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Blog posts by Julian Dobson

Julian Dobson

Will community ownership be at home in the new world of localism?

by Julian Dobson 02 September 2011

If the Big Society is Prime Minister David Cameron's passion, the Localism Bill is its legislative counterpart. Both have the same philosophy at their heart: that matters are best managed by the people they most closely affect, and the more those people are involved, the better.

Julian Dobson

Community asset ownership – the price of success

by Julian Dobson 06 May 2011

Powerful stories celebrating local achievements contrasted with warnings about the risks of being unprepared or over-optimistic in the fifth Joseph Rowntree Foundation seminar on community assets.

Julian Dobson

Localism – friend or foe to infrastructure in new communities?

by Julian Dobson 02 March 2011

Caterham Barracks has been cited in case study after case study as a paragon of public involvement in creating new communities. The development of the former Army base has been praised as a fine example of community-led planning, providing homes for local people while the developers made a handsome profit.

So why can't we achieve such successes more often? And why are even the success stories so fragile?

Julian Dobson

Power to the people?

by Julian Dobson 24 November 2010

Generating energy gives you power in more ways than one. Communities that have gained control of their electricity supply have been able to bring in income and reinvest it according to their own priorities.

They begin to move from dependence to interdependence. Revenue from community-owned energy projects gets invested for the common good.

Julian Dobson

Mixed views on Community Right to Buy’s journey south

by Julian Dobson 01 November 2010

Arriving at London’s Royal Horticultural Halls for the second of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation’s series of seminars on community assets, the name card at the top table suggested we might be in for a visit from the Prime Minister.

Julian Dobson

Why looking back could be the best way of looking forward

by Julian Dobson 15 July 2010

A backdrop of global upheaval set the scene for a series of seminars on community assets (PDF, 210KB). Julian Dobson reports from the launch event.

If there was something slightly apocalyptic about the first of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation’s seminars on community assets, it wasn’t out of place. Placing today’s challenges within the sweep of history only emphasises their scale.

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Julian Dobson
Julian is a writer, speaker and commentator on regeneration, placemaking and social policy. He works as a trainer and facilitator, helping organisations find creative solutions to the problems of place. Julian was the founding editor of New Start magazine and is Director of Urban Pollinators, a placemaking consultancy.