Living Communities™ fixes the problem not solved by traditional regional economic development. That is, keeping capital and control of the local economy in the hands of the community. Developed by the not-for-profit organisation, Living Towns, it focuses on working with communities to find where capital is leaking from the local economy and then encourages local enterprise to plug those leaks.

Why do rural economies need this program right now?
Regional and rural Australia is now a key focus of government for the first time in decades. Policy makers are now focused on trying to rejuvenate communities across the nation. However, solutions derived solely from the economic theories that led to the decline of many rural areas, are unlikely to help build long term resilience and sustainability. As long as towns import the majority of their food, energy and other products and services and have no control over the industries that maintain capital inflows into their community, vital capital will continue to leak out of the economy like a bath that cannot be filled, even with the taps turned on full blast, because the plug has been pulled out.

Communities need to be empowered to create ‘bottom up’ local solutions to their economic, social and environmental challenges. While government can provide the means locals must innovative and make the decisions necessary for a particular community with an eye on the bigger picture. Living Communities is the road map for communities to follow.

Living Towns, the developers of the Living Communities process, works directly with community members to form new Living Community working groups or allows existing civic and community organisations to organise and implement the program in the wider community.