Law and Management

Centre for Sustainable Regional Communities

About the Centre

Background

The Centre for Sustainable Regional Communities (CSRC) is an active community development agent that develops and supports partnership projects with communities. The Centre was established by La Trobe University in 1998 to support regional and rural communities in the face of economic, environmental and social challenges.

What we do

The CSRC provides opportunities for University research and service to be relevant to the development and understanding of sustainable regional communities, and to provide a direct interface with communities which have particular research and community development needs. The Centre and its members maintain active research and publications profiles; work in partnership on a range of community development and research projects; and support a range of conferences and events.

Our philosophical framework

"The ability of a community to utilise its natural, human, and technological resources to ensure that well-being, economic security, and a say in shaping their future while maintaining the integrity of the ecological systems on which all life and production depends" Cortese (1994)

The CSRC believes that the over-arching framework for sustainable community development in regional and rural areas is...

Maintaining Ecological Integrity
A more sustainable community is in harmony with natural systems, including the sound management of waste and by utilising the natural ability of the environmental resources for human needs without undermining their ability to function over time. Within this overarching paradigm, we believe that the following are the cornerstones of regional and rural development:

Community wellbeing
A more sustainable community recognises and supports people's evolving sense of well-being which includes a sense of belonging, a sense of self-worth, a sense of safety, and a sense of connection with nature, and provides goods and services which meet peoples' needs both as they define them and as can be accommodated within the ecological integrity of natural systems.

Rights and Responsibility
A more sustainable community enables people to feel empowered and take responsibility based on a shared vision, equal opportunity, ability to access expertise and knowledge for their own needs, and a capacity to understand and grasp their rights.

Economic Security
A more sustainable community includes a variety of businesses industries and institutions which are financially viable, flexible, committed to human resource development, support the local economy. A more sustainable community also is one in which capital is utilised and retained within the community.