Sean Markey

Bridging sustainability and the social economy: Achieving community transformation through local food initiatives

Sustainability and the social economy are two approaches that provide critiques of mainstream economic growth based on the failure to integrate environmental and social concerns. This article explores the potential for community transformation by bridging these two approaches — bringing more environmental considerations into the social economy and using the social economy to advance equity concerns within sustainability. We examine this potential through local food initiatives in two Canadian cities that are striving to create a synthesis of social and environmental objectives to achieve structural change in the way that food is produced, accessed and consumed. Both projects are founded on commitments to sustainable community development and social justice. While the initiatives illustrate the potential for community transformation by integrating sustainability and the social economy, they also illustrate the challenges associated with an incremental approach to change in the context of competition with mainstream economic activities that are heavily subsidized and do not account for negative social, economic and environmental externalities.

Second growth: community economic development in rural British Columbia.

Community Economic Development (CED) is a development approach that assumes a communitys problems are best understood and solved endogenously. For decades it garnered no interest from policymakers as a mainstream development approach. However, that changed during the 1980s. Amidst the growing perception that conventional regional development policies and programs were ineffective, both federal and provincial levels of government in Canada began looking for alternative development approaches ones that were more inclusive and capable of integrating both economic and social objectives.

The Struggle to Compete: From comparative to competitive advantage in Northern British Columbia

Abstract The social, economic, and political landscape of northern British Columbia (BC), Canada, has undergone considerable transformation since a recession in the early 1980s. From this, there is an emerging recognition of the need to move from an economy based upon comparative advantage to one embracing competitive advantage. The purpose of this paper, drawn from ongoing regional research, is twofold. First, we apply a rural lens to the regional planning and development literature, which highlights the significance of competitive advantage as a tool for regional rejuvenation. Second, we add to this dialogue by exploring the relevance and meaning of competitive advantage in the non-metropolitan setting of northern BC.

The next rural economies: constructing rural place in global economies.

Part 1 - Demographics, Migration & Immigration 2. Local Economic and Social Development in the Multifunctional Landscapes of Rural Australia. 3. Change in the U.S. Great Plains States 4. A New Rural North Carolina: Latino Place-making and Community Engagement 5. Connecting Rural and Urban Places: Enduring Migration between Small Areas in England and Wales 6. Ontarios Greenbelt and Place to Grow Legislation and the Future for the Countryside and Rural Economy Part 2 - Emerging Economies 7. Adding Value Locally through Integrated Tourism 8. Value-added and Entertainment Agricultural Products in Michigans Fruit Belt 9. Rural Restructuring and the New Rural Economy: Examples from Germany and Canada 10. Nurturing the Animation Sector in a Peripheral Economic Region: The Case of Miramichi, New Brunswick. Part 3 - Rural Policy and Governance 11. Co-constructing Rural Communities in the 21st Century: Challenges for Central Governments 12. Contemporary Approaches to Rural Development: Lauding the Local 13. Political Economies of Place and in the Emergent Global Countryside: Stories from Rural Wales 14. Rural Development: The Next Territorial Development Paradigm Part 4 - Rural-Urban Peripheries 15. The Reviving of Small Rural Towns on the Paris Periurban Fringes 16. When Urban-Rural Fringes Arise as Differentiated Place: The Socio-Economic Restructuring of Volvic Sources and Volcans (France) 17. Rural Development Strategies in Japan Part 5 - Renewal in Resource Peripheries 18. Resource Development in the Periphery: Lessons from Newfoundland 19. Fly-in, Fly-out Resource Development: A New Regionalist Perspective on the Next Rural Economy 20. Understanding and Transforming a Staples Economy: The Case of Place-based Development in Northern BC, Canada.

‘Back of the Envelope’: Pragmatic Planning for Sustainable Rural Community Development

Abstract Canadian communities are struggling with a significant infrastructure deficit. Hidden within this challenge is an opportunity to re-envision and re-construct communities using the principles and practices of sustainable community development. Research repeatedly illustrates, however, that communities struggle to implement sustainable alternatives, even when their planning documents are infused with the principles of sustainable development. The purpose of this article is to address this ‘implementation gap’ from a rural perspective. Rural communities face particular capacity barriers to conducting innovative and integrated planning. Using data drawn from a case study of Craik, Saskatchewan, the article presents findings that illustrate a variety of pragmatic techniques rural communities can adopt to bridge the implementation gap and successfully complete sustainable development projects.

Closing the implementation gap: a framework for incorporating the context of place in economic development planning

Abstract Since the early 1980s, rural and small-town Canada has experienced considerable transformation from social, economic, and political restructuring. These changes put pressure on communities and regions to assume increasing levels of responsibility for economic planning and development. The record to date, however, reveals implementation gaps between plans and the results on the ground. This paper explores this implementation gap using a case study from northwestern British Columbia, Canada. The findings indicate that a failure to incorporate the context of place in the analysis of economic strategy reports results in flawed local and regional development processes and misdirected action plans. This research is set within a broader revival in the regional development literature, where an interest in regions is accompanied by enquiry into the ability of local action to influence economic development planning and longer-term community sustainability.

Scales of Benefit: Political Leverage in the Negotiation of Corporate Social Responsibility in Mineral Exploration and Mining in Rural British Columbia, Canada

The purpose of this article is to explore the increasingly dynamic relationships between government policy, private corporate social responsibility (CSR), and local efforts to secure benefit from mineral exploration and mining activity in northern British Columbia. We propose that senior levels of government are integrating private-sector CSR into rural development policy as part of the ongoing process of neoliberalizing resource development. Our research reveals the uneven application of CSR practices by mineral exploration and mining companies to communities in northwestern British Columbia. Companies are selectively applying CSR principles to communities that have political leverage to impact project development. In the absence of jurisdictional control over mineral development, local governments must find methods to compete with neighboring communities to attract secondary benefits from resource development occurring within the region.

“We're in this all together”: community impacts of long-distance labour commuting

Labour and economic development patterns in rural regions have shifted substantially as a by-product of both economic and political restructuring. An important manifestation of this restructuring has been the growth of long distance labour commuting (LDLC) associated with increased labour flexibility and worker/family preference. In this article, we draw upon research in Mackenzie, British Columbia (BC), Canada, to explore the broader impacts of LDLC on a home community from a series of different perspectives. Our findings focus on two core themes: (1) family and community dynamics; and (2) the capacity of community organizations. Numerous negative outcomes associated with LDLC were found, including family stress and volunteer burnout. Our research also revealed a variety of positive dimensions associated with LDLC, including the ability to continue to call Mackenzie home and a strengthened sense of community. The experience in Mackenzie offers important themes for research in other communities and places experiencing LDLC.

Developing the Next Generation of Community-Based Researchers: Tips for Undergraduate Students.

Universities and funding agencies are increasingly calling for collaborative research between community partners and academics. When combined with faculty roles in training the next generation of researchers, these collaborative frameworks can present a challenge to undergraduate students seeking experience with research activities—both in terms of the types of needed training and the timelines involved. The quality and effectiveness of student research experiences, however, will have longstanding impacts on their future research careers, as well as repercussions pertaining to the community experience with the research process. The purpose of this study is to provide primarily undergraduate students with information about how to get the most out of their community-based research experiences. Given geographys traditional strengths as a field-engaged discipline, community-based research is a natural fit for geography and brings renewed vitality to the discipline. Key topics to be addressed include finding community research opportunities, identifying what you should know and what you should ask before engaging with a research team, how to obtain a breadth of research skills and experiences, researcher etiquette and demeanour in the community, budgeting, time management and developing long-term, meaningful relationships with communities.

We Know Enough: Achieving Action Through the Convergence of Sustainable Community Development and the Social Economy

Ten years ago in Johannesburg, there were over 6,000 communities across the world that had taken tangible steps towards implementing sustainability. However, while many have conducted visioning exercises and hired consultants to draw-up sustainability plans, far too often those plans remain on the shelf. In short, we face an implementation gap. Barriers to implementation are less about our technical capacity – we know enough about viable alternatives and solutions – and more about the mobilization of citizens and their governments to enact structural change. In addition, communities are struggling to deliver on the holistic promise of sustainability. Sustainability suffers from policy inflation of increased expectations to deliver development that is economically, socially, and environmentally sound, yet has failed to acknowledge the increasing capacity gap for implementation. We have made great progress on both the economic and environmental dimensions, well encapsulated by the burgeoning green economy. However, Agyeman et al. (2003) and others remind us that the social aspects of sustainability are lagging. The purpose of this chapter is to address these two implementation gaps: mobilization and socializing sustainability. Our approach to these challenges is framed within the context of two concepts: sustainable community development and the social economy. It is our hope to contribute to the discourse surrounding sustainable development and to offer insights, drawn from our research, into how to mobilize sustainable forms of development that offer a truly balanced and holistic interpretation of the sustainability ideal.