Community-based businesses and organisations can play a vital part in repurposing ailing high streets. But it is not a quick fix, and it demands a rethink of what creates value in town and city centres. A new report by the Centre for Regional Economic and Social Research finds that high streets present new opportunities for community […]
Tag: place
A while ago a joiner was doing some work in our flat, and asked me what I did for a living. I explained that among other things, I’m working on a research project about how green spaces enhance our wellbeing. Of course they do, he snorted. Everybody knows that. His tone suggested it was ridiculous […]
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Greetings from Utopia
We can only answer the question of what we should do, the philosopher Alistair MacIntyre said, if we can answer the question of which stories we are part of. We aren’t authors of our own lives so much as weavers of tales that extend before and beyond us. This week I was at Chester’s new […]
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Is there life beyond Babel?
I’ve always been fascinated by the Babel story: the grandiose construction project left empty and unfinished as its makers lose the ability to understand each other…
Julian Dobson 