Current forecasts show that, in spite of the recession, 4.5 million new households will be built in England by 2026. Across Europe, 32 new towns are in development. In Asia we are seeing developments on an unprecedented scale. Some estimates suggest that in the next three years, 100 new Chinese cities, each with a population of over a million people, will be created. But many new urban developments have failed. Even if they were physically well-designed they often suffered from poor social design - leaving inhabitants cut off, alienated and afraid - gleaming new developments as unhappy places where no one wants to live.

There is widespread understanding of the physical and environmental challenges involved in creating new settlements. We know that architecture shapes social interactions and our sense of place, and that green spaces help wellbeing. How to design out crime and influence perceptions of safety is also relatively well understood. However, experience shows that high aspirations for new settlements often end in failure because little attention is paid to the supports and services that make communities work socially.There have been many high profile failures - from Park Hill in Sheffield to London's Broadwater Farm, and from the banlieues of Paris to the Priutt-Igoe in St Louis and Cabrini-Green in Chicago. Yet despite the huge costs associated with these failures, very few new communities are designed and planned with social sustainability in mind. Already there is evidence that the current generation of new cities and towns is running into problems. Chenggong, in Western China, and Ordos and Qingshuihe in Inner Mongolia, are examples of China's "ghost towns", new communities no more than ten years old which were designed to attract investment and develop the local economy but which today stand empty and unfinished.

The aim of Future Communities, a new consortium led by the Young Foundation, is to explore practical ways for new housing settlements to succeed as communities where people want to live, work and thrive.

Over the past six months we have carried out a large scale review of evidence about what makes new communities flourish, capturing the lessons from the new towns and cities in Europe, China, Malaysia, the US, Egypt and many other places. Drawing on this work we have developed a practical framework for designing in social sustainability which will be published before the end of 2010.

This work identifies four essential elements: social infrastructure like shops, neighbourhood parks, community groups and local transport; supports for local social and cultural life, to help build local social networks, establish local norms and behaviour, and encourage a sense of belonging; opportunities for residents to have a voice and influence over local decisions, especially issues that shape their new community and services; and lastly, flexibility that provides space for communities to evolve and grow over time.

The past has taught us that for new communities to succeed in the long-term, social sustainability is as important as the quality of buildings and public spaces, economic and environmental sustainability. In the same way that standards of environmental sustainability have become widely adopted in recent years, thinking about social sustainability needs to be integrated into policy and professional practice across a whole range of disciplines - architecture, planning, construction, economic development and housing management. This will be genuinely challenging, but is essential if we are to avoid the mistakes of the past.

Future Communities is a partnership between the Young Foundation, the Homes and Communities Agency, Local Government Improvement and Development, and local partners in the UK and Scandinavia who are developing new communities. Examples include Barking Riverside in East London, a large-scale regeneration area that will house 26,0000 people, over the next 10 years, and Aylesbury Vale District Council, currently building several thousand new homes around the town.

For more information about Future Communities please contact Saffron Woodcraft or Nicola Bacon.