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You are here: Home / Past Conferences / Bristol, UK 2018

Bristol, UK 2018

Conference

From Friday, October 19th to Sunday, October 21st 2018 Local Futures held an Economics of Happiness conference in the bustling city of Bristol, UK.

This highly participatory Economics of Happiness conference was set to coincide with the Annual Summit of the Global Parliament of Mayors. It was Local Futures’ eighteenth international conference aimed at catalyzing a new economy that works for both people and planet.

Local Futures co-hosted the conference with Happy City (UK) – an NGO focused on place-based models of change that put the wellbeing of people first. The event brought together diverse groups and individuals who are searching for real solutions to the growing crises we face – from endless financial insecurity to epidemics of anxiety and depression, from climate change to the erosion of democracy.

Through a lively mix of plenary talks, films, workshops and open space discussions, we looked beyond single-issue approaches and the outdated theater of Left/Right politics to explore the power of systemic change at both the community and policy level.

TOPICS ADDRESSED INCLUDE:
Moving Beyond Business-As-Usual Economics
Place-Based Planning & Development
Liveable Cities
Healthy Food Economies
Tackling The Roots of Depression
New Indicators of Progress

Discussions were moderated by Jonathan Dimbleby, BBC presenter of current affairs, political radio and TV, author and historian.

One of our IAL members, Localise West Midlands, has published a blog about the conference including a video of one of the speakers, Colin Tudge: Blog on EOH Conference, Bristol by David Viney, November 1st, 2018.

Another blog, published by Wes Hinckes, you can find here:: Blog on EOH Conference, Bristol, October 22d, 2018.

View the full conference programme

Related

Video

Talk of Helena Norberg-Hodge
Economics of Happiness

Helena Norberg-Hodge – short interview

Talk of Michael Shuman
Localizing Finance

Talk of Liz Zeidler
Why Do We Need Wellbeing Economies?

Talk of Andrew Simms
Cancel the Apocalypse

Talk of Colin Tudge
Farming for People: Not Profit

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Speakers

Andrew Garrad

Andrew Garrad (UK) Founding Director of Garrad Hassan, the world’s largest renewable energy consultancy. He has served as President of the European Wind Energy Association and chaired Bristol’s year as European Green Capital.

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Andrew Kelly

Andrew Kelly (UK) Director of Bristol Cultural Development Partnership, the Bristol Festival of Ideas and the Festival of the Future City. He’s promoted innovative and philosophical thought in the city since 1993 covering all manner of social influences from war and slavery to architecture, engineering and sustainability. Author of 12 books, he is now writing about the future of cities.

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Andrew Simms

Andrew Simms (UK) Author, political economist and campaigner. His most recent book is Cancel the Apocalypse: The New Path to prosperity. He co-founded the New Weather Institute, is a research associate at the Centre for Global Political Economy, University of Sussex, and a fellow of the New Economics Foundation where he was policy director for many years. His other books include The New Economics; Do Good Lives Have to Cost the Earth; Ecological Debt; Tescopoly; and he is currently writing Economics – a crash course, with David Boyle.

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Andy Street

Andy Street (UK) Founding Director of global environmental consultancy SLR. He is passionate about issues of social justice and inequality and involved in numerous related projects across the City.

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Anja Lyngbaek – Denmark/ Mexico

is an Associate Programs Director with Local Futures, and coordinator of the International Alliance for Localization. She currently lives in Mexico on a small-holding with her family. She co-founded Microcuenca del Rio Citlalapa – a local NGO in Veracruz, focused on sustainable community development, and a rural primary school with similar goals. Anja gives talks, holds workshops and teaches on a variety of subject related to food and farming, localization and eco-technologies.

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Asher Craig

Asher Craig (UK) is Bristol Councillor and Deputy Mayor. She holds responsibility for Communities (Public Health, Public Transport, Libraries, Parks), Events and Equalities. Established Mosaic Advocacy Centre CIC to provide effective advocacy and support for the most vulnerable people within society.

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Benoit Bennett

Benoit Bennett (UK) is a mixed media artist and a director of the People’s Republic of Stokes Croft. The People’s Republic of Stokes Croft is a community enterprise that holds the philosophy of a new economy close at heart. PRSC leads by example, showing through direct action that change is possible.

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Bruce Hood

Bruce Hood (UK) is Professor of Developmental Psychology at Bristol University and founder of Speakezee – the world’s largest academic speaker platform. In 2011, Bruce gave the Royal Institution Christmas Lectures. He has written three popular science books with his fourth book, Possessed: Why We Want More Than We Need published in Spring 2019.

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Chloe Hardy

Chloe Hardy (UK) is Director of Policy and Communications of the Sheila Mckechnie Foundation. She has twenty years’ experience of campaigning, working on issues like social housing, fuel poverty and child neglect. She puts most of her energy into social justice, travelling and Doctor Who – sometimes all at the same time.

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Colin Tudge

Colin Tudge (UK) Biologist by education and a writer by inclination and by trade. He is the author of fifteen or so books of which about half are on food and farming. He is a co-founder of the Real Farming Trust and the Oxford Real Farming Conference and now, with a lot of help from friends, is helping to set up the College for Real Farming and Food Culture.

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David Clarke

David Clarke (UK) is head of policy and advocacy at Positive Money, a campaign group working towards reform of the money and banking system to support a fairer and more sustainable economy. David leads Positive Money’s political engagement and media relations. He previously worked at the responsible investment charity ShareAction.

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Diana Finch

Diana Finch (UK) is managing director of the Bristol Pound since July 2022. She started her career in accounts and moved on to software design in the early 90s. In the mid-late 90s, Diana volunteered widely in community development in an area of deprivation in Bath. Since 2001, she has undertaken a variety of leadership roles in the third sector. She offers consultancy in strategic planning, business modelling and impact measurement.

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Dimitri Houtart

Dimitri Houtart (UK) is BBC Rural Affairs Champion & BBC Radio 4 Rural Affairs, Food & Environment Editor. Dimitri helps and advises on the coverage of rural issues across the BBC. Dimitri’s portfolio includes the daily news programme Farming Today as well as series such as Costing the Earth, The Food Programme and many more. All together he is responsible for nearly 500 programmes a year.

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Dr. Angela Raffle

Dr. Angela Raffle (UK) qualified in Medicine 1980 and became a national and international figure in the world of health screening programmes. Then in 2008 joined Transition Bristol volunteers, leading her into Bristol’s food movement, helping with the ‘Who Feeds Bristol’ report, Bristol Food Policy Council and The Community Farm in the Chew Valley. She is a big fan of the Transition Movement and the philosophy of ‘start with yourself’.

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Ed Rowberry

Ed Rowberry (UK) was originally trained as a Chartered Accountant at KPMG. He has over twenty years combined experience in the commercial property, financial services and affordable housing sectors including the management of FCA regulated commercial property funds. As Founding Chief Executive of Bristol and Bath Regional Capital, he has a vision for developing place-based financial resources that connect civic, commercial and social interests.

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George Ferguson

has an international profile as an advocate for liveable cities and the global environment. He was President of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) from 2003 to 2005 and the first elected Mayor of Bristol, UK (2012-16). In the 90’s he developed the ‘Tobacco Factory’ in South Bristol, a model for culture-led city regeneration. He was awarded a CBE by the Queen for services to architecture and the community in 2010 and has honorary degrees from the University of Bristol and the University of the West of England.

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Helena Norberg-Hodge

Helena Norberg-Hodge

A pioneer of the new economy movement, Helena Norberg-Hodge is the recipient of both the Right Livelihood Award and the Goi Peace Prize. She is the founder and director of Local Futures (formerly ISEC) and the International Alliance for Localization. She produced and co-directed the award-winning film The Economics of Happiness, and is the author of the inspirational classic Ancient Futures. Helena is also a founding member of the International Forum on Globalization, the International Commission on the Future of Food and Agriculture, and the Global Ecovillage Network.

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Jamie Pike

Jamie Pike (UK) is a mentor, facilitator and social entrepreneur who has spent the last ten years building human scale businesses that put values at their heart. He co-founded Coexist CIC and the Hamilton House project as a place to experiment with the practical issues of building resilient learning communities in the heart of our cities. His work celebrates the importance of food, culture and conviviality in bringing people together to collectively meet the challenge of building connection and harmony in a time of alienation and chaos.

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Kate Macdonald

Kate Macdonald (UK) is founder of TimeBank Hull and East Riding and steward for the Mutual Aid Network – a project linking up pilot learning-together-sites all over the world. She is also co-founder of the Freedom FEASTival, a celebratory event for the growers of Hull to share their gluts of produce with the community. It has grown to a huge scale event in partnership with Hull’s Freedom Festival and feeds 1500 people in 3 hours from produce donated from growers across the area and prepared by volunteers.

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Lisa Whitehouse

Lisa Whitehouse (UK) is founding director at Interculture CIC, provides intercultural and diversity training, events and consultancy. Interculture aims to break down perceived cultural barriers by creating safe spaces to bring people together. Lisa has an MA in Intercultural Communication and is Chair of Stand Up To Racism Bristol and an active member of National Coalition Building Institute. She believes that sometimes you have to feel uncomfortable before you feel comfortable and is deeply committed to open dialogue.

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Liz Zeidler

Liz Zeidler (UK) Founding Director and Chief Executive of Happy City. A ground-breaking Charity and Social Enterprise that works to ‘make what matters count’, Happy City takes bold ambitions for a radically new economy fit for the 21st century and provides practical solutions that can be delivered right now by local leaders across all sectors. Her passion for challenging the causes of our social and environmental challenges comes from nearly 30 years of experience working with organisations and individuals at all levels across four continents.

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Maddy Harland

Maddy Harland (UK) is editor and co-founder of Permaculture Magazine and the author of two books, Fertile Edges – Regenerating Land, Culture and Hope and The Biotime Log. She helped co-found the Sustainability Centre in Hampshire, a thriving place for immersive education for people of all ages. She is a Visiting Knowledge Fellow at the University of Winchester and an adviser to the Cloudburst Foundation and the Commonwealth. She and her partner, Tim, have been experimenting in their multi-strata forest garden that sequesters carbon, radically increases biodiversity and produces food year round since the early 1990s.

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Martin Parker

Martin Parker (UK) is Professor of Organisation Studies at the Department of Management, Bristol University. His work experience comes mostly from sociology, with some anthropology and cultural studies. Has written and edited books on a variety of topics such as social and organizational theory, market managerialism and higher education, culture and popular culture, the humanities and management education, utopianism, conspiracy theory, the Apollo space programme, business ethics, critical management studies, and alternative organisations.

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Mary Daniels

Mary Daniels (UK) Described by Princess Badiya of Jordan as “A very inspiring lady…” and “A powerhouse destined for greatness.” by best selling author Robert Holden. A powerful storyteller, coach, workshop facilitator, inspiring TEDx speaker and published author, Mary Daniels has spent over 25 years coaching and mentoring vulnerable and young people in the community.

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Michael Shuman – USA

Economist, attorney, author, and leading visionary on community economics. Author of ten books, including: Local Dollars, Local Sense; The Small-Mart Revolution; Going Local; and The Local Economy Solution. He is also Director of Local Economy Programs for Neighborhood Associates Corporation, a founding partner of Local Analytics, and an Adjunct Professor at Bard Business School.

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https://bealocalist.org/michael-schuman

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Mike Zeidler

Mike Zeidler (UK) Co-founder of Happy City, the Association of Sustainability Practitioners, and the Funky Spaces Network. He is a facilitator, entrepreneur and organisational coach. He has a natural talent for making connections between people in different fields, sparking partnerships for positive change.

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Naresh Giangrande

Naresh Giangrande (UK) is co-founder of Transition Town Totnes and of Transition Training. As one of the initiators of the successful Transition Towns movement, he has delivered hundreds of trainings to thousands of participants, what has lead a local project in South West England becoming a worldwide movement in over 50 countries. He has a passion for working with self-organising systems, and how participatory learning can be fostered and strengthened in peer to peer networks. He is currently working with Gaia Education on their work with the Sustainable Development Goals. He is father to two lovely daughters.

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Nicola Round

Nicola Round (UK) is co-founder of Adblock Bristol a campaign for a happier, healthier city free from the pressures of corporate outdoor advertising. She has previously campaigned on issues from climate change to corporate transparency, working with organisations including Labour Behind the Label and WWF.

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Patrick Robinson

Patrick Robinson (UK) is a partner in Burges Salmon’s Planning unit. Solicitor advocate in the civil courts specialising in all planning issues including negotiation on planning and other infrastructure agreements. He has acted on a large number of renewable, conventional and nuclear energy developments where addressing the concerns of the local community is of particular importance. Lectures regularly on planning and compulsory purchase topics to planning professionals.

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Peter Macfadyen

Peter Macfadyen

Peter Macfadyen (UK) is the author of Flatpack Democracy – a DIY guide to independent politics. He has worked in areas of social justice for 40 years. This has taken him into local politics, co-creating a new relationship between local government and the people as a councillor in Frome. Central to his belief is the need to move from a politics based on fear and confrontation to one of listening, empathy and co-operation. His work and lifestyle see humankind as a small part of the wider ecology and government as the blockage in facing the challenges we need to tackle.

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Robbie Gillett

Robbie Gillett (UK) is co-founder of Adblock Bristol and has also worked with Reclaim the Power, 10:10 and 350.org, campaigning against new coal-fired power stations, new runways, fracking and climate finance. He completed a Masters level dissertation into the impacts and opposition to outdoor advertising across the UK.

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Roger Griffith

Roger Griffith (UK) is Executive Chair and Broadcaster at Ujima Radio. Roger is author of ‘My American Odyssey – From The Windrush to the White House’ to wide acclaim. Roger runs a community consultancy and is involved in several art, film, writing and media projects engaging communities. He is passionate about involving new voices through diversity, a lecturer and sits on the Arts Council England board. In March 2018 the City of Bristol awarded him the Lord Mayor’s Medal for his voluntary services.

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Roger Higman

Roger Higman (UK) is director of the Network of Wellbeing. He has over 30 years’ experience of campaigning on environmental issues and previously worked as a Campaigns Director for Friends of the Earth. Passionately interested in creating a truly sustainable civilization that makes people’s lives better in the UK and abroad. He is also on the Board of Directors of the Flameworks Creative Arts Facility in Plymouth.

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Sado Jirde

Sado Jirde (UK) is director of Black South West Network (BSWN), a charity advocating for Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) communities, which recently hosted a hearing of the UN Special Rapporteur into racism and racial discrimination in Bristol. Sado sits on numerous local, regional and national forums and has given evidence to the House of Commons Women’s and Equalities Committee, whilst shaping national discourse on racism. She has over 10 years’ experience working in the Civil Society sector in the UK & abroad and was awarded the African Achievers Award in 2015.

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Shankari Raj

Shankari Raj (Sri Lanka) is an architect, and director of Nudge Group, a practice she founded to challenge traditional approaches to architecture head-on. She is dedicated to community-led projects delivering social, environmental and financial benefits. She communicates this to the students she teaches as a visiting lecturer at Cardiff University. She was born in Sri Lanka, and grew up in Nigeria, Oman and then London. She is on the Board of Trustees for BATB (British Architectural Trust Board) and Love the Future.

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Stephan Harding

Stephan Harding

Stephan Harding (UK) Deep ecologist and Director of the MSc in Holistic Science at Schumacher College. He is the author of Animate Earth and editor of Grow Small, Think Beautiful. He has taught alongside many world-leading ecological thinkers and activists and has a great gift for helping people reconnect with nature.

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Stewart Wallis

Stewart Wallis (UK) Former director of New Economics Foundation and co-founder of the Wellbeing Economy Alliance. He has worked in several industries plus at the World Bank in Washington D.C. and the New Economics Foundation. He was awarded the OBE for services to Oxfam in 2002. He is also a Trustee of the Overseas Development Institute and Habitat for Humanity.

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Tracy Worcester

Tracy Worcester (UK) is founder and director of Farms not Factories. Tracy has been active in the environmental movement for the past 25 years. She is former patron of the Soil Association, former trustee of Friends of the Earth, trustee of the Gaia Foundation and Associate Director of Local Futures. She has worked on a number of films, including Is Small Still Beautiful? and Pig Business.

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Wren Aigaki-Lander

Wren Aigaki-Lander (US/UK) is a champion for 21st century ways of living and working. Helping Happy City make what matters count for people, place and planet. 20 years’ experience supporting innovative, big-thinking and purpose-driven people and organisations in delivering on big visions locally and across the world.

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Zakiya McKenzie

Zakiya McKenzie (UK) is a Green & Black Ambassador and Bristol Happiness Champion. She produces and presents the Grio Sound, a weekly show on Ujima Radio focused on art, music and environmental issues of the Caribbean, Africa and rest of the Global South. She is currently writing for a PhD in Literature at the University of Exeter, focused on Black British journalists and news publications from the war period onwards. Her first love is reggae music.

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