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GRASSROOTS
INNOVATIONS FOR
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
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A one-day conference
for researchers, practitioners and policymakers
in the UK
Friday
June 10th, 2005 - 9.00am
– 5.00pm
Dept of Geography, University College London
26 Bedford Way, London WC1H 0AP
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The UK government's
new Sustainable Development Strategy 'Securing the Future'
places greener innovation and local action at its foundation.
Yet these two themes are considered apart: greener innovation
is presumed to be an industrial concern, whilst local action
is identified with the community dimension of sustainable
development. In practice, the grassroots has often pioneered
highly innovative approaches to sustainable development, and
it continues to experiment with social and technical innovations
today.
Participants in
this one-day conference will learn more about the innovative
potential of grassroots activities. `Grassroots innovations'
involve networks of people in bottom-up initiatives that combine
social innovations with greener technologies and techniques.
In contrast to conventional, incremental green reforms, these
initiatives seek to create new social institutions and new
'systems of provision', based upon values that are different
to those of the mainstream. Examples include community renewable
energy initiatives, eco-housing, local organic food schemes,
and community currencies such as time-banks.
The conference
will discuss the significance of these grassroots innovations
and identify how they may be supported and encouraged. The
conference will ask: To what extent do these initiatives exemplify
sustainability? How can such innovations initiate change in
the absence of top-down support? How relevant are these initiatives
to mainstream sustainable development?
Participation is
invited from practitioners, academics and policymakers. As
well as providing an opportunity to network with others interested
in this field, the conference will help participants reconsider
grassroots innovation as part of a bigger picture, and thereby
underscore its relevance to policies for sustainable development.
The conference
is a collaboration between two research projects funded by
the Economic and Social Research Council and conducted by
CSERGE (University of East Anglia) and SPRU (University of
Sussex). For further information, please visit the conference
web site: www.uea.ac.uk/~e175/grassroots.htm
Attendance,
refreshments and lunch are free to participants, but places
must be reserved in advance. Contact Ann Dixon on 01603 593176
or m.a.dixon@uea.ac.uk
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Dr Gill Seyfang
Centre for Social and Economic Research
on the Global Environment (CSERGE)
University of East Anglia
Norwich, NR4 7TJ, UK
+44 (0) 1603 592956
g.seyfang@uea.ac.uk
Personal web page: www.uea.ac.uk/~e175/
Department web page:
www.uea.ac.uk/env/cserge/
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