The Transition concept is a proactive, positive visioning, forward thinking approach to the realities of our future.  Peak oil and climate change, combined, demand that we rethink virtually every aspect of our modern world, and that we begin to mobilize this Transition immediately.

In the near future, forecasts are for great change:

• changes in the sedate, predictable weather patterns which humanity has counted on for centuries;
• vast changes in our energy supply, particularly oil and gas where we are now delving into the second, harder-to-get-to half of our planetary supplies;
• significant contraction of economic markets which have been built up upon the presumption of a cheap, abundant, ever-expanding supply of fossil fuels;
• inevitable shifts in our transportation habits which call into question the feasibility of globalization;
• resultant changes in food supplies, water supplies, civil stability, and more.

The Transition movement declares that a future with less oil could possibly be better than what we have now - IF we consciously design it to be that way. 

Through the Transition movement, we Transition society from our current high-power, high-consumption lifestyle toward our inevitable lower-powered future. 
The Transition model includes relocalization of our lifestyle habits, rebuilding our local economic base, reconnecting our local communities, and retraining people in the skills of a power-down life (a lifestyle that uses less oil, less gas, less electricity, less energy overall).

The goal is to increase societal RESILIENCE, our ability to adapt and to weather the great changes ahead.

The "Transition Town" concept was developed in the UK and captured in blog and book form by Rob Hopkins. There are now over 100 official Transition Initiative sites worldwide -- local areas in the UK, Australia, Japan, and beyond -- which are preparing for change by organizing themselves and building local resilience.

Resilience is our ability to adapt to change.

per Rob Hopkins, The Transition Handbook:

Resilience refers to the ability of a system, from individual people to whole economies. to hold together and maintain their ability to function in the face of change and shocks from the outside. (p.12)

In the context of communities and settlements, it refers to their ability to not collapse at first sight of oil or food shortages, and to their ability to respond with adaptability to disturbance. (p.54)

The benefits for a community with enhanced resilience will be that:

• If one part is destroyed, the shock will not ripple through the whole system
• There is a wide diversity of character and solutions developed creatively in response to local circumstances
• It can meet its needs despite the substantial absence of travel and transport
• The other big infrastructures and bureaucracies of the intermediate economy are replaced by fit-for-purpose local alternatives at drastically reduced cost.

(p.55, quoting David Fleming)

... being more prepared for a leaner future, more self-reliant, and prioritising the local over the imported.  (p.55)

Resilience Indicators in preparing for an energy-lean future:

(from Rob Hopkins, Transition Handbook p.174-175)

• Cutting carbon emissions
• The percentage of local trade carried out in local currency
• The percentage of food consumed locally that was produced within a given radius
• The ratio of car parking space to productive land use
• Degree of engagement in practical Transition work by the local community
• Amount of traffic on local roads
• Number of businesses owned by local people
• Proportion of the community employed locally
• Percentage of essential goods manufactured within a given radius
• Percentage of local building materials used in new housing developments
• Percentage of energy consumed in the town that has been generated by local energy supply company
• Amount of sixteen year-olds able to grow 10 different varieties of vegetables to a given degree of basic competency
• Percentage of medicines prescribed locally that have been produced within a given radius.

Los Angeles additions to Hopkins’ list:

• Percentage of water use that was locally-captured rainwater
• The ratio of non-permeable hardscape to surfaces adapted for rainwater capture and infiltration
• The ratio of water sent to sewer versus onsite greywater reclamation
• Degree to which existing buildings are insulated and retrofitted for passive solar attributes
• Number of local “inner work” professionals (mental health professionals, counselors, spiritual and religious leaders, etc.) who are prepared to work with the issues that arise as people cope with a radically new direction for the future
• Amount of trash sent to landfills and exported for “recycling” processing
• Degree of participation in local area composting and soil building