Future Communities

The Government has ambitious plans to build three million new homes by 2020. While much is known about what makes homes physically and environmentally sustainable, much less is known about the social aspects of what makes a community thrive. The Future Communities consortium will explore what makes places socially sustainable: how we can create places where people want to live.

The aim is to build a practical understanding of what can be done to encourage the right mix of social engagement, networks, mutual support, public institutions, leadership and shared identities, to make sure that new communities succeed. The programme will draw on local and international ideas from architects, designers, and the academic community.

Consortium members include the Homes and Communities Agency, IDeA, Birmingham City Council, and other local authority partners.

The consortium programme will include learning visits for members and an individually tailored practical project to explore in more detail an area of particular interest to each consortium member. The programme will build on the themes we explored through the seminar series with the Homes and Communities Agency (then English Partnerships) in 2008. Research questions will include:

• how to get the right balance of design and ‘incompleteness’ in new developments so that residents can play a shaping role
• how to cultivate social networks and relationships
• how to manage participation of existing and prospective residents in design and decisions
• how to cultivate identity and belonging, through activities, rituals and rhythms
• managing diversity and conflicts between different groups and interests
• lessons about leadership at different scales, from the neighbourhood up to whole developments
• exploring the link between participation and pro-environmental behaviour
• strengthening the relationships between key local stakeholders, including local authorities, health, police, transport agencies as well as housing providers and local voluntary and community sectors
• the location, governance and roles of key public institutions from primary schools to post offices
• physical design and conviviality (including the roles of pathways, lines of sight etc)
• the role to be played by other institutions, including local media, websites, exchanges and forums
• how to build income streams for long term maintenance of community facilities and activities, through endowments, development trusts, community land trusts etc
• how to incorporate these measures effectively and efficiently, building on both officer and community capabilities and strengths

The programme will run for three years and findings will be shared among the consortium partners and distributed to wider networks.  For more information about the consortium please contact Nicola Bacon, Local Projects Director, [nicola.bacon(at)youngfoundation.org] or Saffron Woodcraft, Neighbourhoods Programme Leader, [saffron.woodcraft(at)youngfoundation.org].

Futurecommunties.net
In early 2009, the Young Foundation launched futurecommunties.net Sponsored by HCA, IDeA and CIH, the site is aimed at everyone involved in building the successful sustainable communities of the future.

futurecommunities.net focuses on community participation and place management. It explores how new developments can become socially, economically and environmentally sustainable, building in resident involvement and engagement from the start.

The website draws on the stories and experiences of a range of practitioners from both England and further afield, drawing out lessons and inspiration for agencies and residents.