Jump to content

Community action/Cambridge

From Appropedia
Cambridge Backs at Dawn. Attribution: Alex Brown
Location data
Map
Loading map...
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 'England's first cycle street' opens to the public, BBC News (May 29, 2026)
  • 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 'England's first cycle street' opens to the public, BBC News (May 29, 2026)
  • 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 Plans for major overhaul of councils halted, BBC News (Sep 07, 2026)
  • News Sardines are having a moment but could this humble fish turn the tide for the UK’s local fisheries?, wickedleeks.riverford.co.uk (Sep 03, 2026) — Can the UK learn from Iberian traditions and turn its booming love for tinned sardines into a lasting win for coastal communities?
  • News Andy Burnham announces thousands of new homes, but is the government much closer to its target?, theconversation.com (Sep 02, 2026)
  • News European farmers face ‘unprecedented crisis’ after successive heatwaves, theguardian.com (Aug 17, 2026)
  • News Europe’s rivers are running dry, and the knock-on effects are disastrous, Yiannis Baboulias, theguardian.com (Aug 05, 2026)
  • News How Australia combines modern tech and Indigenous knowledge to fight wildfires, BBC News (Aug 01, 2026)
  • News Why I choose to build commons, rather than being an ‘activist’, growingcommons.substack.com (Sep 06, 2026) — And why I think you should, too, Dil Green
  • News What Brazil’s supercentenarians can teach us about living to 120, positive.news (Sep 02, 2026)
  • News How a South African town cleaned up its polluted river using stones, wood and sand, theguardian.com (Aug 31, 2026) — Scientists say system to treat contaminated wastewater offers a model for ensuring food security in a fast-warming climate

Networks, sustainability and international development initiatives

[edit | edit source]
  • 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.

CDC video

[edit | edit source]
Cosmolocal discovery club

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

mqdefault.jpgYouTube_icon.svg
Moray Ocean Community film
Authors: Moray Ocean Community, 4.38 mins.
Date: 2025-12-13
mqdefault.jpgYouTube_icon.svg
The John Muir Trust: Our Wild Places
Authors: John Muir Trust, 6.50 mins.
Date: 2025-02-17
mqdefault.jpgYouTube_icon.svg
Malmesbury School- Connecting with Nature
Authors: John Muir Trust, 2.20 mins.
Date: 2024-12-05

Community action/Moray, Rewilding Scotland, Community action/Wiltshire / ...This week's featured Global videos / ... read more about Cosmolocalism

UK and international events

[edit | edit source]

UK events

  • Event Sep 7 - 11, 2026 (Mon-Fri) — Zero Waste Week, zerowasteweek.co.uk
  • Event Sep 11 - 20, 2026 (Fri-Sun) — Heritage Open Days, celebrating our fantastic history and culture. Your chance to see hidden places and try out new experiences – all of which are FREE to explore, heritageopendays.org.uk
  • Event Sep 18 - 27, 2026 (Fri-Sun) — Great British Beach Clean, mcsuk.org

UK community action events

Global or international events

  • Event Sep 15, 2026 (Tue) — Free Money Day, Global invitation for people to explore, in a liberating and fun way, what it might be like if our relationship to money was a little different. Sep 15, annually, freemoneyday.org
  • Event Sep 18, 2026 (Fri) — Park(ing) day, global, public, participatory project where people across the world temporarily repurpose curbside parking spaces and convert them into public parks and social spaces to advocate for safer, greener, and more equitable streets for people, myparkingday.org
  • Event Sep 21-27, 2026 (Mon-Sun) — Global Week Of Action For Peace And Climate Justice, climatemilitarism.org
  • Event Sep 21, 2026 (Mon) — International Day of Peace, Globally shared date, Sep 21 each year for all humanity to commit to Peace above all differences and to contribute to building a Culture of Peace, internationaldayofpeace.org

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

Cambridge video

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

Community resources

[edit | edit source]
  • Makespace, community inventing shed, Cambridge

Community and voluntary action

[edit | edit source]

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

[edit | edit source]

Maps: Map of Cambridge Growing Spaces

Community farm

Cohousing

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

Towards sustainable economies

[edit | edit source]

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

[edit | edit source]
  • 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

[edit | edit source]

Cycling activism

[edit | edit source]

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

[edit | edit source]
  • 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

[edit | edit source]
mqdefault.jpgYouTube_icon.svg
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 city of Peterborough is the largest settlement.

News archive

[edit | edit source]

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

[edit | edit source]

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

[edit | edit source]

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-4.0
Language English (en)
Related 0 subpages, 2 pages link here
Redirects Cambridge community action
Views 44 page views (analytics)
Created November 20, 2022 by Phil Green
Last edit August 28, 2026 by Phil Green
Cookies help us deliver our services. By using our services, you agree to our use of cookies.