From the bottom up......

HubBuB at 6 @ The Pier Bar Hotel

This is how people can truly take back control: from the bottom up

“Turning such initiatives into a wider social revival means creating what practitioners call “thick networks”: projects that proliferate, spawning further ventures and ideas that weren’t envisaged when they started.

They then begin to develop a dense, participatory culture that becomes attractive and relevant to everyone rather than mostly to socially active people with time on their hands.

The process typically begins with projects that are “lean and live”: they start with very little money and evolve rapidly through trial and error. They are developed not by community heroes working alone, but by collaborations between local people. These projects create opportunities for “micro-participation”: people can dip in and out of them without much commitment

When enough of such projects have been launched, they catalyse a deeper involvement, generating community businesses, co-operatives and hybrid ventures, which start employing people and generating income.

A tipping point is reached when between 10% and 15% of local residents are engaging regularly.

Community then begins to gel, triggering an explosion of social enterprise and new activities, that starts to draw in the rest of the population.

The mutual aid these communities develop functions as a second social safety net.

The process, the study reckons, takes about three years.

The result is communities that are vibrant and attractive to live in, which generate employment, are environmentally sustainable and socially cohesive, and in which large numbers of people are involved in decision-making.” 

George Monbiot

Source

HubBuB 5 1706211800