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Rob Hopkins

Rob Hopkins is the cofounder of Transition Town Totnes and of the Transition Network. He is a serial blogger, and author of The Power of Just Doing Stuff , The Transition Handbook and The Transition Companion. He has been awarded a PhD by the University of Plymouth and an Honorary Doctorate by the University of the West of England. In 2012 he was voted one of the Independent's top 100 environmentalists and one of ‘Britain’s 50 New Radicals’. He is an Ashoka Fellow, a keen gardener and one of the founders of New Lion Brewery in Totnes and a Director of Atmos Totnes, a very ambitious community-led development project.

Bologna

Bologna, the City with a ‘Civic Imagination Office’

By Rob Hopkins, Rob Hopkins blog

In Bologna, a new approach to engagement and civic action is emerging, rooted in the imagination. One driver for this shift is the realisation we are living in what Michele calls “a distrust era”, where people don’t trust public administrations, NGOs, or private businesses. 

  • March 7, 2019
moths

The Great Thinning and How it Impacts the Imagination

By Rob Hopkins, Rob Hopkins blog

Our imaginations are rooted in the natural world.  They formed in the natural world.  They took their metaphors and similes from the natural world.  It’s from the natural world that we thought that something might be strong as an oak tree or as fragile as a reed.

  • February 27, 2019
storytelling

Storytelling, Imagination and Activism

By Shana McDavis-Conway, Rob Hopkins, Rob Hopkins blog

Storytelling is a powerful political tool.  Becoming better storytellers has been shown to make a huge difference to the impact and efficacy of activist groups and campaigns.

  • February 21, 2019
Clodagh Harris

Clodagh Harris on How Citizens’ Assemblies Rekindle the Imagination

By Rob Hopkins, Rob Hopkins blog

Citizens Assemblies are a powerful tool for hearing the thoughts of a population without the filter of political interference, lack of understanding, and the polarity that has been driven by social media and surveillance capitalism. But what are they, and how might Citizens Assemblies be a vital tool for creating the spaces that allow imagination back into our public life?

  • February 14, 2019
The Sultans Elephant

Helen Marriage on The Sultan’s Elephant and Large Acts of Public Imagination

By Rob Hopkins, Rob Hopkins blog

We took everybody on a journey that said the arts too have their place in the life of a city, and that the city doesn’t just have to be about shopping and traffic, that it’s as important for people collectively to share these moments, moments like this, as it is for them to share or to experience moments in their own life.

  • January 31, 2019
Dragons

Alexandra Rowland on Hopepunk, Grimdark, Story and Imagination

By Rob Hopkins, Rob Hopkins blog

Hopepunk is about fighting for a better future and taking action and doing radical kindness. A lot of times people want to soften it, and think that it is about fluffy self-care, and that’s certainly a part of it, but I want to emphasise that ‘punk’ is the operative half of the word hopepunk. It’s about actively taking action...

  • January 14, 2019
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