Better Bedfordview promotes community action at business breakfast
Better Bedfordview hosts a Business Breakfast themed "The Power of Positive Contagion," which unpacks how positive actions spread across neighbourhoods and transform them.
Residents, community leaders and business owners committed to investing in a better Bedfordview took part in the Better Bedfordview business breakfast.
The event was held on World Emoji Day (July 17). Attendees enjoyed some interactive fun based on the breakfast’s theme, ‘The Power of Positive Contagion’, where they spread positive emoji messages by pasting the stickers on each other.
Better Bedfordview chairperson Marina Constas reflected on why some communities flourish while others quietly decline.
She said, “If we can answer that question honestly, then Better Bedfordview ceases to be simply another neighbourhood initiative; instead, it becomes a model, perhaps even a blueprint, for the future of urban communities in South Africa.”
ALSO READ: Better Bedfordview to host 2026 Business Breakfast with international affairs expert
Constas referred to a study conducted years ago whereby researchers conducted meticulous research involving hundreds of neighbourhoods on why certain neighbourhoods flourish while others, often with remarkably similar economic circumstances, steadily deteriorate.
She said the researchers concluded that the defining characteristic of successful communities is something they described as collective efficacy.
Constas defined it as the shared confidence that neighbours trust one another sufficiently to act together in pursuit of the common good.
“Neighbourhoods characterised by high levels of collective efficacy experienced significantly lower levels of violent crime, stronger social cohesion and healthier public spaces. Perhaps most importantly, residents did not simply coexist. They accepted shared responsibility for the environment in which they lived.”
Constas further said Better Bedfordview has been cultivating collective efficacy from the very beginning.
“We thought we were improving streets. In reality, we were rebuilding trust. We thought we were planting gardens; in reality we were cultivating ownership.
ALSO READ: Better Bedfordview marks four years of making a difference
“Building confidence and once ignited, confidence has an extraordinary tendency to spread. Just like hope. Just like leadership. Positive contagion,” Constas said.
Elizabeth Sidiropoulos, chief executive of the South African Institute of International Affairs, said contagion often refers to the transmission of crises – financial or political – across borders, but it also applies to the spread of norms, stability, and democratic practices.
She added that four concepts from international relations help connect global politics with local neighbourhood action.
First is the domino theory, which assumes that when one important country stops caring for the system, or one person stops looking after their pavement, or when cynicism spreads, it creates a ‘normative vacuum’.
ALSO READ: Better Bedfordview needs residents’ support
Others feel that since the ‘social contract’ is breaking down, they are no longer bound by it either. It reminds us that apathy is a choice that affects the whole ecosystem.
Second is the democratic wave or diffusion of norms. Sidiropoulos said IR scholars study how democracy and human rights norms spread. When one country transitions to democracy, it often creates a ‘demonstration effect’, where neighbouring citizens are inspired to demand similar rights.
When one neighbour decides to beautify their home or start a community garden, they are exporting a new norm of engagement.
She added, “Change doesn’t happen through policy from the top; you can inspire it through presence. By making your positive actions highly visible, you are effectively ‘democratising’ the responsibility of looking after the neighbourhood.”
A prominent IR scholar, Joseph Nye, coined the term soft power, which is the third concept, as the ability to get what you want through attraction and persuasion rather than coercion or payment.
ALSO READ: Better Bedfordview announces seven winners in Best Pavements Competition
Sidiropoulos said soft power is the ultimate tool of positive contagion. “In a neighbourhood, this is your ability to influence others through kindness, reliability, and enthusiasm. It builds long-term resilience and trust.”
She added that ultimately, it turns collective civic responsibility into a tangible competitive advantage, proving that public well-being thrives when people believe their neighbours are playing by the same rules. Positive contagion is the ultimate force multiplier.
Volunteering time or making a small investment in a neighbourhood project yields a return on investment that grows as neighbours replicate your behaviour.
The fourth concept, which is the paradox of disruption and the Arab Spring in IR, is the classic distinction between mobilisation (the ability to tear down an old order) and institutionalisation (the ability to build a new, stable one).
She said the Arab Spring proved that you can spark a revolution with a viral message. But history shows that the revolution only lasts if you build a system to hold the ground you’ve won.
ALSO READ: Better Bedfordview grows greener, safer suburbs through community action
“If a neighbourhood initiative is just a loose group of friends, it will dissolve when the initial excitement fades. If it is a registered body, it becomes a ‘counter-institution’ that the city council or local police must interact with as a peer.
Better Bedfordview expressed their gratitude to the event MC, Guy Kilfoil, and to their business partners, WTW Willis and BMW Bedfordview.
