„Sustainable Future Cities, Towns and Communities“ (V)
“Circularity is not a trend; it’s a culture shift” (Ken Webster, 2017)
Looking at the inefficient and polluting way that energy is produced and used worldwide, it becomes apparent that we are still following the linear economic development model of “take, make, use, lose” (Raworth, 2017). In the local context, the social and environmental impacts of the linear economic model are particularly evident, namely the effects of climate change, ecological degradation and social exclusion.
„Sustainable Future Cities, Towns and Communities“ (IV)
We introduced the essential aspects of Kate Raworth’s Doughnut in our last blog. But how can we put this approach into practice? How can we successfully transform regions and other locations into doughnut economies? How do we motivate people, organisations and political actors in cities and communities to embark on new search processes and develop new perspectives? How can practice be fertilised with new concrete measures that also allow new experiments?
The doughnut approach has already been used as a strategy tool in many cities. This is where the Doughnut Economics Action Lab (DEAL) and the Thriving Cities Initiative (TCI), launched in 2020, have made a major contribution. The TCI is a collaboration between C40 Cities, the Doughnut Economics Action Lab and the Circle Economy, which strive to create more equitable, sustainable and resilient places for people to live. The network was founded by Raworth and practitioners as an exchange platform to jointly develop tools for the initiation and launching of concrete implementation experiences at local level.
Wir stellten im letzten Blog die wesentlichen Aspekte des Donuts von Kate Raworth vor. Aber wie können wir die Perspektive dieses Ansatzes in die Praxis einbringen? Wie können wir Regionen und andere Standorte erfolgreich in Richtung einer Donut-Wirtschaft umgestalten? Wie motivieren wir Menschen, Organisationen und politische Akteure in Städten und Gemeinden, sich auf neue Suchprozesse zu begeben und neue Perspektiven zu entwickeln? Wie kann die Praxis mit neuen konkreten Maßnahmen befruchtet werden, die auch neue Experimente zulässt?
Der Donut wurde bereits in vielen Städten als Strategieinstrument genutzt. Hier hat das Doughnut Economics Action Lab (DEAL), und die ins Leben gerufene Thriving Cities Initiative (TCI) einen wichtigen Beitrag geleistet. Die TCI ist eine Zusammenarbeit zwischen C40 Cities, Doughnut Economics Action Lab und Circle Economy mit dem Ziel, gerechtere und nachhaltigere Lebensräume für Menschen lokal und global zu schaffen. Das Netzwerk wurde von Raworth und Praktikern als Austauschplattform gegründet, um gemeinsam Instrumente für die Initiierung und Einführung konkreter Umsetzungserfahrungen auf lokaler Ebene zu entwickeln.
Zwei Instrumente für neue Fragestellungen und Lösungsansätze
„How do we initiate a sustainable transformation process in rural areas and also rethink economic development at the local level to promote this way of development?“ is the crucial topic of the discussion between Birgit Neyer and Frank Wältring. Birgit Neyer is Managing Director of WESt mbH, the economic development agency of the district of Steinfurt, a region in Germany. Frank Wältring is business partner of the consulting firm Mesopartner and was born in the district of Steinfurt. He works internationally in the field of local and regional economic and innovation promotion. Both believe that the topic of sustainable transformation needs to be more firmly anchored in rural areas and in economic development promotion activities.
Frank Wältring (FW): We know that change starts in the cities and villages. How can we manage to integrate the topic of „sustainable innovation promotion within cities and regions“ into traditional methods of economic development promotion?
Videocast, Podcast und Textzusammenfassung vom Gespräch zwischen Birgit Neyer und Frank Wältring zur Zukunft der lokalen Wirtschaftsförderung
„Wie schaffen wir es, im ländlichen Raum eine nachhaltige Transformation anzustoßen und auch die Wirtschaftsförderung neu zu denken?“, ist die wesentliche Frage des Gesprächs zwischen Birgit Neyer und Frank Wältring. Birgit Neyer ist Geschäftsführerin der WESt mbH, der Wirtschaftsförderung des Kreises Steinfurt. Frank Wältring ist Partner der Beratungsfirma Mesopartner. Beide glauben, dass das Thema der nachhaltigen Transformation im ländlichen Raum und in der Wirtschaftsförderung stärker verankert werden muss.
Das Gespräch lässt sich als Videocast, Podcast und im folgenden als zusammengefasste schriftliche Quintessenz finden.
Frank Wältring (FW): Wir wissen, der Wandel beginnt in den Städten und Dörfern. Wie bekommen wir das Thema „nachhaltige Innovationsförderung“ in die traditionelle Wirtschaftsförderung hinein?
Sustainable Future Cities, Towns and Communities (III)
“Cities have a unique role and opportunity to shape humanity´s chances of thriving in balance with the rest of the living planet this century.” (Doughnut Economics Action Lab)
The thinking behind the above quote by the Doughnut Economics Action Lab is challenging our understanding of local economic development in many ways. What makes a local and national economy healthy, thriving, respectful towards other communities worldwide, regenerative and redistributive? What kind of understanding of local economic development and action is needed to promote local living conditions within our planetary boundaries for the majority of citizens? How does one make the best use of the available material and knowledge resources for a decent development path?
„Städte haben in diesem Jahrhundert die Chance, die Zukunft der Menschheit zu gestalten und im Gleichgewicht mit dem Rest des lebenden Planeten zu gedeihen.“ (Doughnut Economics Action Lab, übersetzt aus dem englischen mit Deepl.com)
Der Gedanke hinter dem obigen Zitat fordert unser Verständnis von lokaler Wirtschaftsentwicklung in vielerlei Hinsicht heraus. Wie definieren wir eine gesunde, florierende lokale und nationale Wirtschaft, die lokale Chancengleichheit eröffnet, respektvoll umgeht mit den lokalen aber auch mit den internationalen menschlichen und ökologischen Ressourcen? Welches Verständnis von lokaler wirtschaftlicher Entwicklung und welches Handeln ist notwendig, um die Lebensbedingungen innerhalb unserer planetarischen Grenzen für die Mehrheit der Bürger zu verbessern? Wie lassen sich die vorhandenen Material- und Wissensressourcen für einen menschenwürdigen Entwicklungspfad am besten nutzen und freisetzen?
Sustainable Future Cities, Towns and Communities (II)
We started the first blog on the Economic Development 4.0 approach (hereafter referred to as ED 4.0) with Paul Watzlawick’s story about the man looking for his key. We highlighted the difference of this approach from traditional fields and called for a broader perspective and a new search process in the field of local and regional economic development. In this blog, we delve deeper into the areas of experimentation that the ED 4.0 approach emphasizes as well as how other economic development organizations and we at Mesopartner can broaden our perspective and rethink our practice.
Figure 1: The requirements to open up our perspective
Source: Mesopartner (below in detail)
In Germany the ED 4.0 approach is already being implemented in various cities and municipalities of different sizes (including Osnabrück, Wuppertal, Witzenhausen). Experiences from different EU countries were evaluated to define the experimental fields of the approach.
Sustainable Future Cities, Towns and Communities (I)
There is this nice symbolic story by Paul Watzlawick, the Austrian-American psychologist and communication theorist, which goes as follows:
“A drunk man is standing under a streetlight one night, searching frantically for something. A policeman comes along and asks him what he has lost. The man replies, „My key.“They then both start searching. Finally, the policeman asks whether the man is sure that he lost the key where they were looking, and the latter replies, „No, not here, back there – but it’s much too dark to look there.“
This is somewhat reminiscent of the traditional focus of local economic development. Was the focus on businesses and promotional approaches to increase competitiveness and innovation perhaps too narrow? Were significant additional forces for change overlooked (see Figure 1)? „Picking the winners!“ (focusing on companies and clusters with growth and value creation potential) was the slogan for a long time. The sustainability issue was not much in focus, and civil society forces and their social innovation potential were hardly on the radar. „Awakening civil society’s self-development forces and potential and putting people at the centre of economic activity and action“ is the focus of the Economic Development 4.0 approach (referred to hereafter as ED 4.0) With this approach, the Wuppertal Institute is renewing awareness of old familiar approaches bundling them in such a way that they are developing new transformational power.
During the upcoming weeks we will present different blog posts on this Smartes.land page that provide global, national and local Initiatives to reimagining places and development trends. We call this series “Sustainable Future Cities, Towns and Communities”.
