Successful social entrepreneurship and its potential contribution to more sustainable cities and built environments

Globally, social entrepreneurship has caught the attention of academics and researchers, and there is a growing body of knowledge on how it differs from traditional entrepreneurship and where its main challenges lie. In Finland, for example, the number of social enterprises has been growing consistently since 2010. The Finnish case is particularly intriguing because of the country’s wide social coverage, which on a first approach, might lead to the assumption that social enterprises are not “so necessary” in Finland. However, the matter is more complex than it initially appears. Moreover, the European commitment to make the transition to a just and green society, in compliance with the ambitious objectives of the European Green Deal, as well as to materialize the so-called economy of wellbeing, exerts pressure on public administrations that perhaps social enterprises can help alleviate. Despite many open questions, successful social enterprises-that is, those whose mission, strategy, and impact measurement are strongly aligned-can be critical in addressing social or environmental issues that remain largely unaddressed by other actors, whether public or private, in any field, without compromising their growth potential and their ability to attract interested investors. Considering, on the one hand, the wide range of opportunities offered by the built environment in terms of open challenges; and on the other hand, the fact that in the future there will be more pressure on companies to be more socially responsible, it may be worth looking at how social enterprises can help close these gaps. To encourage the contribution of social enterprises to more sustainable cities and built environments, this document will discuss what successful social entrepreneurship looks like and show a couple of examples of social enterprises from the UK and Norway, one operating in the affordable housing sector and the other dedicated to sustainable urban development.