development

Submission on Evaluation of Community Banking and Local Provision of Banking and Financial Services in Ireland

Feasta Currency Group members believe that community (or public) banking could form a central component of a healthy future Irish economy. There is an urgent need to expand this sector in Ireland in order to help protect the Irish economy from debt-related financial risk, stimulate community development and help bring about the transition to a growth-neutral financial sector.

The Catalan Integral Cooperative … The Simpler Way revolution is well underway!

Ted Trainer describes the rapidly growing cooperative movement in Catalonia: "In a world where capital, profit and market forces dump large numbers into “exclusion” and poverty, and governments will not deal properly with the resulting problems, these people have decided to do the job themselves."

Enough: a worldview for positive futures

by Anne B. Ryan, from Fleeing Vesuvius. While the adoption of new technologies is crucial, so too is the need for a new, self-limiting worldview recognising that “enough is plenty”. This philosophy of “enough” is about the optimum — having exactly the right amount and using it gracefully. Adopting such a worldview would nourish a culture of adapted human behaviour in which social justice could prevail and at least some of the Earth’s ecosystems would have the chance to renew themselves.

Helping to regenerate: overcoming conflicts of interest in property development

The conventional way of financing property development entangles those involved in a web of debt and conflicting business interests. This week we are featuring two articles from Fleeing Vesuvius which describe a new way of organising developments that promises better buildings, more affordable rents and a stake in the outcome for everyone. Chris Cook provides an overview of this new approach and James Pike gives examples of how it could work to rescue building projects hit by the downturn in Ireland.