Chocolate, Corporate Social Responsibility and Eco-cities

[Mahazareen Dastur]

I know... the title sounds a tad(!) odd. After all, what does chocolate have to do with Corporate Social Responsibility and/or eco-cities? The answer might surprise you.

The original chocolate giant had humble beginnings. Established by a draper in Birmingham in the early nineteenth century, the small business saw many downs before it rose to become the chocolate empire to contend with in the late 1800s. Being staunch Quakers, the Cadbury brothers, George and Richard, were determined to do more than just build a business. They were determined "to make a better world" (ideals some companies aspire to adopt and practice, and what we term as "CSR" today; whether they actually succeed is a topic for another post!) With alcoholism, child slavery and poverty rife at the time, the Cadbury brothers were driven to do something concrete.

Above: The Cadbury brothers were driven by ideals such as purity and better value.
This drive was also translated into their experiment in better living called "Bournville".
(Image courtesy: Thisismoney.co.uk)

The brothers moved their chocolate-making factory outside of Birmingham, to create a "factory in a garden", and comfortable working spaces for all their employees. They called it Bournville. Rubbished by nay-sayers as an act of fanatics (Quakers were not looked upon with reverence), Bournville was gradually developed into more than just an employee-friendly factory. As Deborah Cadbury, the author of Chocolate Wars relates, the aim of the Cadbury brothers was "the 'amelioration of the conditions of the working class and labouring population', with a special emphasis on improving the quality of their life, with 'improved dwellings with gardens and open spaces to be enjoyed therewith'". Bournville graduated into a garden city with green belts, arranged in circular design with boulevards and avenues surrounding a central park. Most essentials were put within walking distance, thus making Bournville a precursor of what we refer to as "eco-cities" today. In fact, George Cadbury foresaw the Bournville as an important experiment in decongesting cities to marry (his emphasis) town and country.

Houses were sold or let to tenants (depending on what they could afford) on 999-year leases, some for as little as GBP150. Every house had a garden to keep the tenants self-sustainable when it came to food, by allowing them to produce about two shillings worth of vegetables and fruits per week, worth about GBP400 in today's prices. This gave the tenants a worthwhile incentive to adopt and cherish Bournville as their new home.

Some would have been content to rest on their laurels, but George Cadbury and his wife Elsie did not (Richard passed away in 1899). They went on to donate even larger sums of their personal wealth towards the development of schools, libraries, a scientific laboratory, indoor and outdoor pools (for the ladies and the gents, respectively), playgrounds, and a medical department (available free of charge). At the turn of the twentieth century, they even pioneered the pension scheme!

Above: Bournville workers and residents at Bournville Village Green.

(Image courtesy: BBC News)

No one can contest how novel and far-sighted these concepts were at the time. In 2003, the BBC reported Bournville as "one of the nicest places to live in the country", so the magic lives on. Many modern-day companies indulge in greenwashing, and most governments pay mere lip-service to sustainable living and eco-cities. But all it needs is one visionary (a couple in this case) and an ideal.