Chatting About Localism explores how Britain may change as the age of continuous economic growth comes to an end.

For generations, governments have assumed that economic growth would provide the money needed to maintain public services, infrastructure and rising living standards. That assumption is becoming less credible. Energy is becoming more costly to obtain, public and private debt continues to grow, and increasingly complex national systems are becoming difficult to maintain.

The result will not be a temporary recession followed by renewed growth. It will be a prolonged shrinking of the economy.

Localism will emerge naturally from this process. As large and distant systems become less affordable, more of the essentials of life will have to be provided closer to where people live. Food production, care, basic health services, education, maintenance, repair, small-scale energy and local transport may increasingly be organised within localities.

This does not mean the disappearance of national government. Britain will continue to need a national core responsible for defence, taxation, telecommunications, specialist hospitals, major railways and other services that cannot sensibly be provided locally.

Localism is therefore not separatism or a rejection of the State. It is a different division of responsibilities between national government and self-reliant localities.

The localism discussed on this blog is democratic, peaceful and inclusive. It does not advocate revolution, violence, intimidation or hostility towards any group of people. Everyone who lawfully lives within a locality should have an opportunity to participate in its life and future.

Nor is localism a political programme that can simply be imposed from Westminster. It is more likely to develop from the bottom up as families, neighbours, small businesses and community organisations respond to practical needs and problems. Different localities will develop in different ways according to their people, land, resources and circumstances.

The blog considers subjects including food, energy, employment, housing, transport, government, technology, community life and the revival of practical local skills. It also examines the distinction between essential and discretionary economic activity, and how a shrinking economy might affect each.

The purpose is not to predict every detail of the future. It is to recognise the direction in which economic circumstances may be carrying us and to consider how localities can remain secure, humane and capable.

I write from the perspective of a retired civil and transport engineer with experience in local government, university research and business. My interest is in how systems work, how they become too complicated and how they might be reorganised on a smaller and more understandable scale.

Localism is not a return to the past. Nor is it a promise of endless material abundance. It is a way of thinking about how people might live well within tighter economic, energy and environmental limits.

The aim should not be growth at any cost. It should be resilient localities in which sufficiency, human relationships and quality of life matter more than the continuous expansion of consumption.