Words by Smiley Team
As high streets suffer the financial toll of Covid-19, communities are stepping in to reinvigorate empty spaces left by businesses. A Homebase, a William Hill betting shop, a Londis supermarket and a River Island are among some of the buildings gaining new life as Climate Emergency Centres (CECs), designed to support people and the planet.
From Exeter to Manchester, dozens of these centres are being set up across the UK, helping locals to learn about solutions to the climate crisis, to socialise and organise as concerned citizens. Visitors can enjoy activities such as cafes, exhibitions, talks, skill-sharing workshops, gardening, libraries, film screenings, repair workshops, arts groups and so much more.
“We need these places because we need to deal with the multiple social and environmental crises we face. The planet is on fire, ice caps are melting. These places are fire stations and ‘mother ships’ for many new eco community projects,” said a coordinator from the CEC UK Network, Pete Phoenix.
“Covid-19 has definitely affected our high streets,” he added. “But if a hundred people are coming to the CECs for talks, workshops, theatre, a community dance, or film nights then that helps bring customers to the surrounding businesses.”
Having worked on repurposing abandoned spaces since the early ‘90s, he founded a charity called Space Generators. Along with his friend Ruth Allen, he developed extensive knowledge about transforming empty buildings. They hold online meetings every Thursday to advise groups hoping to create their own CECs and over lockdown, Pete created a handbook for “creating space for community solutions”.
“About ten years ago there were over a million empty buildings in the UK,” he recalled. “One concept we’ve got to get across is intelligent reuse of the vacant property infrastructure in our towns and cities. We recycle bottles so why don’t we recycle these huge spaces available to us?”
The teams of people involved with the CEC UK Network are keen to promote initiatives that will support people through environmental and social crises, as well as helping them to adapt to the climate emergency at a grassroots level.
“We have identified hundreds of eco-solutions and we urgently need to focus a global campaign on these solutions, providing them with spaces, resources, people, funding, and media attention - a globally coordinated Eco Marshall Plan, such as we saw post-World War II,” Pete urged.
To get involved with the CEC UK Network, contact your local group, or to set up your own Climate Emergency Centre, get in touch via the website.
For more information visit climateemergencycentre.co.uk.
To help open up more disused spaces to public use and offer communities hope for successfully implementing eco-solutions action, donate here.
