Celebrating World Localisation, YoCo-style by Imelda Havers

Written By imelda havers

A global take on co-owned neighbourhoods

We recently hosted an online session as part of World Localization Day 2021, which attracted over 60 participants from nearly every continent. The theme of the discussion, creating a co-owned neighbourhood, prompted thoughts and ideas from around Europe, the USA and Canada, the Caribbean, Central and South America, India, China and New Zealand. Massive respect to those who accommodated UK time by getting up at the crack of dawn or staying up very late to take part!

We started with a short video YoCo explaining what YoCo is, and how we share with, and bring ideas in from, all over the world, featuring local children and others living in the York Central area. Phil Bixby then gave a bit of background about how we got to where we are, and Astrid Hanlon shared an update on what is happening right now on the ground, with YoCo.

This was followed by a lively discussion, which, as you would expect, reflected the differing experiences across the globe. At the same time, it was striking how similar our views and aspirations were, with common agreement on the need to protect the environment, tackle inequality and create neighbourhoods that work for people rather than extractive profit, distant corporations and (the bug bear of many!) motor vehicles.

Edible landscapes, participative democracy and flexible road surfaces

Some great ideas were shared - my favourite being to create edible landscapes, combining the aesthetic with the edible in a new way. There was a lot of discussion around growing and distributing food locally, with examples and case studies flying from all directions. We also talked at some length about how we create the places we want, which will last for future generations. At the heart of this is how we make democracy work for us all, through greater grass roots participation. It seems that Scotland, through the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015, is enshrining change into law, leading to a strong focus on participatory budgeting in South Lanarkshire and other parts of the country. Another suggestion was to create road surfacing in new developments which could accommodate cars initially but be flexible enough to turn into something other than a road future. I’m not sure if such a thing exists, but I definitely think someone ought to give it a try!

Other ideas included:

  • A library of things

  • Repair cafes, great at getting different generations mixing

  • Free libraries

  • Community shops selling donated recycled goods

  • Planning green space with pollinators in mind

  • Promoting vegetarian / vegan lifestyles connected to growing food

  • Pesticide-free communities and community-run organic gardens

  • Promoting patient and public involvement within UK higher education, health and local authority sectors

  • Toolkits for towns through Totally Locally

  • Community supported rooftop solar, starting with schools

  • Equality and respect between partnerships across public, private and voluntary sector

  • Involving doctors to help promote healthy neighbourhoods - this is starting to happen in Crete

  • Lots of community gardening in USA and New Zealand

  • Examples of reducing car usage and increasing cycling and walking, for example Ghent in Belgium

Bringing it all together

So where does this leave the global debate about localisation? Teasing out the main points from this discussion will hopefully help us focus on where we go from here, and what we can share with each other over the next few critical years in tackling climate change and global inequality.

The session endorsed the view that we are stronger together in driving positive change, and need to learn lessons from places which have been successful, and less successful. For instance, could Scotland teach us more about participative democracy? Could New Zealand and the USA share their successes in community gardening? Could the UK share more of its ideas on community-owned neighbourhoods? There was certainly an appetite for sharing these questions globally, and YoCo would gladly be part of that discussion. Local Futures what do you think??

Overall, it was agreed that local communities want to do, not be done to. That we have the solutions on our doorstep, if we can remove democratic barriers to delivering those solutions. That we must find a way of accommodating different ways of living whilst sharing and promoting similar values. Most of all, that we all share this precious planet, and we all need to listen to each other, take responsibility for action and not leave it to someone else.

Our thanks to Local Futures for supporting us in this event, and of course to all the people who took part. The link to the full recording is here YoCo World Localisation Day Event 14th June 2021 - YouTube

Some interesting resources

Thanks to everyone who shared links to sources of information and examples of work elsewhere. Here are the links:

Follow up events

There are a couple of events coming up which will follow on well from this session, so please do come along:

  • Co-creating a movement for the world we want: This coming Sunday 20th June from 12.30 - 2.00 pm BST as part of World Localization Day. I am joining a diverse global panel in what promises to be a fascinating discussion. Book your place here World Localization Day — LF event

  • The next YoCo event, looking at community success through exchange, is taking place 7.00 pm BST on 7th July. More information, and a link to booking your free place here Community Success through Exchange — YoCo

We look forward to seeing you at these, or other future events, soon.

imelda havers
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