The Transition Plan

Over the last few years there have been several articles or accounts I have seen talking about the new world order; the era of abundance in all things, the age in which everything will know will collapse. The end of the world as we know it, possibly replaced with something immeasurably better, perhaps replaced by ecological or economic or cultural collapse.
The one thing that seems to be missing in all these accounts is - how do we get there from here?

I did a post about this before but a couple of things have brought it to mind again. For a start, the city in which I live has recently seen the closure of not one, but three major employers. Leading, of course, to headlines about the mass job losses which will result. At the same time, I have heard many in the know who talk about the many small start-ups, new enterprises and even government organisations that are moving into the area and soaking up all the available staff.
The difference is that the closure are large manufacturing companies - Ford, Shell, Alcoa - while the myriad ventures that are taking over are technical and in the service industries. In other words - a microcosm of the (apparent) global trend.
The upside is that there is much more energy, better work conditions and potential involved in the new order. I would argue that it is a major improvement for the city and the society within it. On the other hand, the downside is personal and immediate to those affected. A blue collar worker who has spent his entire working life in the engine assembly plant is *not* going to get a job with an insurance office or at a biomedical research team.

So how are we to get to the wonder of the future from a time of upheaval and personal disaster. The stories are all either local and short term disaster, or global and long term golden age. The question that occurs to me is: what about the middle?
What is the transition plan? What is happening to families, not the society; what will occur in the next few years not decades? How can we best minimise the harm while still aiming for the stars.

Obviously the answers will be controversial. It is a topic on which personal experience plays a major part. For myself I feel the shiny goal is worth the mud we need to slog through to get there, but I am not the one getting stomped into the ground by the stampede.
I think this is topic that is likely to lead to more posts - at least until I get distracted by something else.