Whether it is more ‘civic enterprise’, community engagement or ‘Big Society’, people with power, but increasingly little money, are looking for new ways to get things done.
The large capital infrastructure projects have not given us more inclusive communities and now we can’t afford them any way, so in some quarters at least interest is shifting from old school top down strategy to a more emergent process of bottom up development. To processes where large numbers of people can shape their own futures and as a result the futures of the communities that they live in.
But making the shift from top down to bottom up is far from easy….
Over the last few years I have been developing low and no cost approaches to economic, personal and community development leading to new projects such as:
- Progress Schools
- Community Conversations
- Local Community Enterprise Accelerators (‘Elsies’)
- Innovation Labs and
- Results Factories
These are my best efforts to provide an infrastructure that allows the private, public, third sector and those of ‘no sector’ to give and get the help that they need to develop enterprising projects and people, and for the development of ‘community’ by building relationships and networks around local activists.
To bring ‘bottom up’ development to life.
Mike, The Elsies model is something I’ve also attempted to leverage locally with BBC Village SOS in 2009. For us, this came from the concept of a one-stop shop for enterprise development that was part of the Tomsl Regional Iniitiative. I also attempted to get mainstream business networks involved, without success. It seems to be something more likely to succeed in urban areas, where the critical mass of like minded others is sufficient .
http://www.ecademy.com/node.php?id=130382
Interesting. In my experience it is easier to make happen in rural areas where there is less ‘concern’ from established support providers…especially in the UK where the startup industry is fiercely competitive and any new entrant not looking to work for grant cheques is treated with deep suspicion. But also I want to go way beyond business start up. A much more inclusive definition of what it means to be enterprising.