urbanpollinators.co.uk

Welcome to Urban Pollinators

This site exists as an archive of Urban Pollinators’ work. Julian Dobson, Urban Pollinators’ director until 2022, can now be contacted via the Centre for Regional Economic and Social Research at Sheffield Hallam University.

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A critical hope is the foundation to #BuildBackBetter

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by Julian Dobson and Rowland Atkinson In the middle of the COVID-19 crisis, the hashtag #buildbackbetter became a rallying cry on social media for those who saw the need and opportunity to reconstruct our cities. Demands included closing streets to traffic to reduce pollution and create spaces for play; investing in renewable energy; creating affordable […]

Why diggers are better than levellers

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God, so the saying goes, helps those who helps themselves. If you’re not of a godly persuasion, you might say you make your own luck. Action brings its own rewards. These are truisms that have filtered their way into philosophy and social policy, but it’s worth stepping back and doing a bit of de-filtering. I […]

Squalor plus philanthropy: no recipe for healthy parks

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In the squalor of Victorian Britain, the creation of the first great public parks was a beacon of humanity and hope. Philanthropists and civic leaders understood that greenery, a place to breathe and somewhere to walk and play were the least that could be done to lighten the nasty, brutish and short lives the Industrial […]

How much longer can food banks pick up the pieces?

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‘We stick plasters on where people hurt. We’re not treating the disease.’ That comment, from a worker at a food bank in Hampshire, sums up the quandary food banks now find themselves in. More and more people are hurting; national figures from the Trussell Trust show a continuing escalation in the number of people seeking […]