Understanding South Devon
Sensing the bioregion
South Devon is more than a landscape—it’s a living 'whole' made up of interconnected ecological systems and social systems that contain many stories of place, old and new. What do you notice? A place shaped by Rias, deep and narrow drowned valleys...110km of coastal path that connect Plymouth to Torbay...colossal hedgerows that divide notorious Devon roads from farmland...empty shops in urban areas and high crime rate statistics (like many other places)... towns and villages wondering what devolution and local government reorganisation will bring? What are our senses telling us? Do we feel the matrix of contradictions we live with, see the withdrawal of nature? How do we perceive this place as it is, and how does a bioregional framing help?
Start by noticing
BLC's invitation is to find ways to relate differently to the place we think we know. One way we do this is through impromptu conversation, listening or drawing in a small group, as part of our Creative Meet-ups. "Pay attention to what is important, not just what is quantifiable. Our culture, obsessed with numbers, has given us the idea that what we can measure is more important than what we can't measure. You can look around and make up your own mind about whether quantity or quality is the outstanding characteristic of the world in which you live." - Donella Meadows, professor at Dartmouth College, long-time organic farmer, journalist, and systems analyst.
"The weeds that are thriving in the garden. A pothole that doesn't want to be fixed. The taste of a glass of water. Coal burning in the evening air. A swarm of fruit flies and not so many spiders. The bus that didn't show up again. Start noticing small changes. What systems are they part of?"
Intelligence(s) as relationship
Our bioregion is not a backdrop, but a living, breathing organism that we belong to. To sense the bioregion means to cultivate awareness, attentiveness, and reciprocity to build both relational intelligence and intelligence within relationships. The arts can guide us into these deeper, more complex relationships. To understand the bioregion we need expertise, lived experience, stories, maps and data, but we also need attunement: to moss and marsh, to magnetic fields and mycelium, to the voices of rivers and the silences of caves. It is learning to see intelligence not as possession, but as a relationship.
"The opportunity we have is to collectively explore the concept of bioregioning through the eyes of the artist, performer or storyteller in order to envision what people, and the land, sea and air, actually need."
Ecosystem connectivity
South Devon is home to diverse habitats like hedgerows, moorland peat bogs, ancient woodland, coastal saltmarshes and seagrass beds that support 'rare species assemblages'. This range of habitats and their complex association with temperature, water, light, soil, and air, support biodiversity and play a critical role in climate resilience by storing carbon and managing water flow. In nature, ecosystems thrive when different species collaborate, including predator-prey dynamics.
"We are in love with the resilient pockets of saltmarshes we have here... saltmarsh plants have evolved to tolerate the salt they are exposed to, as well as short periods underwater. Sea asters transport the salt they absorb into older leaves which they then drop. Cordgrass excrete salt through glands in their leaves. Saltmarsh plants are opportunistic, spreading seeds and migrating into new areas in response to their changing environment."
Bringing a bioregion to life
Fragility and potential are often found together. A saltmarsh may be vulnerable to erosion but also rich in carbon storage and biodiversity. A degraded woodland may show loss but also carry the seeds of renewal. A person has the potential to change, either for the worse or the better. These things are unseen, but they also have a presence, a liveliness. Actions that reveal, like generosity, conversation, art, design and mapping, and add depth, like creating sound, texture, metaphor and story, help us move beyond the familiar, to see a place differently by feeling what's alive within it, and stir to action.
"Caring and belonging emerge when people experience their place as alive and connected to their own well-being."
Bio-cultural identity
The word 'culture' comes from the Latin cultus, which means 'care', and from the French colere, which means 'to till', as in 'till the ground'. South Devon has an identity that includes centuries-old maritime, trading and farming traditions that link us to people in the north and the south. While our foundational rock is identical to that found in France (the land itself tells its own story). What if South Devon were known for its deep relationship with land and sea, and connection out into the world, but also for altering patterns of behaviour embedded in the culture, for shifting the needle on climate adaptation, for innovating with less not more, for collectively bringing back the care–for the whole bioregion?
"South Devon feels soft, perhaps from the sea air? I perceive it as an edge place, but culturally it's not edgy... it's fertile and fruitful. Somewhere you come home to. You can feel privilege in places... old estates with murky pasts and lots of second homes. We are asking, "What could South Devon's bio-cultural identity become?"
What else is at work here?
Adapting to a changing climate
South Devon’s unique geography makes it particularly vulnerable to climate change. Rising sea levels threaten coastal communities, while increased flooding and droughts disrupt ecosystems and livelihoods. The South Devon bioregion is not confined by political boundaries. It stretches from the Tamar to the Teign and from where our rivers rise on Dartmoor down to the sea. We know that climate adaptation is going to take all of us working together and that climate change does not recognise the confines of boundaries between sectors or districts. Now we are getting organised so we can move into action, focusing on an enabling infrastructure for this work whilst considering how, when and with whom to unfold a story about the need for climate adaptation, such that any invitation to participate in the joining-up process we are envisioning is met with interest and enthusiasm.
View our projects
Balancing transaction with nature's needs
South Devon’s economy relies heavily on the tourism, agriculture and care sectors, plus a network of small businesses, all of which face pressures from rising costs, environmental degradation and the challenges of an unknown future. With partners, we’re developing a funding ecosystem that identifies projects or enterprises that will enable regeneration across South Devon. We plan to map existing financial activity, gather case studies, and explore models that connect funding more directly to land, nature and community outcomes. With this ambition comes the role of attracting people to, and explaining the concept of, the "offer". Sensing has a role here too, people need to feel the difference that this funding ecosystem could make.
View our projects
Fostering connection and equity
Thriving communities are at the heart of South Devon’s resilience. However, challenges like housing affordability, access to resources and social inequality create barriers that are difficult to overcome. By working strategically through our Pillars (co-developing alternative governance and finance structures) and simultaneously undertaking practical actions like creative meet-ups, workshops and events, BLC aims to advocate for, and demonstrate the importance of, connection, fairness and the sense of belonging.
View our projectsBringing about change through local action
Our projects bring people together to create tangible pathways to action for South Devon’s unique challenges, and for bioregions everywhere. From restoring ecosystems to co-creating a learning programme, these projects showcase what’s possible when we work together.
