The Role of Communities in Creating a more Sustainable Future

Abstract

Communities can play a possible role in adapting to and mitigating the risks of climate change that threaten humanity. By using the concept of community competences this thesis looks at two community initiatives focused on sustainability to get a better understanding of the way such initiatives make decisions and act collectively, while also contributing to a better understanding of the concept of community competences. Multiple data collection methods are used to get a better understanding of the extent to which community competences are developed: Eleven semi-structured interviews are analyzed and complemented with a document analysis of the statutes from the initiatives and available news articles about the initiatives. The results suggest that both initiatives have to some extent developed all community competences. Differences in the degree to which the competences are developed can primarily be explained by the way the initiatives are organized. Both initiatives struggle with reaching everyone in their district to participate. They also experience bureaucratic issues when dealing with the communities.