I read an article in Tuesday’s Metro about ideas to help love your city. It was a really interesting piece and got me think about the transition towns model.
What is the transition towns model
In short, it’s about making where you live a happier neighbourhood with a stronger local economy. Although entitled ‘transition towns’ it can also apply to cities and villages. So there is a strong community involvement in these projects. Whilst the foundation for these transition towns is about the movement away from fossil fuel energy, it’s also about reducing our carbon footprint. Take a look at the Transition Network for more details.
Ideas to help make your city, town or village a better place to live
Referring back to the Metro article, this was about making the best use of what is already in place. For example, get community involvement in local parks. Although, to be fair this has already started and there are groups taking ownership of their local parks keeping them well looked after.
So what about local businesses? It’s really important to try and support local businesses where you live. So these could be independent coffee shops, local bars, restaurants, greengrocers or butchers. Of course a lot of our decision making is down to price. I’m not saying do all your shopping locally either. It’s about balance. Shop online, at supermarkets and support your local businesses. If you get the chance to support your local businesses it helps to sustain them and your community. That’s got to be better than boarded up shops in the high street!
It’s all about the local community where you live
It’s all about your local community. Support it or get involved with it. It may be something like the transition town model or it could be something else. If you are getting buy in from the local community and council to make where you live better that’s got to be a great foundation to build upon.
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