Social Innovation
Social innovation- who is it for?
While social innovation can solve many social ills, more thinking needs to be done on how to connect the benefits of social innovation with a greater and more diverse consumer base.
Difficult Families
Nicola Bacon reflects on the problem of what to do with the ‘most difficult' families.
A new dawn....
Omar Salem attempts to apply the Young Foundation's approach to social innovation to 'Thoughts in Progress' (TIPs).
Looking beyond grime and crime
How can we go beyond the 'cleaner, safer, greener' agenda in neighbourhood work?
Supporting local government to innovate
Local government has a great tradition of innovating imaginatively and there's growing interest in how the sector can take this forward more systematically.
Why can't a woman be more like a social entrepreneur?
Social enterprise is widely recognized as an attractive and worthwhile career for women yet, in the UK, they are far fewer in number than their male counterparts. Why is this?
The End of Empowerment?
It’s a shame that Hazel Blears’ Empowerment Bill has been dropped at precisely the time when voters need more not less confidence in local and national politicians
Flower power
'Help a London Park' has sparked a wealth of new collaborative social networks and activity at a very local level across London - but more could be done to harness this energy.
Change in more ways than one
President Obama brings changes in process as well as policy employing new technologies and direction
Social Impact Bonds and Social Value
The thinking behind the development of a new financial tool to invest money in social outcomes
MaRS Attacks
When the NHS sold the Middlesex Hospital in Central London in 2006, we turned it into a very smart block of Candy & Candy luxury flats. When the Canadian health service had finished with the old Toronto General Hospital in the city’s University District, they turned it into this. I can’t help feeling we missed a trick.
Is WEB 2.0 a revolution or just good marketing?
Web 2.0 has become a ubiquitous term (for definitions there is an extensive entry in Wikipedia). For many millions it means the networking of Myspace, Bebo and Facebook, which have spread with great speed and will probably disappear with equal speed in the not too distant future.
Collective intelligence and collective stupidity
Over the last few years I’ve become interested in the question of collective intelligence: how do large groups, societies or nations mobilise their intelligence to make the most of opportunities or avoid threats.
Service Campus- Outline Proposal
For decades there has been talk of a service economy with a shift in patterns of employment and economic activity, a rise of powerful companies in retail and finance, and a wave of new methods for maximizing productivity in services.
Cycle Routes in London
If you, like me, are a fan of cycling in London you will know how frustrating it is trying to plan journeys around the capital. There is no resource that currently exists to map out the best cycling routes around London ...
Sense of Place
Manchester City Council recently launched A Sense of Place, a framework for engaging the city’s residents. The theory behind the project is that by better understanding residents, their culture and stories, community cohesion will improve and the council will be better placed to tailor services to the community.
Eco Towns in the UK - an innovation?
The government’s Eco-town prospectus, published in July 2007, claims that the towns of Northstowe and Cranbrook are ‘already demonstrating how new settlements can stimulate innovation and provide a large scale test bed for some of the new technologies needed to achieve zero carbon.’ The two towns, though not officially part of CLG’s proposed Eco-town plan, are currently in construction and have been designed to utilise some environmentally-friendly technologies, such as photovoltaic panels and microgeneration.
Neighbourhood Information Systems
Through the Young Foundation’s work with Local Authorities we are increasingly hearing that many are frustrated in conducting neighbourhood analysis in order to report, identify issues facing their neighbourhoods, and develop strategies to meet the needs of their communities.
Building a new generation of Social Innovators
I was recently in Macedonia at the International President Meeting of AIESEC, the international youth leadership organisation, where I ran a session for the newly elected national presidents from 100 countries on goal-setting for the year ahead. I was a member of the organisation for 9 years and the cornerstone of its work is developing leaders who believe they can make a positive impact on the world.
Those old stereotypes...
Sitting in his local village pub in North Yorkshire, Biff decides to convey his latest thoughts on life to his nearest barfly, “What about those bloody migrants?” he says, “Coming here and taking our jobs. How are people like me supposed to find work?” His drinking buddy looks perplexed, “You haven’t worked for fifteen years Biff…”
Creatively maladjusted...
Last week, I was standing on the forecourt of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. Forty years ago almost to the day Martin Luther King Jr. was murdered there for trying to make the world a better, more just place.
Packing the punch of reality
Muscle strains as the last gasp of hope leaves the weary boxer. The brutal suspension in time of a boxing match drawn by George Bellows in 1917 and entitled A Stag at Sharkey’s, packs the punch of reality experienced first hand.
Wiki-wideopen? Wiki-don't let them shut you up.
At the Index on Censorship Freedom of Expression Awards, honouring those whom, often at great personal risk, give voice to issues and stories from around the world that would otherwise have passed unnoticed, the Economist New Media Award was won by Wikileaks.
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