Wales in 2051: Collaborative hubs for the private sector that improve efficiency

In the fourth instalment of the Welcome to Wales in 2051 provocation, we introduce our next character, Luke, Cameron’s father, who tells us about how he remodelled ways the private sector work in partnership to address pressing challenges in the city of Swansea in 2051.

Our previous story was about eleven-year-old Cameron, who told the journalist about his education system and the way it equips students with the skills they need to tackle relevant societal challenges. After hearing Cameron’s story, our journalist seizes the opportunity to interview Cameron’s father, Luke, an innovative business developer who has restructured the way businesses operate in Swansea in 2051.   

A day in the life of Luke

Just as Luke was about to bid farewell to the journalist, Adi said, “I think you should show him what you do.” So Luke found himself agreeing to show the journalist around and explain how he had become a business owner. He had hesitated at first, because deep down he felt his business was nothing special. But in fact, his company had tried a different operating method to the traditional shareholder-owned, value-driven business. The next day Luke and the journalist met on the outskirts of Swansea in a circular business hub. The site had plenty of greenery, a network of cycle lanes, the occasional EV delivery truck, painted murals and sculptures, and above all the rhythmic beat of music. The journalist stopped in some surprise. “I didn’t know you were a musician,” he said to Luke.

Luke smiled. “I’m not. I’m a circular economy coordinator, and this is the beating hub of the region.” The journalist’s brow furrowed, and he murmured something polite about the nearby artwork, hoping he hadn’t made it too obvious that he had no idea what Luke meant. If this is some kind of industrial estate, he thought to himself, then why does it have the vibe of a festival?  

Luke pointed out, in a very matter-of-fact way, a bird sanctuary, a vertical farm, a playground for both adults and their children, a canteen full of colourful produce, a walkway up in the sky, and a stream. Amid all of this were rows of warehouses with green walls, containers covered with solar panels, and what looked like a shop. 

It looked like something well-to-do neighbourhoods used to have decades earlier, but in 2051, it was an industrial estate.  

A little sheepishly the journalist admitted that he knew nothing about this hub, so Luke decided to tell him how it came about, what was being produced here, and how it benefitted everyone. 

Luke’s humble entry as a social enterpriser 

“It might surprise you,” Luke began, “to know that I wasn’t into this at all. I was nineteen when the world started falling apart, and I thought, ‘Ah, this is just a temporary downturn.’ Neither my parents nor my mates believed that climate change was going to affect us, and I thought that in no time at all I would be back to renovating houses for well-off people, and I’d retire at the age of forty to travel the world, and maybe settle down. But a year passed, and then another, and I began to panic. I blamed everyone for what was happening, and yet I still kept disputing facts that should have been obvious; I listened to the populist media channels, and followed influencers who had more wealth than two continents combined. I was in a really dark place, and all I wanted was insane wealth myself so I could run away from the city I loved. I didn’t connect my desire for wealth with the destruction of my community, let alone the world. And how could I? Nobody around me said anything, and I didn’t know enough to voice my nagging feeling that something wasn’t right. 

“But then one day I got a place on a six-month long programme with a local enterprise, which combined learning a new trade with building up the confidence to sell new skills. I didn’t know that the training programme was about learning to renovate houses with climate in mind, and acquiring a new business acumen through self-discovery. I was twenty-one at the time of the programme, and oh boy, I hated the first month. I was about ready to abandon the scholarship, but it was well-paid, and with boarding and a guaranteed job at the end, too. 

“So I stayed. I was probably the worst student in the first month, but by month five, I was second, and by the end, I was a top student and felt like Leonardo da Vinci. Okay, maybe I wasn’t able to paint masterpieces,” Luke said with a chuckle, “but I was able to think across disciplines, connect the dots, learn climate science, understand behaviour change science, learn from nature and anthropology how houses used to be built, and circulate materials in a closed-loop system.  

“The key that unlocked that knowledge – well, two keys really – were the tutors and the hands-on learning. Our tutors were blokes like me, who had been told they would amount to nothing, who had immense hunger for change but couldn’t articulate it in any other way than living up to the power and wealth-hungry masculine role models represented in social media. These lads were innovators, artists, and young fathers who had lost more than they gained trying to live up to the standard of living that didn’t deliver on the fundamental front: belonging.”

Connecting the dots to learning, practice, and funding 

Luke continued, “These tutors knew exactly what men go through, and they knew they could only instil a sense of belonging by showing a path where success meets belonging and emotional stability. This is where the second key to my transformation came in: we were placed on renovation projects alongside anthropologists, scientists, electricians, builders – and innovators. We weren’t just there to fix things, but to unlearn what we knew about houses, cities, nature, people and so forth. We had compulsory classes in nature and climate, but also on circular economy and materials science.  

“Because I had experience of renovating houses, it all clicked. I could understand how to build without waste; how to work with nature to reduce the use of artificial lighting; how to change the design of our houses to use rainwater and so on. Often we would draw on ancient literature for our ideas and plans.” 

The journalist asked how the funding for this was made possible, and Luke explained that the government in Wales had realised that they could unlock sustainability by investing in such training, and this was done on a massive scale across industries. When the students found jobs or opened their own businesses, they would sponsor another student; and so this cycle continued and grew bigger and bigger over time, with the government eventually able to step back and let it continue without their intervention. There was a clear understanding that only by investing in those without jobs, those who had lost them due to the unplanned transition, and young people who barely made a dent on the economy, would Wales be able to deliver on its sustainable commitments. 

After explaining this background, Luke moved on to the topic of the hub and his role in it. “When I finished my own training, I began travelling around the programmes in the agricultural sector, in manufacturing, healthcare and so forth, and came to the realisation that not only do we have the same mindset across industries, but we also need each other to keep going. So instead of clustering around sectors, we clustered around challenges and opportunities. This hub is about food challenge: to grow all year round, no waste, no imports; no additives; nutritious; within the carbon and nature budgets; and accessible. My role is to know what is being grown, how we can distribute it to where it needs to be, without packaging that will create waste, and how to create seasonal dishes without making people say ‘This is boring!’.  So we have artists and chefs from around the world making humble foods fun, inspirational and healthy.” 

Learning from nature and working in partnership 

Without prompting, Luke started telling the journalist about the impact of the hub. “It has been a great success because everyone can see how they benefit from being in the ecosystem of a challenge and opportunity, rather than in an ecosystem of competition, where the winner takes all but eventually loses as the newbie takes over. So we are learning from nature to be symbiotic, not parasitic! Which is why you see so much nature here. 

“We apply the same principles to our processes, we think before we use, we reuse or redesign and recycle, and so the system-thinking approach for us was the biggest game changer. Don’t get me wrong, some people do still want to have a more indulgent lifestyle, and want to keep the profit for themselves. And they can, but only after they’ve paid their fair share to the hub, the tax office and to the training programme. We recognise that there are moments in every business cycle where some things are done better than others, and that things can change due to the weather and other elements we can’t predict. That’s why we don’t envy someone else’s bumper year. We celebrate it, knowing this will benefit us all in the long term, and when a business has a lean year, others will come to the rescue. The collaboration and structure of working in the hub have made it evident that the businesses here are interdependent. If one breaks down, the rest will struggle. So on balance, we all win. However, until we had a few cycles of ups and downs, we couldn’t see the true value of this model. That’s why it was so important that the government held to its promise to support the programme and the hubs until we reached that new balance and learn to adapt to change and embrace it. 

“Our challenges are well predicted because we have climate models, and we know what effect they will have on us, so we plan years in advance. We have planning and strategy teams that work on new ideas while the old ones still function perfectly well. There are no questions as to why we plan for the future, because we know this is what a smart business owner does – plan ahead for foreseeable future challenges with a positive, yet realistic outlook.”  

The journalist raised his eyebrows slightly, wondering whether to say that perhaps this utopia only worked as a small, local model. But Luke had anticipated the question, and was already answering it. “This model is now used worldwide, because we know that collaboration yields more than competition. And look at us – we’re all still giddy here in this hub. We work hard, but we know it’s worth it for us, for our children, our colleagues, and citizens worldwide. 

“I love what I do, and I wish that everyone around the world could see the point of it. I get to have time with my family, I have a great life, I live in a beautiful home, and I eat healthy food. I don’t need the stuff I used to want, because the stuff I have now is perfect, it lasts and it can be passed on. I don’t need to chase after money to buy things that end up in the bin. My mates feel the same, and so we spend time outdoors here in beautiful Wales. It took time to restore it, but we got there in the end, which is why we cherish what we have.” 

For the first time the journalist was speechless, with no more questions to ask. Luke smiled again. “I’ve barely let you get a word in, have I? Go and enjoy the hub for a bit – have a wander around and soak up the atmosphere – and I think you’ll start to understand.”


Did you like this story? How did it make you feel? What aspects of the story provoked you the most? Email your response to shwmae@cynnalcymru.com.

Follow next week’s story about Aman, a refugee and farmer from the horn of Africa  who uses his expertise in flood resilience to turn the farmlands at a community farm into a flourishing community hub. 


How can we develop and use the skills needed to create a 2051 we are proud of? Join Karolina and Camille for a free online Green Skills event on 28th May

And how about training in climate and nature? Even better, why not help us help you become a future-proof business? Take a look at our range of services.

Please note that some AI-generated content is included in the featured image for this piece.

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