmental problems associated with climate change. Inspired by the practices of permaculture, alternative energy generation, organic food production, and the use of open-space technology to facilitate participation (see for instance Owen 1997), the Transition Culture movement is devoted to creating places that are more locally resilient to the threats posed by declining global oil production and climate change. At an ethical level, Transition Culture tends to stand apart from many Antipode Vol. 44 No. 2 2012 ISSN 0066-4812, pp 493–516 doi: 10.1111/j.1467-8330.2010.00868.x C  2011 The Authors Antipode C  2011 Editorial Board of Antipode.