Links for April 12th to April 16th

These are my links for April 12th to April 16th:

  • Design Council | Directory listings | Events and competitions | Design in Alternative Futures – 2009 will be remembered as a year of global economic downturn, but what could this mean for the future of the economy, society and government? Will the downturn compel us to turn inwards, to become a nation of close knit families driven by individual needs? Or will it force unprecedented collaboration, creating a Britain that is focused upon the common good?
  • The E. F. Schumacher Society • Community Land Trusts – A Community Land Trust (CLT) is a form of common land ownership with a charter based on the principles of sustainable and ecologically-sound stewardship and use. The land in a CLT is held in trust by a democratically-governed non-profit corporation. Through an inheritable and renewable long-term lease, the trust removes land from the speculative market and facilitates multiple uses such as affordable housing, village improvement, commercial space, agriculture, recreation, and open space preservation. Individual leaseholders own the buildings and other improvements on the land created by their labor and investment, but do not own the land itself. Resale agreements on the buildings ensure that the land value of a site is not included in future sales, but rather held in perpetuity on behalf of the regional community.
  • Westminster Briefing » Blog Archive » Developing the Role of the Third Sector in Public Services: Building Capacity and Promoting Capability – The economic downturn has presented a challenging new environment in which the third sector must operate, with the importance of diversifying funding, innovative services and collaborating with partners key to surviving and flourishing over the coming year. Yet these circumstances also provide new opportunities for third sector organisations to expand their roles in public service delivery and put themselves at the forefront of commissioners minds as uniquely placed to provide responsive, community based and client focused initiatives. These issues have been recognised by the Government with the recent publication of ‘Real Help for Communities: Volunteers, Charities and Social Enterprises’, an action paln for the Third Sector.
  • JonathanMelhuish.com – user experience designer fighting climate change with ethical consumption – This category features a series of interviews with many projects around the world that deliver ethical information to consumers. These podcasts are designed to give some background information on each project to help identify potential for collaboration between projects. We are also organising regular teleconferences aimed at sharing knowledge and facilitation collaboration.
  • Funky Spaces | alternative, community and affordable business space in the Bristol area – Funky Spaces offers a variety of alternative, community and affordable business space for start up and small businesses in the Bristol area