Supporting skills and knowledge to deliver sustainable communities: an exploration of the conceptual and policy context

Delivering ‘sustainable communities’ is increasingly recognised as an implicit component of the wider goal of sustainable development. Within the UK, sustainable communities are currently understood as “places where people want to live and work, now and in the future” (ODPM, 2005). However, a lack of appropriate skills as well as an understanding of which skills are necessary has remained a significant obstacle to attaining this goal. This has been highlighted by the Sustainable Communities Plan (2003) in the UK followed by the Egan Review on Skills (2004). This paper responds to a growing academic and policy interest in the role of skills in delivering sustainable communities. It briefly explores the conceptual underpinnings of sustainable communities and makes links to issues of community governance and engagement. It then provides an overview of the wider policy context underpinning the growing interest in skills for sustainable communities. It concludes with an introduction to a new project funded by the Economic and Social Research Council and the Academy for Sustainable Communities at the ESRC centre on Business Relationships, Accountability, Sustainability and Society (BRASS) on ‘Motivating, Engaging, Leading and Supporting Skills and Knowledge for Sustainable Communities- Applying Models of Sustainable Localised Economies’.