A TRANSFORM Method?

Last weeks I racked my mind about the theme of ?THE TRANSFORMATION PATH? The question I was thinking off was: Is there a path cities can use to transform? And with transform I mean the transformation from a carbon based economy to a sustainable one. It is what we strive for in our project TRANSFORM.
The TRANSFORM project is in its phase of completion and in the following months cities and partners will deliver results. During the Amsterdam Smart City Event on June 3th and 4th, we will ?jump on stage? to tell about our experience and explain results.
There is a lot to tell I am sure! We made tools, formats, and analyses, we did research and designed systems. Let?s call them methods in general.
Our cities are all West European, we share the same kind of culture, we are all democratic capitalist, our cities have the same kind of goals concerning energy transition and CO2 reduction and our political atmosphere is moderate.
But if you look closely our cities are extremely different as well. Governmental traditions and administrative structures vary, our baselines are different, the political status-quo is different and the relation with citizens and with stakeholders in the energy infrastructure differs greatly. The energy mix is different and the path to change it for the better is therefore in all our cities different as well.
This is the source for puzzling my mind. Can we define a method for common use?
I do not think so!
Is that a problem? NO!
We use the TRANSFORM methods each in our own way and we adapt them in the best way to our cities? specific situation or habitat. We pick the methods and tools that fit best to walk the path of transition. This could be a message to other cities: pick what you need and what fits your transition best. In this way we learn from cities and cities learn from us?. My next post will be about learning from each other.