Sustainable rural-urban communities

Many fundamental aspects of sustainable place-making, including the development of more sustainable systems of transport, food production and distribution, energy and waste management, and housing provision, depend on where and how people live.

Understanding differences in community context (particularly urban versus rural) and governance processes are crucial in exploring sustainable work and living.

Our work in this area looks at sustainability from small communities through to cities and city-regions. This will take forward our research at the city-region and community scales, exploring the role of communities and spatial scale in sustainable place-making. More specifically, we are looking into three key areas.

Community-led transition and adaptation

Key transition and adaptation questions look into how we encourage social innovation in production and consumption. This work links to the new Cardiff University Energy Systems Research Institute and Water Research Institute in relation to sustainable production and consumption systems within communities.

Sustainable mobility

Transport systems are central to sustainable place-making, from sustaining the viability of remote rural communities to reducing carbon emissions within eco-cities. This research builds on previous research into sustainable mobility and electric vehicles, working with the Cardiff University School of Engineering, the School of Psychology, the Business School and the School of Geography and Planning.

Community and environment

Our work examines the socio-cultural, political, economic and environmental factors which structure and shape the relationships between communities and their local environments.