Community in transition : crisis and resilience in a Welsh deindustrialised village

The presentation explored how residents of a deindustrialised Welsh village cope with overlapping crises and ongoing social change. Based on three years of ethnographic and participatory research, it showed how the decline of industry, austerity, and recent disruptions such as Brexit, the pandemic, and rising living costs have eroded collective life and local solidarity. It highlighted how everyday acts of care, humour, and neighbourly support help people manage in times of uncertainty, while also revealing growing fatigue as responsibility for welfare increasingly falls on individuals and communities. The presentation concluded that meaningful and sustainable transitions must be shaped together with local residents, rooted in their histories and lived realities, rather than imposed from outside.