In the natural world, the transfer of resources between landscape features such as the corridors and patches that make up the mosaic of ecological niches is increased where those boundaries are more complex.

This article describes research that builds on a previous study of social capital conducted in 2002 and 2003 in a Canadian community, exploring the relationship between agency and sustainable community development.

Diversity is a key component for resilience within systems, including human societies. Our natural tendency towards homophily, however, impedes diversity within human societies and economies. Bio-diverse ecosystems, though themselves threatened, can act as a model for diverse and more resilient human societies.

Community level action towards sustainable development has emerged as a key scale of intervention in the effort to address our many serious environmental issues. This is hindered by the large-scale destruction of both urban neighbourhoods and rural villages in the second half of the twentieth century.

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the potential of online communication technologies to facilitate university‐led transdisciplinary sustainable development research and lower the ecological footprints of such research projects. A series of case studies is to be explored.

Design/methodology/approach

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to discuss the potential of online communication technologies to facilitate university‐led transdisciplinary sustainable development research and lower the ecological footprints of such research projects. A series of case studies is to be explored.

Research in Canada and Australia has shown that social capital is a necessary condition for sustainable community development as it enhances linking ties that increase access to resources outside the community.

Many brownfield development projects and many redevelopment projects aimed at improving older urban spaces list sustainable development as a stated goal.

Our collective identity as Canadians and our conception of the environment is largely one of endless forests, untamed rivers and free-ranging wildlife. This vision, however, no longer reflects the reality of most of our lives. Four out of five Canadians live in major cities or their suburbs, far from the landscapes depicted on postcards.

The question of scale has been of ongoing interest in the sustainable development discourse, particularly with regard to the size, geographical extent, and complexity of human systems.