Constructing sustainable communities: a theoretical exploration of the bio-economy and eco-economy paradigms

Understanding how sustainable communities of place and of interest may be constructed will partly depend upon how these communities emerge from the ageing carbonist model of spatial development. This paper argues that this process is well underway by means of the development of two co-evolving ecologically modernising paradigms: the bio-economy and the eco-economy models. It conceptually explores the different trajectories and contestations of these paradigms; arguing more broadly that these are becoming significant drivers for re-structuring corporate and competitive strategies between firms, and market and spatial development between and within places. With a focus specifically upon the changing configuration of European rural regions and their wider regional positioning as valuable repositories for a range of ecological goods and services, the paper argues that the playing out of these contestations, and the abilities of communities and networks to work within and between them, will provide a major driver for constructing sustainable communities.