Making The Local Global
Birmingham has been bullishly making its way up the global pecking order for a few years now and the scene is set for the city to push on over the next decade and become a true world player. The relentless regeneration of the city (even Snobs has had to move homes…) is certainly a positive, yet there is a real chance that the benefits of going global will not be felt by the local. Impact Hub Birmingham has a vital role to play in making sure it is. The implications of Brum’s emergence as a global city are quite likely to accelerate the inequality so visible in the city if you open your eyes (I find that the view out over one of Europe’s most disadvantaged areas from the 10th floor of one of Europe’s most expensive public buildings emphasises this well). I am co-founding an Impact Hub in Birmingham so that as and when the global meets the local in Birmingham, the local benefits as well.
I believe Impact Hub Birmingham will be the platform where every individual driven by the vision of a better Birmingham (and its already pretty damn good) comes together to share, learn and build. Independents and corporations, big groups and small, the known and the unknown will all come together to share ideas and inspiration, creating new connections and change in a city which often fails to build from the bottom up. I have spent many hours in some of Brum’s finest alehouses trying to figure out why it was that this idea of ‘globalised localism’ and its impact mattered to me, and in the end I think it comes down to three reasons:
1. Connecting Local Talent Directly To Global Audiences
Impact Hub Birmingham is crucial to the growth of the local (and social) economy in Birmingham as it will allow people, communities and entrepreneurs from the city to engage directly with peers, markets and audiences from across the globe. The idea of an aspiring designer in Nechells being able to exhibit, and sell, their work to people in places such as Singapore, Sydeny and San Francisco is inspiring to me. Impact Hub Birmingham can do this as it is part of a global network of 10,000 individuals in 60 Hubs across the world. Ensuring access to this worldwide market and network is vital to ensuring that Brum’s global expansion benefits the Brummies. As an emerging city, poised to be flooded with investment from around the world (particularly from Beijing and London), Impact Hub Birmingham has a vital role to play in making sure this flows down to local talent.
2. Crafting Collective Solutions To Common Problems
Youth unemployment, generational joblessness and sweeping service cuts are all problems Birmingham faces, but they are not problems it needs to face alone. There are cities across the world facing these challenges and that means there are tools, experiences and innovations which Birmingham can utilise. Impact Hub Birmingham offers a way for communities and cities to come together and tackle common global problems through local delivery. It is an awesome thought that young people in Sparkhill are closer to (or even in!) employment because of learning from successful approaches from somewhere such as Sarajevo. Birmingham is home to excellent and determined people acting for the social good, Impact Hub Birmingham gives a chance for these people to form relationships, and learn from, those people doing similar work the world over. If a city wants to be globally known, it should play its part in tackling global problems — Impact Hub Birmingham will give our city the ability to do exactly that.
3. Making The Local Local
Making ‘the global’ benefit ‘the local’ is a real driver for me in co-founding Impact Hub Birmingham — I am a fully subscribed member to the ‘activate local resources to meet local need’ club. There is a challenge here for Birmingham (and me) as what the ‘local’ is for the city is, at best, contested. There is an abundance of talent, ideas and activity within (and without) the boundaries of the number 11 bus route. These purpose driven and passionate people often act in isolation — I am talking about the independent businesses scattered across the city, the creatives operating out of their bedrooms and the bloggers typing away in their kitchens. I am talking about everyone and anyone in Birmingham that is working hard to make the world a better place to be. These people are all part of a community, and part of a movement doing good — they just haven’t come together yet. Impact Hub Birmingham is needed to give these local projects a playground, so that networks, ideas and experiences can be pooled and come together to catalyse Birmingham wide activities and impact. I truly believe that Impact Hub Birmingham will help shape what the ‘local’ is in Birmingham, and that this identity shines through as the city becomes more and more globally connected.
Birmingham is going global, and Impact Hub Birmingham has a role to play in making sure this global stays local.
If you share our purpose then pledge your support at https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/immykaur/epic-brum-making-impact-hub-birmingham-a-reality/rewards
Or even better, come check out our space and join the movement:
http://impacthubbrumopenhouse.eventbrite.co.uk/
Big Credit to Verity Miligan (@vemsteroo) for the quality photo backdrop
