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Community action/Cambridge

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Cambridge Backs at Dawn. Attribution: Alex Brown
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Location Cambridge, United Kingdom
Coordinates 52° 12' 19.91" N, 0° 7' 7.19" E

The aim of this page is to recognise, celebrate and encourage the self-empowerment of community agency networks (CANs) and community groups' activism for climate, environment and many other sustainability topics across Cambridge.

Cambridge
Cambridgeshire
UK
Europe
Earth
  • News Britain’s roofs can be a huge resource for solar energy, theguardian.com (Dec 22, 2023)
  • News Partnership project involving local communities helping nature and climate getting underway in Cambridge., climateoutreach.org (Sep 18, 2023) — The River Cam CAN (Climate Action through Nature) project will involve communities near the river working on initiatives that will benefit them and the environment. “The River Cam connects most of the city’s green spaces, habitats and communities – including some of the most economically and socially disadvantaged. The river system is also emblematic of the environmental challenges that Cambridge faces; it suffers from flooding, pollution, drought and over-use of water, all are getting worse, and many are connected to climate change. This has impacts on both communities and nature and this project is about encouraging people to get involved and help their rivers and streams." James Littlewood, Cambridge Past, Present & Future. The two-year project is a being delivered by a partnership of local organisations supported by the national charity Climate Outreach, with funding from The National Lottery Community Fund.
Read more
  • News Sustainability on show at Co-op Group’s newest store, thenews.coop (Aug 21, 2025)
  • News ‘A game-changer’: the 9,000 acre project reclaiming the Fens for nature, theguardian.com (Nov 04, 2023)
  • News Pumping hot: inside Britain’s first heat pump village, positive.news (Jul 12, 2023)
  • News Record-breaking heat and dry spring leave parts of England without water, reuters.com (May 29, 2026)
  • News The English restaurant turning hospitality on its head, positive.news (May 27, 2026) — At a pay-as-you-can restaurant in Stroud, radical hospitality and good food are bringing strangers together
  • News Britain’s green transition should belong to everyone. Why is Labour so intent on stopping us having our say? George Monbiot, theguardian.com (May 27, 2026)
  • News Amsterdam, along with other major European cities, bans public adverts for meat and fossil fuels [BBC], Daily Alternative (May 22, 2026)
  • News How reindeer herds, nature and Sámi culture can thrive when forests are restored across northern Europe, theconversation.com (May 15, 2026)
  • News Rewilding giants: captive elephants rehomed in Europe’s first sanctuary, theguardian.com (May 07, 2026)
  • News Amsterdam, along with other major European cities, bans public adverts for meat and fossil fuels [BBC], Daily Alternative (May 22, 2026)
  • News Solidarity fields in Syria: Reviving local seed production, globalvoices.org (May 21, 2026) — A community garden on Damascus's edge is quietly rebuilding Syria's agricultural memory
  • News How reindeer herds, nature and Sámi culture can thrive when forests are restored across northern Europe, theconversation.com (May 15, 2026)

Networks, sustainability and international development initiatives

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  • Transition Cambridge
  • Climate change and sustainability, information from Cambridge City Council. links checked 19:16, 10 November 2023 (UTC)
  • Abbey People, "community charity in the Abbey Ward of Cambridge, improving the lives and wellbeing of Abbey residents." added 13:17, 18 November 2023 (UTC)
  • Cambridge University International Development W, student run society aiming to promote awareness and discussion of international development issues across Cambridge. This is primarily achieved through events and the Vision magazine which is published termly.
Cosmolocal discovery club

Each week 3 different short videos from across the UK or world.

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Future Rural Voices: perspectives on the countryside’s future
Authors: Campaign to Protect Rural England, 2.35 mins.
Date: 2026-05-07
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Local Power, Lower Bills: Up the Energy!
Authors: Community Energy England, 1.38 mins.
Date: 2026-03-10
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Tiree - This is Community Wealth Building
Authors: Scottish Community Alliance, 3.44 mins.
Date: 2025-11-18

Rural sustainability UK, Community energy UK, Community action/Argyll and Bute / ...This week's featured Global videos / ... read more about Cosmolocalism

UK and international events

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UK events

  • Event Jun 1 - 7, 2026 (Mon - Sun) — Neighbourhood Watch Week, ourwatch.org.uk
  • Event Jun 1 - 7, 2026 (Mon - Sun) — Volunteers Week, celebrating and saying thank you to the millions of volunteers across the UK, volunteersweek.org
  • Event Jun 5 - 8, 2026 (Fri - Mon) — The Big Lunch, the first weekend in June every year, everyone is invited, anyone can join in and whatever food people bring to the table is there to be shared, edenprojectcommunities.com
  • Event Jun 6 - 14, 2026 (Sat-Sun) — Great Big Green Week, celebrating communities taking action to tackle climate change and protect green spaces, greatbiggreenweek.com
  • Event Jun 07, 2026 (Sun) — Open Farm Sunday, farmsunday.org
  • Event Jun 8 - 14, 2026 (Mon - Sun) — Bike Week, annual celebration showcasing cycling and how brilliant it is!, cyclinguk.org
  • Event Jun 8 - 14, 2026 (Mon - Sun) — Carers Week, carersweek.org
  • Event Jun 15 - 21, 2026 (Mon - Sun) — Loneliness Awareness Week, lonelinessawarenessweek.org
  • Event Jun 15 - 21, 2026 (Mon - Sun) — Better Transport Week, annual, week-long celebration of sustainable transport, bettertransport.org.uk
  • Event Jun 15 - 21, 2026 (Mon - Sun) — Refugee Week, refugeeweek.org.uk
  • Event Jun 18, 2026 (Thu) — Clean Air Day, actionforcleanair.org.uk
  • Event Jun 19 - 21, 2026 (Fri - Sun) — The Great Get Together, annual celebration organised by The Jo Cox Foundation, helping unite people, bridge divides, and tackle loneliness, while showing the collective power we have as a community, jocoxfoundation.org
  • Event Jun 29 - Jul 3, 2026 (Mon - Fri) — National Co-production Week, scie.org.uk

UK community action events

Global or international events

  • Event Jun 03, 2026 (Wed) — World Bicycle Day, The bicycle is a "symbol of sustainable transport and conveys a positive message to foster sustainable consumption and production, and has a positive impact on climate." (United Nations), June 3 each year, un.org
  • Event Jun 05, 2026 (Fri)World Environment Day, June 5, annually, worldenvironmentday.global
  • Event Jun 08, 2026 (Mon) — World Oceans Day, June 8 each year, worldoceanday.org
  • Event Jun 12, 2026 (Fri) — World Day Against Child Labour, every year on June 12, ilo.org
  • Event Jun 17, 2026 (Wed) — World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought, each June 17, un.org
  • Event Jun 21 and all of June — World Localization Day, worldlocalizationday.org
  • Event Jun 22, 2026 (Mon) — World Rainforest Day, June 22 is World Rainforest Day, worldrainforestday.org

2021-2030, UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, International community action events

Cambridge video

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Message for Cambs County Council
Authors: Bonkers Busway Cambs News, Dec 11, 2023
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The Together Culture Manifesto
Authors: Together Culture
Date: 2023-08-09
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Climate Change Strategy consultation introduction, October 2020
Authors: Cambridge City Council, Oct 23, 2020
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Charming Community Co-Housing Project, Marmalade Lane from Mole Architects
Authors: Jim Stephenson, 9.59 mins.
Date: 2020-01-23
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Cambridge Food Hub - The Origin of an Idea
Authors: Cambridge Food Hub, 16.13 mins.
Date: 2019-08-14
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Join Cambridge SCA and make a difference to the local community!
Authors: Cambridge SCA, Feb 12, 2015

Community resources

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  • Makespace, community inventing shed, Cambridge

Community and voluntary action

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Cambridge SCA (Cambridge Student Community Action) is a registered charity which facilitates community volunteering opportunities for the students of the University of Cambridge in England. Projects typically serve the local community. Cambridge SCA runs 10 of its own 'Internal Projects', each led by student Project Leaders. These include educational projects and projects to help children and elderly people. Additionally, they offer volunteering opportunities through external organizations, such as Cambridge Carbon Footprint, Headway, and the Cambridge Rape Crisis Centre.

Food activism

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Maps: Map of Cambridge Growing Spaces

Community farm

Cohousing

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  • Marmalade Lane, Cambridge's first cohousing community, added 15:21, 20 November 2022 (UTC)

Towards sustainable economies

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Circular Cambridge, a season of events celebrating progressive ways to design, manufacture, access, repair and reuse the things that we want and need in our lives.

Arts, sport and culture

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  • Together Culture, gathering a membership community united in their desire to help create a more equitable and ecological creative economy. Video: Together Culture on youtube.com, added 20:01, 22 April 2024 (UTC)

Climate action

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Cycling activism

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National Cycle Routes in and around Cambridgeshire include: Route 11: connecting Harlow in Essex to King's Lynn in Norfolk, via Cambridge W; Route 12: incomplete but when fully constructed it will run from Enfield Lock (London) to Grimsby (Lincolnshire) via Peterborough W; and Route 51: connecting Colchester and the port of Harwich to Oxford via Cambridge W

Urban sustainability

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  • Water Sensitive Cambridge, Community Interest Company "Reconnecting people, land and water in Cambridge UK and beyond through a “Water Sensitive” Approach", and "working with the people of Cambridge to put rain in the ground close to where it falls."

Open spaces

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Attenborough on CambridgePPF
Authors: Cambridge Past, Present & Future, Oct 19, 2018

Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, Northamptonshire to the west, and Bedfordshire to the south-west. The largest settlement is the city of Peterborough.

News archive

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2014-2020

  • Cambridge's Dutch-style roundabout: Why all the fuss? Sep 26, 2020...BBC News
  • Marmalade Lane: the car-free, triple-glazed, 42-house oasis, May 8, 2019...The Guardian
  • The city where children go to school in a plywood box, Oct 14, 2017...BBC News
  • Floating bus stops making cyclists' lives safer, report says, Oct 25, 2016...cambridge-news.co.uk
  • Cambridge: Council's electricity supply goes 100% green, Oct 13, 2016...cambridge.gov.uk
  • How Cambridge Became the U.K.'s Model Cycling City, August 6, 2015...CityLab
  • Learning from Cambridge Skillsfest – in more ways than one, March 3, 2014...A dragons best friend

About Cambridge

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Campaigns

  • Save the Green Corridor! Cambourne to Cambridge – bus lane not busway, petition on change.org

Past events

Cambridge ( KAYM-brij) is a city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, 55 miles (89 km) north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of the City of Cambridge was 145,700; the population of the wider built-up area (which extends outside the city council area) was 181,137. There is archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dating back to as early as the Bronze Age, and Cambridge became an important trading centre during the Roman and Viking eras. The first town charters were granted in the 12th century, although modern city status was not officially conferred until 1951.

The city is well known as the home of the University of Cambridge, which was founded in 1209 and consistently ranks among the best universities in the world. The buildings of the university include King's College Chapel, Cavendish Laboratory, and the Cambridge University Library, one of the largest legal deposit libraries in the world. The city's skyline is dominated by several college buildings, along with the spire of the Our Lady and the English Martyrs Church, and the chimney of Addenbrooke's Hospital. Anglia Ruskin University, which evolved from the Cambridge School of Art and the Cambridgeshire College of Arts and Technology, also has its main campus in the city.

Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology Silicon Fen also known as the Cambridge Cluster, which contains industries such as software and bioscience and many start-up companies born out of the university. Over 40 per cent of the workforce have a higher education qualification, more than twice the national average. The Cambridge Biomedical Campus, one of the largest biomedical research clusters in the world, includes the headquarters of AstraZeneca and the relocated Royal Papworth Hospital.

Cambridge produced the first 'Laws of the Game' for association football and was the site of the first game, which was held at Parker's Piece. The Strawberry Fair music and art festival and Midsummer Fair are held on Midsummer Common, and the annual Cambridge Beer Festival takes place on Jesus Green. The city is adjacent to the M11 and A14 roads.

Near you

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Cambridgeshire community action - Peterborough community action

External links

Page data
Keywords UK cities, cohousing
SDG SDG11 Sustainable cities and communities
Authors Phil Green
License CC-BY-SA-3.0
Language English (en)
Related 0 subpages, 2 pages link here
Redirects Cambridge community action
Views 38 page views (analytics)
Created November 20, 2022 by Phil Green
Last edit January 8, 2026 by MetadescriptionsBot
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