CLES News

CLES continues global study into planned communities

10th August 2010

The Norfolk Trust Fellowship team are about to embark on the seond leg of their research.

The Norfolk Charitable Trust[1], as part of its annual fellowship programme, is to send three individuals to a range of locations around the world with the aim of investigating. The 2010 Fellows Tour is focusing on community, economy and the environment in new places. It aims to learn from exemplars drawn from the public, private and not-for-profit sectors (as well as alliances) which combine these key elements. Also, it aims to learn from past exemplars that have ‘matured’.

The research will involve a series of visits to planned communities which have been developed across Europe, America and Asia with the opportunity to explore the role of the public, private and social sectors in the creation of new sustainable communities. The team hope to be able to bring back some of the key lessons from the research so that they can be applied to planning, regeneration and economic development in the UK context, particularly where there are plans to extend existing settlements.

This year’s chosen fellows are Sarah Longlands, Director of Policy at CLES and Patsy Dell, Head of Planning and Economic Development at St Edmundsbury Council in the East of England.

The team are about to embark on the second leg of their research with visits to South Korea and Japan. They have chosen this area of Asia because it has seen rapid economic growth in recent years which has led to rapid urbanisation and particularly the development of new cities to meet demand for investment and accommodation.

Sarah will be Tweeting whilst she is away, for regular updates see our home page or our Twitter page at www.twitter.com/CLESTweet

Earlier in the year the team visited areas of Germany, Sweden and Finland and in December the team will be travelling to South America before producing a report in the new year.

For further information about the research contact:

Sarah Longlands at CLES sarahlonglands@cles.org.uk, 0161 236 7036

Laura Foster lfoster@morstonassets.com, 07887875176

For more information about the Norfolk Trust:

http://www.norfolkcharitabletrust.com/

[1] The Norfolk Charitable Trust works for UK sustainable economic growth and personal development in an age of globalisation. They fund the Norfolk Fellowship Programme, which studies the operation and effect of the global economy at home and abroad. Researchers visit countries around the globe to look at specific economic issues. This work has the potential to inform government economic policy and develop the skills and experience of the researchers. http://www.norfolkcharitabletrust.com/