(after Steve Charter, Transition Forest Row)

The seven layers identified as existing in a woodland or forest system can be used to identify seven dimensions of activity in a local community and local economy:

1. Private sector business equates with the canopy as it is uses and produces more energy and resources than any other sector; overall it needs a lot of light, soil and water;
2. The public sector equates with the under-storey, often in the economic / resources shadow of business, although it has a very important role;
3. Small businesses (SME’s) are like the shrubs, in that they are smaller in scale but much more numerous in number than the trees, and in many ways are equally important and productive in the overall system;
4. Staffed / salaried third sector or community organisations are the vibrant herbaceous layer that spring up to fill in any gaps, bringing health giving vitality to the community;
5. Unpaid voluntary groups provide the ground cover that hold the ‘top soil’ of the community in place, and that provide a variety of useful benefits and outputs in the community;
6. Clubs, societies and people’s individual hobbies and pursuits, like gardening, sculpture or sport for example, equates to the root layer or rhizosphere, quietly growing away below the surface, often unseen, yet always playing an important role in a balanced and healthy community;
7. The education sector is the vertical climbing layer that stretches up and weaves its way through all the other layers.

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