A successful West Midlands must be made up of communities where people want to live and work, now and in the future.
But what are the factors which make communities sustainable in this way? How can we identify which of our current communities are sustainable and which need action to help them to change?
The State of the Region thematic report, What Makes a Sustainable Community? (pdf, 457kb) published October 2009, starts to answer some of these questions.
As with all State of the Region dialogues, the report focuses particularly on understanding how the evidence can inform policy responses across a range of areas.
Common themes shared by sustainable communities
The report looks at a variety of definitions of sustainable communities, identifying six main themes which are common to all of them. For a community to be truly sustainable, these six themes need to be well balanced. They are:
Housing and the environment
A sustainable community would have a mix of housing type and tenure in an area that has attractive, accessible public spaces, including some greenspace, and clean, safe streets.
Crime
A sustainable community would have a low incidence, and low perceptions, of crime. Residents would feel safe both in their houses and on the streets. The quality of the environment and public spaces would not be diminished by graffiti, litter or fly-tipping.
Community cohesion
A sustainable community would have a strong sense of community spirit. Residents would feel like they belonged to their local area and feel that it is a place where people can get on well together.
Economic opportunity and jobs
A sustainable community would have a range of available employment opportunities, a suitable balance between lower paid opportunities and higher skilled jobs, a diverse business base, and would provide opportunities for business start-ups.
Transport
A sustainable community would provide options for its residents to travel both by private care and on reliable and user-friendly public transport. It would allow easy access to major economic centres in the vicinity, and encourage walking and cycling.
Health and population
A sustainable community would have a population with a wide spread of ages, a mix of ethnic backgrounds, low mortality rates, and low hospital admissions.
The report also proposes a set of indicators that can provide some measurement of the sustainability of a community and track the progress achieved in building sustainable communities.
It also highlights some case studies of communities in the region where activities across all of the key themes have improved the communities and made them more sustainable.
We recognise that there is no perfect formula for a sustainable community. However, we want to use this report as a starting point for discussion around the themes identified and the approach to measurement.
Sustainable communities workshop November 2008
The thematic dialogue began with a State of the Region workshop on 27th November 2008 looking at sustainable communities .
The workshop was aimed at both policy makers and research professionals. It was designed to bring the two groups together to help understand the key issues about sustainable communities in the West Midlands and to understand the areas where further work is required.
The event featured presentations from:
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