Located 10 miles northeast of Cambridge, the village of Swaffham Prior boasts 2 ancient churches and 2 windmills, and abuts the Devil’s Dyke, an Anglo-Saxon defensive earthwork that stretches for 7 miles. Yet Swaffham Prior recently made another type of history.
Taking advantage of a new UK government scheme, the village of around 850 residents in 2022 became the first British village to inaugurate a rural heating network. The system is designed to address both environmental concerns and the problem of fuel poverty (financial inability to keep one’s home properly heated) that afflicts people in communities both rich and poor throughout the UK.
Swaffham Prior Heat Network, developed by the Swaffham Prior Community Land Trust, has capacity to supply 1.7MW of heat to 300 homes in the village, with the Cambridgeshire County Council having responsibility for operation, management and customer billing. The Network uses heat from the air to warm the system during summer months, and heat from the earth during winter months, and the heat is delivered to homes via highly insulated pipes running beneath the village’s streets.
Creating fair social, economic and ecological practices
The Swaffham Prior initiative is one of many community projects featured in resegardarch by the Cambridge Centre for Social Innovation (CCSI) at Cambridge Judge Business School that calls for a ‘social-regenerative approach’ to address climate change. As defined in the research, such an approach “involves the creation of just social, economic and ecological practices, institutions, organisations and societies”.
Such an approach encompasses experimenting with new truly sustainable ways to provide the food, goods and services we all need, rather than supposedly green alternatives that avoid any true sacrifice by individuals and organisations, and thus amount to trade-offs. Such a trade-off is reflected in the rush to procure more cobalt and lithium for electric-car batteries that have a cost to miners and their communities, and the environment, thus maintaining economic and social injustices.
Using historical and indiginous to inform future sustainability initiatives
“We argue that the key to a social-regenerative approach is to balance self-interest with mutual aid,” says research co-author Neil Stott, Management Practice Professor of Social Innovation and Co-Director of the CCSI. “Innovation plays an important role, but we also draw on historical and indigenous examples to show this can be done – some dating back many years and others more recent like the Swaffham Prior Heat Network, which demonstrates how government and local communities can co-operate to meet a real need while protecting the environment.”
Drawing on such examples, the researchers identified 5 social regenerative work principles along with a framework for the wellbeing of “us, us together and others” in order to pursue collective and effective approaches to climate change. These 5 approaches, detailed below, are:
- sacrifice
- subsidiarity (or implementation by the lowest authority) possible
- ecological design
- solidarity
- prefigurative practice (which seeks to effectuate change now rather than later)
“These 5 principles don’t exist in isolation, but they are interlinked and mutually reinforcing of each other,” says research co-author Dr Michelle Darlington, Head of Knowledge Transfer at the CCSI. “The organisations that follow these practices and principles have helped address climate change, and this stands in contrast with mainstream practices that, we argue, sustain the unsustainable.”
Research reflects 8 years of observation at Cambridge Centre for Social Innovation
Adds co-author Paul Tracey, Professor of Innovation & Organisation and Co-Director of the CCSI:
“The principles developed in this approach reflect our observations, since the Cambridge Centre for Social Innovation launched 8 years ago, of organisations that seek to sustain their communities long term. Our scholarly examination of precedents of sustainable organising provides practical examples that other organisations can tap into in developing their own path to sustainable programmes and initiatives.”
The 5 principles of social-regenerative approaches are illustrated in some of the examples cited in the research by Neil, Michelle and Paul, many but not all from the UK:
1
Sacrifice
This entails making sacrifices to protect other people, places, species and generations, as well as ourselves, and may entail replacing, reducing or doing without such harm-inducing products as fossil fuels or certain types of foods.
For example, during World War II food was rationed for the common good, and as part of the war effort many people sacrificed time and land to “dig for victory”.
2
Subsidiarity
This means that whatever can be done by a smaller group or authority should not be absorbed or taken over by a larger entity unless the smaller entity is unable to fulfil the task; as developed in a 2005 study, larger organisations should provide support to smaller organisations while respecting the capabilities of those who receive such support.
This is exemplified in the UK government’s creation of enabling legislation to enable the Prior Swaffham heat pump scheme and subsequent planned similar initiatives.
“We are not promoting localism for localism’s sake”, the research says. Rather, given the twin goals of reducing carbon emissions and capturing existing carbon, there should be a priority to provision of goods and services locally in addition to moving fewer people and less material through transport using fossil fuels – and local creativity backed as needed by larger organisations is a key part of this.
3
Ecological design
The idea behind this third principle is to minimise environmental harms through approaches that integrate with nature and cultural uniqueness of place and people. This entails such practices as permaculture, which uses natural ecosystems as the model for land management; local food and energy systems to reduce transport and build community cooperation; and ‘passive house’ architecture which emphasises insulation and heat recovery.
For example, polluted lakes, ponds and waterways have been cleaned up through what Canadian-born sustainability expert John Todd described in a 2019 book as “restorer technologies” – such as using bacteria injections and low-energy wastewater systems that act like marshes or other natural systems. Other projects cited by John Todd include helping to protect an important river in South Africa by working with village community members, and reclamation through forestry, soil remediation and other natural techniques of land damaged by coal mines in the US region of Appalachia.
4
Solidarity
The authors define such environmental solidarity as individuals, groups and organisations contributing to the common good “in proportion and in accordance with their respective capacities” – which, reflecting the intertwined nature of the principles, is a prerequisite for sacrificial actions.
“Think of a passerby finding someone in distress, such as an accident victim. We have a natural tendency to try to help in a situation like this, and this reflects solidarity generated through a shared understanding of the situation,” says Neil.
In a chapter of the 2022 Handbook on the business of sustainability, of which Paul Tracey was an editor, co-authors Neil Stott and Michelle Darlington outline how enhancing the common good to tackle some problems, such as protecting the biosphere, may entail “negotiating solidarities” with people and places we may not know. Such negotiated solidarity recognises that solidarities shift and reshape: just because people have solidarity on one issue or at one point in time, things change – so continual renegotiations are required.
“We would be naive to argue that to achieve solidarity around global common goods is straightforward”, the authors caution.
5
Prefigurative practice
”Prefiguration occurs when people enact the new values, institutions, social relationships they aspire to in the ‘here and now’, rather than merely theorising them or waiting for others to transform society,” the authors say, citing a 2018 study by Juliane Reinecke, a PhD graduate of Cambridge Judge who is a Research Fellow at Cambridge Judge and a Professor at Saïd Business School, University of Oxford.
So while net zero carbon by 2050 is a worthy goal, prefiguration allows experimentation with new forms of sacrifice aimed at achieving net zero now.
For example, the New Alchemists including John Todd who experimented with ecologically designed homes, energy, agriculture and aquaculture – such as the arks built in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and Prince Edward Island, Canada, which used solar heating, wind turbines and other techniques long before they became widespread. Such initiatives sought to “legitimise and share practice for others to emulate”, says the research by Neil, Michelle and Paul.
How new framework reflects Edmund Burke’s 1790 definition of society
The framework for a social-regenerative approach as developed in the research cites Edmund Burke’s 1790 dictum that society is a “partnership not only between those who are living, but between those who are living, those who are dead, and those who are [yet] to be born”.
To enable such a partnership, the authors outline a three-pronged framework they label as collective, affective and calculative approaches:
1
Collective provisioning
This leverages the power of ‘anchor institutions’ that are rooted to a community, as this helps frame local agendas and enable new practices and procure goods and services to stimulate experimentation. This is already common practice in many public services – including purchasing rules such as the UK’s Social Value Act, which requires public services to be commissioned with an eye to broad economic, social and environmental benefits – so these serve as useful practices to build upon further.
Among other examples:
- the rise of local food procurement by hospitals
- the ‘Preston Model’ named after the Preston City Council’s experimentation with a locally focused procurement system following the collapse of a privately funded regeneration scheme
- work by a water board in British Columbia to tackle water sustainability by enacting an ethic of care for both water and relationships
2
Affective provisioning
Affective provisioning builds on solidarity and the bonds shaped by emotions such as empathy and fear, thus driving a desire for like-minded connections that provide a powerful incentive to organise.
The authors suggest that such fear or empathy, along with ‘climate affective curiosity’, motivates individuals to take environmental action such as installing solar panels, planting wildlife gardens or supporting conservation causes.
Among examples cited:
- work by Scotland’s development trusts including an initiative in the town of Linlithgow, 20 miles west of Edinburgh, called Linlith-Go-Solar, which taps solar panels for the benefit of local sports clubs such as a cycle circuit
- a sustainably designed floating neighbourhood in Amsterdam called Schoonship that consists of 36 Arks
- a floating communal gardens and floating shared tool box
3
Calculative provisioning
Calculative provisioning designed to appeal to more self-interested people in order to drive a level of change needed to meet and exceed carbon reduction targets; such an approach is shaped by means-to-an-end decision making, the researchers argue, such as support given to mutual insurance schemes based on the premise that “what is given is reciprocated should the need arise”.
An example directed at climate change is the push to replace central oil-or-gas central heating with heat pumps, or reducing heating costs through subsidised insulation – which reframes climate discourse “with a focus on cost reduction and to enhance a sense of security in a volatile world”, the authors say. The success of UK television programme like Gardeners World’ which reframes the popular pursuit of gardening for social-regenerative purposes, suggests that such an approach is already happening to some degree – as does the surge in seed sales for home growing in response to soaring food prices in 2023.
Developing a cohesive strategy that actively shapes a future with shared values
“The challenge of climate sacrifice is not a matter of choosing between different types of provisioning but of integrating them into a cohesive strategy,” the research concludes. “Each category – collective, affective, and calculative – offers unique contributions to the broader goal of social regeneration. By fostering collaborative efforts, emotional engagement, and practical incentives, we can create a more equitable and resilient approach to climate action.
“As we move forward, it is essential to continue developing and refining these ideas, exploring how they can be applied in diverse contexts. The path to meaningful climate action involves not only acknowledging the sacrifices required but also actively shaping a future that reflects our shared values and aspirations. By embracing a social-regenerative approach, we can build a world where impactful climate action is achievable.”
About the series
The Critical Perspectives on Social Innovation series provides with insightful critiques of social innovation theory and practice.
Featured research
Stott, N., Darlington, M. and Tracey, P. (2024) “Climate organising: a social regeneration approach.” Critical Perspectives on Social Innovation, no.3. Cambridge Centre for Social Innovation.
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