Consumption patterns are one of the most important drivers of development patterns in the industrialised world and will serve as case for the study of scenarios and transition management in Belgium. What will be addressed here is less households’ consumption of a specific commodity or service such as transportation or food, than the structure, function and meaning of the consumption patterns that characterize the different lifestyles that coexist in our affluent, liberal, democratic and capitalist societies. While the concept of “consumption pattern” is omnipresent in sustainable development literature since its appearance in Agenda 21, it is generally left undefined as if it is not necessary to be more explicit about it. Here we will define a consumption pattern as that aspect of a lifestyle (or livelihood) that relates to the nature and amount of the different goods and service that the households consider as adequate for fulfilling their needs. Briefly stated, if a lifestyle can be defined as the manner of living that reflect a household’s values and attitudes, a consumption pattern is the relation to goods and services that characterize that lifestyle.