Community Development

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Useful action guidelines are becoming available:

• Sustainable Local Economic Development
• Local Agenda 21 Initiatives - several good examples are mentioned with their web sites
• Industrial Ecology and Eco-Industrial Parks
• Working with Poor Communities
• Jobs and Environment

Sustainable Local Economic Development

Forum for the Future's Sustainable Economy Unit has established a Local Economy Programme (email) which has developed useful guidelines entitled Sustainable Local Economic Development: a new agenda for action (SLED). This paper provides a practical frame of reference against which local economic development plans and activities can be formulated and reviewed, summarised below:

The generally accepted core principles of sustainable development are:

1. quality of life
2. fairness and equity
3. participation and partnership
4. care for the natural environment
5. thought for the future.

However, applying these principles demands new thinking so that sustainability is integrated with policies that focus on land use, transport, housing, job creation and economic development. National and international policies can help or hinder local development but there is significant scope for local action.

Most local economies are far from sustainable, many businesses and public sector organisations remain inefficient in their use of energy and resources, social exclusion has tended to increase and the opportunities to create work in socially and environmentally beneficial ways remains untapped.  Single minded encouragement of global trade and attracting inward investment is not the miracle cure that is often assumed. The global economy tends to be blind to wider social and environmental issues and has adverse impacts at the local level. The global economy tends to ignore the vulnerability of local economies, bypasses the skills of local people, under values environmental damage and erodes the character of local communities.

Local economic solutions can sidestep these problems by targeting local needs more specifically. This does not mean withdrawal from global markets. The most effective way forward is to participate in the global economy whilst also developing strong local economies. This is the central aim of  SLED so that jobs are created, the local economy is improved and a healthier more robust natural environmental is developed.

SLED aims to engender a sense of purpose and fulfilment in individuals and sustainable improvement in quality of life across society by bringing together community economic development, business development and local purchasing. Others are also working on improving the local economy, hence SLED's objective is to build on good practice and explore new opportunities by addressing eight core themes:

• Building the knowledge, skills, confidence and motivation of local people
• Providing access to and control over low cost credit
• Supporting schemes that promote sustainable regeneration through local participation
• Providing a supportive framework for budding entrepreneurs and local businesses
• Screening inward investments for likely local impacts and promoting sustainable ideas
• Encouraging businesses that behave responsibly towards employees, the environment and the community
• Widening the distribution of work by providing childcare, public transport and local labour schemes
• Developing supply chains that make use of local resources, create jobs and provide benefits for businesses and the local environment

A supportive policy framework at regional, national and international levels such as:

• Local Agenda 21 to create a vision for and action towards sustainable development
• Lifelong, high quality education that widens employment and other opportunities
• Good physical and mental health
• Tackling the causes as well as the symptoms of poverty
• Environmental quality that is healthy and avoids excessive depletion of local resources
• Sound land use and transport policies
• Partnerships for change so that different stakeholders work together

This approach to sustainable local economic development is in striking contrast to current economic development that is unsustainable. SLED acknowledge that these guidelines are only a start, that much detail needs to be added and local adaptations will often be necessary. The hope is that the SLED agenda provides a useful tool that clarifies, communicates and supports appropriate development locally. Case studies illustrating applications are listed on another web site.

Local Agenda 21

• Nottinghamshire County Council has an impressive web site under the title of "Change Works".
• Surrey County Council is one of the Partners working with Forum for the Future. See their web site. To facilitate electronic communication within the county there is also the Surreyweb which links many organisations contributing to SD in Surrey.
• Sustainable London Trust promotes the protection and improvement of the natural environment by increasing public knowledge and understanding of human behaviour which is not harmful to people and other living species and of planetary ecology in the Greater London area. More information by email and their web site.
• Sutton Borough Council approach to LA 21: vision, topics, indicators etc see their web site
• Practical examples of interesting initiatives include:
  • A Borough Council wanted a wide-ranging survey to establish the basis for their Local Agenda 21 (LA21) initiative. A wide cross-section of the community took part in several events and completed a questionnaire. The findings were reported back to the Borough Council and became the starting point for the implementing LA21. More information from: Nick Hutchinson and see the web site where more case studies are listed.
  • The 7th National Local Agenda 21 Forum involved facilitating 250 participants from UK local authorities to create and run 44 workshops and produce action plans on "The issues & opportunities for achieving sustainable development using LA21 processes in 21st century Britain" More information from Romy Shovelton)
  • Forum for the Future's Local Economy Programme operates in North-east England and in London. The programme identifies case studies of sound sustainable development in action. These case studies cover a wide range of themes and brief notes on them are published on the Action for Local Sustainability web site. Their paper on Sustainable Local Economic Development: a new agenda for action is summarised above. More information is available from Les Newby (Yorkshire) by email or from Nick Hutchinson (London) by email.
  • A new style Local Agenda 21 Forum meeting was attended by 35 volunteers, several of whom work in voluntary groups on different topics such as natural environment, land use, transport and waste. The aim of the evening meeting was to strengthen cross-fertilisation of ideas and establish some agreed priorities for action. Much of the time was spent working in mixed groups of 8 or 9 people, followed by a short plenary, with 3 rounds in this process. The outcome was considerable surprise about how much had been achieved and 5 agreed priorities for the Steering Group to follow up. More information from Colin Hutchinson
• Local Agenda 21 Case Studies in the UK are produced by IDeA and available on the web at www.la21-uk.org.uk. They include a pub quiz on LA21.
• Survey results [conducted by Shell Better Britain Campaign, reported in Green Futures No 19, p25] show that people instinctively make links between traffic, health, local crime, and the provision of shops near where they live. These issues represent the 'fabric of their daily lives'. It is only government and organisations that separate these things and have different people and departments dealing with them. The survey explored the meaning of 'quality of life', showing people 24 different subjects and asking which concerned them the most. The results reveal the topics chosen most frequently and are informative for those engaged with LA21, sustainable development and improving the quality of life in local communities:
  • 72% community spirit
  • 68% facilities for young people
  • 56% public open space
  • 53% poverty/social exclusion
  • 51% unemployment and work

  When asked what individuals can do to contribute to sustainable development, 'getting involved in the community' (46%) was some way ahead of reducing waste (26%) and buying greener products (19%). The survey suggests that informing people, involving people and empowering people are the best ways to make progress through greater participation in democratic processes and ensuring that 'experts are on tap, not on top'. Those who value 'joined up thinking' for sustainable development can benefit from realising that it is in evidence with people - at the grass roots!

  Other articles [also in Green Futures No 19 pp40 and 51] suggest that 'the UK is blessed with a 'kaleidoscope of entrepreneurial community-based groups and businesses, many already delivering on sustainable development'. 'Successful local development strategies worldwide ... invest in local skills and support existing endeavours'. In the UK, some 62% of local authorities have an LA21 strategy or are in committed to producing it by December 2000, and a further 22 (5%) expect to publish their plans in early 2001. This figure still leaves one-third of local authorities with no LA21 strategy. Among those that do have LA21 plans there is limited involvement of women, ethnic minorities, trade unions and parish or town councillors, church and religious groups, and the police. The educational need is still considerable.

Industrial Ecology and Eco-Industrial Parks

Industrial ecology (IE) is an interdisciplinary framework for designing and operating industrial systems as living systems that are interdependent with natural systems. Indigo Development view public and private services, urban design, and agriculture as fields that can benefit from IE. Industrial ecology's primary goal is to balance environmental and economic interests within emerging understanding of local and global ecological constraints. To achieve this goal industrial ecologists must also coordinate with the social dimension of sustainable development.

• Practical examples of interesting initiatives include:
  • Kalundborg, Denmark, is where resources are exchanged between several businesses through negotiated deals in a process called "industrial symbiosis". For example water from the oil refinery is used for cooling by the electricity generator, which provides district heat locally to replace 3,500 oil-burning domestic heating appliances. The flue gases from the oil refinery are used by the electricity generator as an alternative fuel to coal. Surplus steam has enabled a fish farm to be developed and by scrubbing the gases from the power station ash is removed and provided to the local cement manufacturer. Sulphur is extracted from the flue gases and washed with lime to produce to produce gypsum which is sold to the local plasterboard manufacturer. Regrettably the Kalundborg story does not appear to be on the web but has been written up in various places including Building to Last (p106-107).
  • Indigo Development creates systems solutions to meet the challenges of sustainable development through industrial ecology:  Indigo played a leading role in creating the eco-industrial park concept, an application of IE now being implemented at sites in the US and overseas. Since 1997 Indigo have framed the Sustainable NewTown™ concept which RPP International (Indigo's parent company) is preparing to develop in South Africa.   Indigo has recently opened an inquiry into the conditions required for a sustainable supply of food and fibre. Indigo believe industrial ecology is an ideal foundation for designing an effective transition to sustainable agriculture.  More information from Ernest Lowe.

Poor Communities

• Practical examples of interesting initiatives include:
  • An environmentally-focused community participation programmes for Local Agenda 21 (LA21) was created  in Santiago, Chile on behalf of the British Embassy. This included participative events to help the people of Cerro Navia (the poorest community in Santiago) to become involved in solving their own environmental problems. A multi-sector high profile workshop was also conducted at the Embassy, to encourage corporate and public sector involvement in the community. More information from Romy Shovelton.
• Small Change helps households in disadvantaged communities to use energy efficiently, eat more healthily and cut pollution. The programme is available from Global Action Plan, who can be contacted by email.

Jobs and Environment

•  Logging in Kane, Pennsylvania - moving from conflict to collaboration
  • Logging, the backbone of the local economy in Kane for 100 years, is now declining, but the locality still attracts tourists. As the business declines jobs are threatened and as environmentalists make this worse by seeking to conserve the remaining forests. The scene is set for conflict. In early 1998 some local citizens heard that the Heinz Endowment would provide funds for RMI's Economic Renewal Programme, which is designed to help local people devise solutions to their problems, after training from RMI. Kane citizens asked RMI to implement their programme and "all hell broke loose". The loggers feared that RMI were part of a conspiracy to replace the timber economy with something else. Others feared that RMI's collaborative approach was part of a scheme to decide national forest policy locally. Distrust on both sides led some to believe that RMI was conspiring with Heinz Endowment to log the local forest. RMI commented "no one said this would be easy.Trying to be even-handed in a polarized community has always been treacherous." However, they persevered and concentrated on actions which would have more effect than words. A core group covering both sides of the debate was established and five projects were chosen which would enhance the local community, only one of which related to timber. These projects included cleaning up the community entrance, improving crumbling buildings, establishing a community centre, promoting tourism and youth training. The most hopeful benefit comes from creating the Kane Area Revitalization Enterprise (KARE) with a mandate to involve the community in decision-making. This enables dialogue to take place and creative ideas of local people to emerge. RMI conclude "that environment will never be taken seriously in a community with closed decision-making ....the process of approaching sustainability is an important part of the outcome. It's not that nobody cared in the past; it's that nobody cared to intervene!" [Source: RMI Newsletter Spring 1999].

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Last updated 23 November 1999