AU Press’s most recent publication, Scaling Up, is a community-focused book that features case studies of the social economies of Alberta and British Columbia. The social economy is developed when citizens take collaborative action to meet the needs of their community. Examples of these actions covered in the book include alternative food sources, social housing, heritage building conservation, and green initiatives. To encourage our readers to participate in the social economy themselves, we have collected a list of some of our own hometown’s programs.
What’s going on in Edmonton?
Edmonton’s participation in the social economy has created a vibrant and engaged community that provide us all with good examples of the possibilities of building and nurturing this more sustainable way of life. We divided the list of initiatives using the same categories found in Scaling Up: green social economy, alternative food initiatives, arts, culture, and tourism, social housing, and heritage-building conservation.
Green Social Economy
- The Local Good: a hub for all things green in Edmonton! Connect with like-minded Edmontonians and find out about green events and projects.
- Earth’s General Store: they are launching a new grocery delivery program—on bikes!
- Pogo CarShare: this carsharing initiative uses your smartphone to find a car in your zone and even uses an app to unlock the car. This initiative is not only green, it’s also local!
Alternative Food Initiatives
- Farmer’s markets: featuring local food from local farmers. Scaling Up mentions a few in Chapter 3.
- Riverbend Gardens’ Community Supported Agriculture: following in the footsteps of the Good Food Box (Chapter 9 of Scaling Up), this weekly delivery of seasonal veggies from a local farmer offers a different selection of produce every week.
- Fruits of Sherbrooke: rescues unwanted fruit and makes jams and sauces.
Arts, Culture, and Tourism
- WinterCity strategy: Edmonton is the northernmost large city on our continent which means we should embrace the cold! The City of Edmonton’s WinterCity strategy has taken off in the past few years and brought Edmontonians outside. This project not only supports the economy, it brings people together.
Social Housing
- Edmonton Inner City Housing Society: affordable housing is required to build great communities and this society works toward providing affordable homes for people all over the city.
- WIN House: social housing can also take the form of emergency shelters and WIN House provides a safe place for women fleeing domestic violence.
Heritage-Building Conservation
- The McLuhan House: the childhood home of Marshall McLuhan now houses Arts Habitat Edmonton, a non-profit company that creates space for art in the city.
- The Hilltop House: built in 1912, this historic building is now the home of the Edmonton Community Foundation.
- The Gibson Block: a well-known building in Edmonton that was almost demolished in 1993. Read about how this building was once a Turkish bath house in Chapter 9 of Scaling Up.
