Eveline Hall – Cabot Institute for the Environment blog

Volunteers packing shopping. Image credit: We Are Bristol

The Covid-19 pandemic has brought hardship to many people across the UK, both in terms of the direct health impacts of the virus and the economic and social consequences of lockdowns. However, it has also demonstrated the resilience of our communities, and the importance of strong social infrastructure in responding to crises. Within hours of the first lockdown being announced, community organisations took rapid action, with many completely shifting their models of service delivery to meet the changing needs of their communities. This extraordinary response has been one of the good news stories of the pandemic, as many more people and local governments have realised the value of services provided by community organisations. My research sought to build an understanding of the experience of the community sector in Bristol during the Covid-19 pandemic to determine what allowed them to coordinate such an effective response, and how they can be better supported to respond to future crises.

Why study community resilience?

Climate change has made it more important to understand how we respond to major shocks and disasters, as they are likely to increase in both frequency and severity in future. While the physical infrastructure required to respond to different shocks – such as floods, heatwaves and pandemics – varies greatly, building strong social and community infrastructure strengthens resilience to many different events. A recent report from the national community network Locality discussed the case of Calderdale Council, which has faced three major flooding incidents in the last eight years. The knowledge, networks and partnerships built through coping with floods in the past made Calderdale more resilient and responsive to the Covid-19 crisis, despite being developed for a different purpose. Understanding the strengths and vulnerabilities of Bristol’s community infrastructure when exposed to a crisis is key to building long-term community resilience.

Community organisations in a crisis

To understand the strengths and weaknesses of community resilience in Bristol, I interviewed thirteen people working across the sector.

I found that community organisations were very well-placed to respond to this crisis. Those interviewed discussed how they could act quickly to meet community needs because their decisions weren’t subject to the same bureaucracy or hierarchical decision-making structure as local governments. The highly localised nature of community organisations also meant that they could deliver solutions and services that were tailored to the needs of the populations they served, like culturally appropriate meals or shopping for older residents.

Community organisations also had access to informal networks within their localities which allowed them to coordinate with local businesses, residents, and other voluntary organisations to deliver necessary services. In Easton, for example, there was coordination across community groups and businesses which allowed each organisation to focus on the service they were best placed to deliver, even if it meant ceding responsibility for their normal functions to another organisation who could deliver it more effectively. Up Our Street, for example, focused on providing resources for children, such as milk, nappies, and activity packs to their communities, identifying that this was a necessary role that they were well-placed to fill. Community alliances were particularly effective at this coordination, especially those who had access to physical spaces to use as community hubs for service delivery.

There were, however, a number of barriers which community organisations faced. Every single interviewee from the community sector raised the importance of funding sources. Due to central government cuts in recent years, many organisations became reliant on traded income and fundraising to deliver their services, sources of income generation which disappeared quickly during the lockdown. This meant that community organisations had to furlough staff and work on reduced incomes when the need for their services was at an unprecedented high. In contrast, those organisations with access to flexible, long-term grant funding emphasised how valuable it was to their response. A key message was that many organisations may not survive to respond to the next crisis without more resilient funding models.

Effective communication with local government was also cited as a challenge. Many Bristolians, particularly vulnerable members of the population, did not have direct access to information about the evolving crisis and relied heavily on community organisations. Improving communication between local governments and citizens, particularly through faith-based organisations, such as gurdwaras, mosques, and churches was recommended. More generally, many organisations felt communication and coordination with local government needs to be improved in future, given the depth of local knowledge and networks such organisations can offer to help improve services.

Indeed, the most effective community responses were achieved where Bristol City Council sought to enable and support the existing work being undertaken by community organisations. For example, the City Council’s Can Do platform and “We Are Bristol” helpline become important mechanisms for urgent recruitment of volunteers. BCC also removed a lot of superfluous red tape and bureaucracy, trusting organisations to act in the best interests of their communities and take greater responsibility. The Council became more reliant on the efforts of the community sector than before, and the trust built between them has provided community organisations with more “soft power” to influence decision-making. Continuing this trusting and enabling relationship will be key to recovery, and ensuring that community resilience is enhanced moving forward.

Key lessons

Building resilient community and social infrastructure is key to safeguarding Bristol’s sustainable future. Community organisations are vital first responders in a crisis and have the necessary networks and knowledge in their communities to understand and deliver what their communities need. By supporting these organisations, through promoting their long-term financial stability and including them in community decision-making, it is possible to create a more resilient Bristol which will be able to respond to any future shocks.

———————–

This blog is written by Environmental Policy and Management MSc graduate Eveline Hall.

Eveline Hall

Bristol needs to get more people cycling and walking in the next decade to meet its net-zero carbon emissions target

Bristol has committed to an ambitious goal of being carbon neutral by 2030. This will require an 88% reduction in emissions from the transport sector in the next decade. While other sectors, such as energy and waste, have decarbonised significantly in recent years, emissions from transport have been stubborn to change. Transport, therefore, represents one of the greatest challenges for Bristol meeting its 2030 ambitions.

The challenge of reaching this target has been compounded by uncertainty around what a carbon neutral transport sector would look like. We know intuitively that car journeys need to be replaced by public transport, walking, and cycling. However, a lack of certainty about the scale and nature of the shift required makes it difficult to establish a roadmap for transitioning to a sustainable transport system. In 2019, the Sustainable Transport Network (STN), a group of transport organisations in Bristol, proposed targets for modal share — i.e. the share of journeys by car, bus and active travel — to reach the net zero target. But these targets lacked a solid evidence base. Our report, released today and available on the Cabot Institute website addresses this evidence gap.

We produced this report as part of our MSc programme in Environmental Policy and Management with support from STN members. Building on previous research by the Centre for Sustainable Energy, we modeled the modal share needed to reach net zero by 2030, assuming that 100% of buses and nearly all cars are Ultra Low Emission Vehicles (ULEV) by then. It was a challenging task due to the absence of the exact data needed to do this with confidence, but we drew on multiple data sources to generate our estimates.

We found that journeys made by car currently dominate travel, with an estimated 51% of all journeys each year. Walking and cycling account for roughly 30% of journeys, and the remainder by public transport (where the majority is by bus). Our modelling shows that substantial changes are required over the next decade. To achieve the emissions reductions needed to reach the net zero target, we’ll likely need to increase the share of journeys by walking and cycling to 55%, increase the share of bus and train journeys to 25% and decrease the share of car journeys to 20%.

How can we get there?

The greatest required increase is in the number of people cycling and walking in Bristol. The Sustrans 2019 Bike Life report demonstrates that a majority of Bristol residents support movements to create safer and more spacious streets.This will require the introduction of low-traffic neighbourhoods, extensive pedestrianisation, and bicycle lanes that are wide and free from cars. TravelWest reports that 40% of commuting journeys are under 2km, a distance that could be walked or cycled in less than half an hour with the necessary, safe and connected infrastructure.

The modal share targets we have proposed are ambitious, but evidence from other cities around the world suggests that they are also achievable. Drawing on this evidence, and our research into current plans and initiatives in Bristol, we recommend the following:

Expand efforts to encourage uptake of electric cars, such as subsidies and electric car sharing schemes.
Accelerate implementation of initiatives that discourage journeys by car and increase the safety and appeal of alternatives, such as the Clean Air Zone, the pedestrianisation of the Old City, and piloting low traffic neighbourhoods.
Ensure successful implementation of the Bus Deal. Extensive bus prioritisation measures are essential to deliver the frequent, reliable, and fast relative to driving. Development of more park and ride facilities aiding this further.

It is possible to achieve net zero in the transport sector in Bristol, but it will require aiming for more ambitious targets than previously proposed. Our research suggests that greater coordination between authorities and organisations is also needed to ensure that ambitious strategies are effectively and quickly implemented – particularly in the domain of active transport. While more research is clearly needed — including more comprehensive local data on transport behaviour to monitor progress — the evidence available suggests we need to act quickly and decisively to decarbonise our transport system.

Download the full report.
———————————
This blog is written by postgraduate students from the Environmental Policy and Management MSc at the University of Bristol, including Eveline Hall, Miriam Castillo Orozco, Anna Collingridge, Clare Watson and Alex Swan.

Tag: Eveline Hall

Safeguarding sustainable future communities: Lessons from Covid-19

Why study community resilience?

Community organisations in a crisis

Key lessons