Considering Sustainable Communities

By Jen Heal

On Monday I attended the ‘Working Together: Urban Communities as Sustainable Places Conference’ organised by the Sustainable Places Research Institute at Cardiff University. 

The emphasis of the conference was on collaboration to deliver social, environmental and economic sustainability within communities in Wales.   Exploring the relevance of ‘place’ and its contribution to identity within communities formed part of these considerations.  Sharing of best practice and case studies on how to develop communities that are truly sustainable was helpful.  In particular a case study on ‘Sustaining Dunbar’ explored how to really engage people in considering the future of their community and create a local resilience action plan with a vision for 2025 ‘beyond oil’. 

It was also great to hear an update from Dawn Davies on the Creation Development Trust in the Garw Valley.  The level of community engagement, capacity building and governance achieved here is remarkable. 

The focus of the day was, quite rightly, on the role of the public sector, the community and the third sector in developing sustainable communities.  However, there seems to be very little discussion on the role of the private sector.  Dawn pointed out in her presentation that many of the communities in South Wales were built around the coal mines.  Whilst the monopoly that the mining companies held in many areas brought with it its problems, there was no doubt that local industry and community were fundamentally intertwined.  Since this time large local employers have come and gone and the economic landscape of South Wales is now very different, but I do believe that private businesses still have a role to play in creating truly sustainable communities. 

Social enterprises are important but we are yet to see if these organisations can really stand up in the long term, become self sufficient and cut the umbilical cord to grant funding.  It seems to me that the private sector must be considered in any approach to integrated sustainability.  So then the question is how can local, national and international businesses be encouraged and supported to become more imbedded in and accountable to the local communities in which they are based?