ICS Working Paper Nº1/2018

ICS W O R K I N G P A P E R S 2018 17 only 10 (idem: 38; 42). This indicates a large disparity in the participation structure insofar that a small number of CBIs aggregate a lot of participants while the majority hosts a limited amount (i.e. around 10). A closer examination reveals that a large amount of initiatives are founded and steered by expatriates, especially in the rural areas (cf. Leal, 2014). This can be exemplified by the Tamera ecovillage and healing centre in the Alentejo region, the most prominent Portuguese CBI: the founders and the great majority of the around 170 permanent inhabitants are non-Portuguese, mostly from Austria, Germany and Switzerland, while the rest stems from other European or Western countries. Only seven members are native Portuguese (cf. Esteves, 2017). CBIs are promoted by individuals with a significantly higher educational level than the average population, often belonging to the academic milieu (Marques Balsa et al., 2016: 80; see for example Campos et al., 2016). In this line, the managers of the projects Rede Convergir , CATALISE and ECOLISE all include members of the CCIAM research group of the Faculty of Sciences of Lisbon University (see Annex 2 of Appendix A for a detailed description). Accordingly, CATALISE's final report highlights key actors’ continuity as a determinant factor for the overall impact CBIs may have. And when fundamental roles concentrate in a limited number of individuals this risk of dependency increases (cf. TESS, n.d.). Actors-wise, further identified challenges to CBI resilience include the capacity and willingness of its members to integrate in local culture and communities and participate in local governance (Rocha et al., 2016). This lack of local entrenchment, often preemptively desired by some CBIs that foster a more isolationist philosophy, is a crucial element to help us better understand the potential societal impact of CBIs as promoters of socio-ecological transitions towards sustainability. 2. 4. A highly fragmented landscape CBIs in Portugal purpose to “repair” the deficiencies of the current socio-economic paradigm by rethinking and reinventing “development” via local action that embodies divergent (e.g. Eco-villages) or complementary (e.g. Transition movement) alternatives to the incumbent system. Divergent in the sense that these sit the farthest from mainstream perspectives and promote holistic and often detached alternative development solutions. Complementary i n the sense of a gradual transformation of existing development perspectives and practices. The former attempts change from outside of the system while the latter works from within. Their aim is to forward a new value system based on solidarity and social cohesion, community building, proximity (locality) and direct interaction, active involvement, citizenship, responsibility sharing, participative governance and self-management, in order to promote just and sustainable development