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Throughout the history both of modern environmentalism and development there has existed an insistent undercurrent of practical, grassroots initiatives seeking socially just and environmentally sustainable forms of production and consumption (Smith, 2005; Hess, 2007; Rist, 2011). In North and South, in cities and rural settings, networks of activists, development workers, community groups and neigh bours have been generating bottom-up solutions for sustainable development–solutions that respond to the local situation and the interests and values of the communities involved. Initiatives have flourished, and struggled, in sectors as diverse as water and sanitation, housing and habitats, food and agriculture, energy, mobility, manufacturing, health, education, communications, and many other spheres of activity. We call this grassroots innovation (Gupta et al., 2003; Seyfang and Smith 2007).

Some grassroots innovations have developed into widespread practices, such as car clubs across many cities in Europe. In a few cases, what began as grassroots activity has evolved into substantial green commercial activity in new industrial sectors, such as wind energy, whose dominant designs can be traced back to grassroots activism and alternative energy cooperatives. On occasions, the mainstreaming of grassroots innovation can involve input from and hybridization with research and development in more conventional institutions for science, technology and innovation (Ely et al., 2013). Hybrid forms emerge through scaling-up that, while sometimes denuded of the grassroots vision, remain novel to other adopters, such as socially responsible …