This document discusses neighborhoods and the importance of social capital and community engagement at the neighborhood level. It outlines several principles for supporting neighborhoods, including promoting neighbor relationships, stimulating participatory economic activity, accepting social diversity, and localizing decision-making. It also discusses challenges like engaging communities, building capacity, developing neighborhood leaders, and locating skills at the local level. The document emphasizes asset-based approaches and highlights the importance of community profiling, involvement, and building cohesive communities from the ground up.
Planners play an important role in building socially sustainable communities through urban consolidation. Urban consolidation allows for more compact, higher-density development near transport and services, with claimed benefits like reduced environmental impact, improved access to opportunities, and more affordable housing. However, critics argue that it can reduce social capital and community cohesion. The social sustainability of urban consolidation depends on embracing change and integrating new and existing communities through quality design, infrastructure, and community participation in the planning process.
This is expanded content related to the 2013 Webinar: Systematic Civic Stewardship: An Organizing Model for Leading Change in the Social Sector | Monday, June 3, 2013
This document discusses different perspectives on how communities have changed with urbanization and the rise of modern society. It summarizes key theorists' views on the transition from gemeinshaft to gesellschaft communities and the impact on personal relationships. The document also reviews empirical studies that tested whether communities have been "lost", "saved", or "liberated" in modern times. These studies found that while large-scale social changes have impacted communities, people still maintain important relationships through spatially dispersed but interconnected social networks, rather than through single solidary communities. The impact of the internet on communities is also examined, with research finding that it supplements rather than replaces offline contact and ties.
J litchfield - Welfare, social justice and violent conflictfreida_m
1. The document discusses the relationship between poverty, conflict, and their impacts on each other. It examines how poverty can contribute to the onset and duration of conflicts, and how conflicts can worsen poverty.
2. Research cited found that poor, marginalized groups were more likely to engage in conflict over scarce resources. Perceptions of fairness in land reform depended more on participation in decision-making than on the actual amount of land received.
3. Conflict can directly impact poverty through loss of assets, productivity and household composition, and indirectly by weakening institutions and trapping people in poverty. The impacts of conflict on poverty are often underestimated.
Transcending the depiction of market and non-market labour practices; implica...Degrowth Conference
This document discusses community engagement and its implications for de-growth. It summarizes a presentation that moves beyond depictions of formal vs informal labor and explores a spectrum of community engagement, including both paid and unpaid forms. It proposes a "Total Social Organization of Labour" approach that recognizes the complex and varied ways people participate in their communities. This framework could help rethink economic spaces and imagine alternative economic futures beyond traditional binary models.
MA literature review - social housing and property valuesVanessa Roccisano
The document summarizes research on the impact of social housing on surrounding property values. It finds:
- There is no consensus that social housing consistently negatively or positively impacts property values. Other neighborhood factors usually have a greater influence.
- Recent Australian studies found no appreciable impact of social housing on surrounding property values. The scale of social housing developments was also not associated with property values.
- Social housing can have a positive impact if it replaces depressed conditions through neighborhood renewal. Large-scale developments in disadvantaged neighborhoods tended to have a greater positive effect compared to smaller developments.
- Good management of social housing properties and involvement of local communities in the development process can help mitigate any negative impacts.
The document discusses 12 domains that are uniquely within the power of people to change through grassroots, community-led solutions. These domains include health and well-being, safety and security, the environment, nurturing the local economy, mindful food consumption and production, and raising children. The document argues that community connections and social networks are more important determinants of health outcomes than access to healthcare. It provides examples of grassroots environmental initiatives and emphasizes that local economic development is fueled by small, community-based enterprises. Overall, the document advocates for community empowerment and people-powered change as a way to positively impact many important areas of society.
Recentering Democracy Around Citizens Multimedia ReportMatt Leighninger
How might we redesign local democracy around the day-to-day goals and concerns of citizens? A set of leaders in civic engagement, including representatives of national associations that represent local officials, school systems, funders, and other leaders, met in early 2010 to compare notes on their work in communities and discuss possibilities for innovation. This report describes their discussion and recommendations.
Planners play an important role in building socially sustainable communities through urban consolidation. Urban consolidation allows for more compact, higher-density development near transport and services, with claimed benefits like reduced environmental impact, improved access to opportunities, and more affordable housing. However, critics argue that it can reduce social capital and community cohesion. The social sustainability of urban consolidation depends on embracing change and integrating new and existing communities through quality design, infrastructure, and community participation in the planning process.
This is expanded content related to the 2013 Webinar: Systematic Civic Stewardship: An Organizing Model for Leading Change in the Social Sector | Monday, June 3, 2013
This document discusses different perspectives on how communities have changed with urbanization and the rise of modern society. It summarizes key theorists' views on the transition from gemeinshaft to gesellschaft communities and the impact on personal relationships. The document also reviews empirical studies that tested whether communities have been "lost", "saved", or "liberated" in modern times. These studies found that while large-scale social changes have impacted communities, people still maintain important relationships through spatially dispersed but interconnected social networks, rather than through single solidary communities. The impact of the internet on communities is also examined, with research finding that it supplements rather than replaces offline contact and ties.
J litchfield - Welfare, social justice and violent conflictfreida_m
1. The document discusses the relationship between poverty, conflict, and their impacts on each other. It examines how poverty can contribute to the onset and duration of conflicts, and how conflicts can worsen poverty.
2. Research cited found that poor, marginalized groups were more likely to engage in conflict over scarce resources. Perceptions of fairness in land reform depended more on participation in decision-making than on the actual amount of land received.
3. Conflict can directly impact poverty through loss of assets, productivity and household composition, and indirectly by weakening institutions and trapping people in poverty. The impacts of conflict on poverty are often underestimated.
Transcending the depiction of market and non-market labour practices; implica...Degrowth Conference
This document discusses community engagement and its implications for de-growth. It summarizes a presentation that moves beyond depictions of formal vs informal labor and explores a spectrum of community engagement, including both paid and unpaid forms. It proposes a "Total Social Organization of Labour" approach that recognizes the complex and varied ways people participate in their communities. This framework could help rethink economic spaces and imagine alternative economic futures beyond traditional binary models.
MA literature review - social housing and property valuesVanessa Roccisano
The document summarizes research on the impact of social housing on surrounding property values. It finds:
- There is no consensus that social housing consistently negatively or positively impacts property values. Other neighborhood factors usually have a greater influence.
- Recent Australian studies found no appreciable impact of social housing on surrounding property values. The scale of social housing developments was also not associated with property values.
- Social housing can have a positive impact if it replaces depressed conditions through neighborhood renewal. Large-scale developments in disadvantaged neighborhoods tended to have a greater positive effect compared to smaller developments.
- Good management of social housing properties and involvement of local communities in the development process can help mitigate any negative impacts.
The document discusses 12 domains that are uniquely within the power of people to change through grassroots, community-led solutions. These domains include health and well-being, safety and security, the environment, nurturing the local economy, mindful food consumption and production, and raising children. The document argues that community connections and social networks are more important determinants of health outcomes than access to healthcare. It provides examples of grassroots environmental initiatives and emphasizes that local economic development is fueled by small, community-based enterprises. Overall, the document advocates for community empowerment and people-powered change as a way to positively impact many important areas of society.
Recentering Democracy Around Citizens Multimedia ReportMatt Leighninger
How might we redesign local democracy around the day-to-day goals and concerns of citizens? A set of leaders in civic engagement, including representatives of national associations that represent local officials, school systems, funders, and other leaders, met in early 2010 to compare notes on their work in communities and discuss possibilities for innovation. This report describes their discussion and recommendations.
Weil, 2011, Rise of Community Organizations, Citizen Engagement, and New Inst...Rick Weil
Civic engagement and disaster recovery in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. Citation: Weil, Frederick. 2011. “Rise of Community Organizations, Citizen Engagement, and New Institutions,” in Amy Liu, Roland V. Anglin, Richard Mizelle, and Allison Plyer, editors, Resilience and Opportunity: Lessons from the U.S. Gulf Coast after Katrina and Rita, pp. 201-219. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press.
The document discusses how cities have become dominant habitats globally and focuses on New Orleans as a prophetic city. It describes how New Orleans was previously disconnected from local priorities, had degraded natural assets, disrupted neighborhoods, and structural divisions. However, the document argues that through self-organization, communities formed networks of "hubs" and "links" that created connective tissue. It advocates enabling self-organization and indigenous resilience to combat learned helplessness. The document concludes by stating that New Orleans can serve as a model "prophetic city" through embracing assets, democratizing data, and enabling horizontal connections between identity-reinforcing groups.
Presentation on the Role of Civic Engagement and Service Learning in EducationDylan Chaplin
This is a presentation I created to present for the college I am currently attending to persuade them to implement Service-Learning in the curricula. It recieved excellent feedback and was presented to the deans.
The Communities in Transition Programme seeks to build relationships and promote local participation in community development and peacebuilding in areas experiencing weak community infrastructure and the legacy of conflict. It recognizes the difficulties these communities face and aims to address imbalance through long-term investment of time and resources to support areas of weak community infrastructure and community tension. The program focuses on ten disadvantaged areas, developing community capacity and participation, addressing issues of alienation, and influencing policymaking related to areas of weak community infrastructure and tensions.
Social mix and its impact on access to housing for people who are homelessFEANTSA
Social mix policies aim to promote social cohesion by creating economically diverse neighborhoods. However, in practice social mix often reduces housing access for poor and disadvantaged groups. While social mix may reduce stigma, it can destroy community networks and isolate poor households. There is little evidence it creates more cohesion, and it is often used to block housing for the homeless. Overall, social mix concepts seem to decrease rather than increase options for those most in need of housing.
This document summarizes a paper about how Community Benefit Agreements can lead to resident empowerment in Detroit. It discusses how decades of neglect have led to distrust among Detroit residents towards development. Community Benefit Agreements, which are legally binding contracts between developers and communities, can help address this issue. The document examines case studies of successful CBAs and how they have provided benefits to residents like affordable housing, local hiring programs, and oversight of the agreement. CBAs allow residents to have input into development plans and see real investments in their communities.
The document discusses lessons that can be learned from history regarding public engagement and participation in the planning process. It outlines how planning historically focused more on officials' plans rather than individuals' needs, but now recognizes the importance of meaningful involvement, advocacy, and empowering communities. Key developments have included establishing planning aid services, making involvement a legal duty, and adopting international agreements like Aarhus to support environmental decision-making.
This document discusses how digital technologies can remediate and strengthen communities at a regional scale. It presents a case study of Liskeard, Cornwall, where providing internet skills training to digitally excluded residents helped reconnect them to neighborhood ties and local organizations. Public libraries played a key role in supporting online and offline community interactions. The document calls for further exploring how online and real-world spaces can overlap to strengthen regional social infrastructure and sense of place.
Gated communities have grown rapidly in the US and other developing countries, driven by desires for security and amenities. However, they exacerbate urban inequality and segregation. While providing short-term profits and benefits to developers and wealthy residents, gated communities undermine long-term quality of life and environmental sustainability. By socially and economically segregating communities, gated developments promote urban sprawl and fragmentation rather than smart, equitable growth.
The sociology of social media and crises bahnisch 040411Dr Mark Bahnisch
Presentation at the Eidos Institute and QUT/ARC Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries and Innovation event, Social Media and Crises, 4 April 2011
This document provides a summary and review of the book "Citizens Plus: Aboriginal Peoples and the Canadian State" by Alan Cairns. The book addresses the relationship between Aboriginal peoples and the Canadian government, rejecting assimilation and questioning the legitimacy of parallelism. Instead, Cairns argues for the concept of "citizens plus," which recognizes Aboriginal difference and identity while also maintaining bonds of solidarity between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal peoples in Canada. The review analyzes some of the limitations of self-government and argues that "citizens plus" offers a more feasible policy approach.
This summary describes the work of the Asian Coalition for Community Action (ACCA), which supports community-driven slum upgrading in over 165 cities across 19 Asian nations. ACCA provides small grants for community organizations to fund local improvement projects, which helps build partnerships with local governments and establishes city-wide development funds controlled by community groups. This illustrates an alternative financing system where urban poor communities have decision-making power over funding and aims to demonstrate that slum upgrading can occur at large scale through community-led initiatives.
The document discusses how decentralization has impacted community development in the Redfern Waterloo social housing precinct in Sydney, Australia. It analyzes two case studies: 1) the Tenant Representative Program, which aims to empower residents but suffers from low participation and awareness; and 2) the Waterloo Community Markets project, which faced delays due to conflicts between community organizations and unclear government regulations. The document concludes decentralization has hindered community development by creating competition between organizations, slowing service delivery, and limiting relationships between residents and authorities. It recommends fostering collaboration, building relationships, and implementing early and regular project evaluations to improve community development work.
RPA Spatial Planning and Inequality Fourth Regional Plan RoundtableJonathan Dunnemann
The document summarizes a briefing paper for a roundtable discussion on spatial planning and inequality in the New York metropolitan region. Some key points:
1) Income inequality in the region is at its highest in decades, with incomes declining for the bottom three-quarters of households since 1990 while rising for the top quarter. Poverty has also increased, especially in the suburbs.
2) The region has high levels of both economic and racial segregation. The percentage of lower-income residents living in majority lower-income neighborhoods has increased.
3) Past federal, state and local policies have often deepened inequality unintentionally, through practices like redlining and exclusionary zoning. Spatial planning choices around infrastructure,
Heterogeneity and scale of sustainable development in citiesJonathan Dunnemann
"Rapid worldwide urbanization is at once the main cause and, potentially, the main solution to global sustainable development challenges.Thegrowthofcitiesistypicallyassociatedwithincreases insocioeconomic productivity, but it alsocreates stronginequalities."
This document discusses the value of civic engagement and volunteerism. It defines key terms like civic engagement, volunteerism, and social capital. It celebrates the ways volunteering leads to civic involvement and highlights strategies to reconnect with the community. The document explores challenges and opportunities for volunteerism, and provides recommendations and examples of its positive impacts, including reducing stereotypes, facilitating understanding, and developing skills and commitment to service.
University Civic Engagement: What Does It Mean to Be An Engaged University?ExCID
Civic engagement refers to the ways citizens participate in their community to improve conditions or shape the future. It means promoting quality of life through political and non-political processes. An engaged citizen has the ability, agency, and opportunity to address public issues. Universities are expected to integrate into their communities, care about local issues, and exchange knowledge to educate socially responsible citizens. The basic assumption is that universities have public responsibility for community development.
This document discusses neighbourhood planning in North West England and the barriers encountered. It finds that while neighbourhood planning has the potential to empower communities, in practice it has primarily benefited more affluent rural areas. Unexpected barriers in deprived urban areas included a lack of support from local planning authorities and opposition from local politicians. More funding and education is needed to help neighbourhood planning reach its progressive potential in overcoming inequalities between places.
This study examines two multiethnic neighborhoods in Boston that have maintained at least 10% representation of four racial/ethnic groups over the past two decades. Using surveys and ethnographic observations, the study investigates how residents' access to resources, exposure to constraints, and sense of community differ within and between the neighborhoods. One neighborhood, the South End, is highly unequal, with whites and homeowners having greater access to amenities. The other neighborhood, Fields Corner, has lower overall sense of community and greater safety concerns among all groups due to higher socioeconomic disadvantage. The study aims to provide insight into how structural factors like inequality and disadvantage shape residents' experiences in diverse communities.
An Interdisciplinary Solution to the Problem of Creation and DevelopmentMichelle Kirkland Fitch
This document discusses the need for an interdisciplinary approach to sustainable community development. It notes that urban planning and design have become separated from other disciplines like architecture, leading to automobile-oriented and unsustainable development. The document outlines some of the problems with current approaches, including exclusionary zoning laws that promote sprawl and segregation. It argues that place and community design impact social and economic outcomes. An interdisciplinary model is proposed to address the complexity of urban problems by considering interactions between disciplines like architecture, planning, political science and sociology.
Weil, 2011, Rise of Community Organizations, Citizen Engagement, and New Inst...Rick Weil
Civic engagement and disaster recovery in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. Citation: Weil, Frederick. 2011. “Rise of Community Organizations, Citizen Engagement, and New Institutions,” in Amy Liu, Roland V. Anglin, Richard Mizelle, and Allison Plyer, editors, Resilience and Opportunity: Lessons from the U.S. Gulf Coast after Katrina and Rita, pp. 201-219. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press.
The document discusses how cities have become dominant habitats globally and focuses on New Orleans as a prophetic city. It describes how New Orleans was previously disconnected from local priorities, had degraded natural assets, disrupted neighborhoods, and structural divisions. However, the document argues that through self-organization, communities formed networks of "hubs" and "links" that created connective tissue. It advocates enabling self-organization and indigenous resilience to combat learned helplessness. The document concludes by stating that New Orleans can serve as a model "prophetic city" through embracing assets, democratizing data, and enabling horizontal connections between identity-reinforcing groups.
Presentation on the Role of Civic Engagement and Service Learning in EducationDylan Chaplin
This is a presentation I created to present for the college I am currently attending to persuade them to implement Service-Learning in the curricula. It recieved excellent feedback and was presented to the deans.
The Communities in Transition Programme seeks to build relationships and promote local participation in community development and peacebuilding in areas experiencing weak community infrastructure and the legacy of conflict. It recognizes the difficulties these communities face and aims to address imbalance through long-term investment of time and resources to support areas of weak community infrastructure and community tension. The program focuses on ten disadvantaged areas, developing community capacity and participation, addressing issues of alienation, and influencing policymaking related to areas of weak community infrastructure and tensions.
Social mix and its impact on access to housing for people who are homelessFEANTSA
Social mix policies aim to promote social cohesion by creating economically diverse neighborhoods. However, in practice social mix often reduces housing access for poor and disadvantaged groups. While social mix may reduce stigma, it can destroy community networks and isolate poor households. There is little evidence it creates more cohesion, and it is often used to block housing for the homeless. Overall, social mix concepts seem to decrease rather than increase options for those most in need of housing.
This document summarizes a paper about how Community Benefit Agreements can lead to resident empowerment in Detroit. It discusses how decades of neglect have led to distrust among Detroit residents towards development. Community Benefit Agreements, which are legally binding contracts between developers and communities, can help address this issue. The document examines case studies of successful CBAs and how they have provided benefits to residents like affordable housing, local hiring programs, and oversight of the agreement. CBAs allow residents to have input into development plans and see real investments in their communities.
The document discusses lessons that can be learned from history regarding public engagement and participation in the planning process. It outlines how planning historically focused more on officials' plans rather than individuals' needs, but now recognizes the importance of meaningful involvement, advocacy, and empowering communities. Key developments have included establishing planning aid services, making involvement a legal duty, and adopting international agreements like Aarhus to support environmental decision-making.
This document discusses how digital technologies can remediate and strengthen communities at a regional scale. It presents a case study of Liskeard, Cornwall, where providing internet skills training to digitally excluded residents helped reconnect them to neighborhood ties and local organizations. Public libraries played a key role in supporting online and offline community interactions. The document calls for further exploring how online and real-world spaces can overlap to strengthen regional social infrastructure and sense of place.
Gated communities have grown rapidly in the US and other developing countries, driven by desires for security and amenities. However, they exacerbate urban inequality and segregation. While providing short-term profits and benefits to developers and wealthy residents, gated communities undermine long-term quality of life and environmental sustainability. By socially and economically segregating communities, gated developments promote urban sprawl and fragmentation rather than smart, equitable growth.
The sociology of social media and crises bahnisch 040411Dr Mark Bahnisch
Presentation at the Eidos Institute and QUT/ARC Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries and Innovation event, Social Media and Crises, 4 April 2011
This document provides a summary and review of the book "Citizens Plus: Aboriginal Peoples and the Canadian State" by Alan Cairns. The book addresses the relationship between Aboriginal peoples and the Canadian government, rejecting assimilation and questioning the legitimacy of parallelism. Instead, Cairns argues for the concept of "citizens plus," which recognizes Aboriginal difference and identity while also maintaining bonds of solidarity between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal peoples in Canada. The review analyzes some of the limitations of self-government and argues that "citizens plus" offers a more feasible policy approach.
This summary describes the work of the Asian Coalition for Community Action (ACCA), which supports community-driven slum upgrading in over 165 cities across 19 Asian nations. ACCA provides small grants for community organizations to fund local improvement projects, which helps build partnerships with local governments and establishes city-wide development funds controlled by community groups. This illustrates an alternative financing system where urban poor communities have decision-making power over funding and aims to demonstrate that slum upgrading can occur at large scale through community-led initiatives.
The document discusses how decentralization has impacted community development in the Redfern Waterloo social housing precinct in Sydney, Australia. It analyzes two case studies: 1) the Tenant Representative Program, which aims to empower residents but suffers from low participation and awareness; and 2) the Waterloo Community Markets project, which faced delays due to conflicts between community organizations and unclear government regulations. The document concludes decentralization has hindered community development by creating competition between organizations, slowing service delivery, and limiting relationships between residents and authorities. It recommends fostering collaboration, building relationships, and implementing early and regular project evaluations to improve community development work.
RPA Spatial Planning and Inequality Fourth Regional Plan RoundtableJonathan Dunnemann
The document summarizes a briefing paper for a roundtable discussion on spatial planning and inequality in the New York metropolitan region. Some key points:
1) Income inequality in the region is at its highest in decades, with incomes declining for the bottom three-quarters of households since 1990 while rising for the top quarter. Poverty has also increased, especially in the suburbs.
2) The region has high levels of both economic and racial segregation. The percentage of lower-income residents living in majority lower-income neighborhoods has increased.
3) Past federal, state and local policies have often deepened inequality unintentionally, through practices like redlining and exclusionary zoning. Spatial planning choices around infrastructure,
Heterogeneity and scale of sustainable development in citiesJonathan Dunnemann
"Rapid worldwide urbanization is at once the main cause and, potentially, the main solution to global sustainable development challenges.Thegrowthofcitiesistypicallyassociatedwithincreases insocioeconomic productivity, but it alsocreates stronginequalities."
This document discusses the value of civic engagement and volunteerism. It defines key terms like civic engagement, volunteerism, and social capital. It celebrates the ways volunteering leads to civic involvement and highlights strategies to reconnect with the community. The document explores challenges and opportunities for volunteerism, and provides recommendations and examples of its positive impacts, including reducing stereotypes, facilitating understanding, and developing skills and commitment to service.
University Civic Engagement: What Does It Mean to Be An Engaged University?ExCID
Civic engagement refers to the ways citizens participate in their community to improve conditions or shape the future. It means promoting quality of life through political and non-political processes. An engaged citizen has the ability, agency, and opportunity to address public issues. Universities are expected to integrate into their communities, care about local issues, and exchange knowledge to educate socially responsible citizens. The basic assumption is that universities have public responsibility for community development.
This document discusses neighbourhood planning in North West England and the barriers encountered. It finds that while neighbourhood planning has the potential to empower communities, in practice it has primarily benefited more affluent rural areas. Unexpected barriers in deprived urban areas included a lack of support from local planning authorities and opposition from local politicians. More funding and education is needed to help neighbourhood planning reach its progressive potential in overcoming inequalities between places.
This study examines two multiethnic neighborhoods in Boston that have maintained at least 10% representation of four racial/ethnic groups over the past two decades. Using surveys and ethnographic observations, the study investigates how residents' access to resources, exposure to constraints, and sense of community differ within and between the neighborhoods. One neighborhood, the South End, is highly unequal, with whites and homeowners having greater access to amenities. The other neighborhood, Fields Corner, has lower overall sense of community and greater safety concerns among all groups due to higher socioeconomic disadvantage. The study aims to provide insight into how structural factors like inequality and disadvantage shape residents' experiences in diverse communities.
An Interdisciplinary Solution to the Problem of Creation and DevelopmentMichelle Kirkland Fitch
This document discusses the need for an interdisciplinary approach to sustainable community development. It notes that urban planning and design have become separated from other disciplines like architecture, leading to automobile-oriented and unsustainable development. The document outlines some of the problems with current approaches, including exclusionary zoning laws that promote sprawl and segregation. It argues that place and community design impact social and economic outcomes. An interdisciplinary model is proposed to address the complexity of urban problems by considering interactions between disciplines like architecture, planning, political science and sociology.
An interdisciplinary solution to the problem of creation and developmentMichelle Kirkland Fitch
This document discusses the need for an interdisciplinary approach to sustainable community development. It notes that urban design, planning, and architecture have become separated from other disciplines like political science and sociology. This siloed approach has led to automobile-oriented sprawl and socioeconomic problems in many cities. The document argues that an integrated approach is required to address the complex challenges facing urban development, including issues of land use, zoning, economic growth, and inequality. A review of literature in different fields is needed to understand the dynamics at play and propose effective solutions for designing sustainable communities.
Strategic Operational Understanding for National Development System of Sanctu...Andrew Networks
Strategic Operational Understanding for National Development System of Sanctuary Bermuda Root Cause Model v20101207
HrH Andrew Williams Jr
Texts: +1-424-243-6580
Phone: +1-213-274-3675
Andrew@AndrewNetworks.com
SEE: https://andrewnetworks.com
https://fb.com/ambassadorwilliams
https://LinkedIn.com/in/andrewwilliamsjr
https://about.me/hhprinceandrewwilliamsjr
The department of health in taiwan initiated community health developmentMaricris Santos
The document discusses community health development (CHD) in Taiwan and the appropriateness of using participatory action research (PAR) to evaluate CHD. It explores the theoretical concepts of CHD and finds that PAR is a flexible approach that can capture the complex social and health phenomena in the CHD framework. PAR is appropriate for both the methodological framework of CHD evaluation and enhancing the actualization of CHD.
Are social mix policies able to influence residential segregation and health ...sophieproject
Are social mix policies able to influence residential segregation and health inequalities? Results from a literature review, by Giulia Marra and Giulia Melis. Presented at the Congrès National Paysage, Urbanisme et Santé (Rennes, Nov 2014).
The Power of Community Engagement_ Transforming Lives and Neighborhoods by Fr...Frederik Durda
Community engagement is a powerful tool for transforming lives and neighborhoods. By creating a sense of belonging, amplifying voices, improving public services, fostering social capital, encouraging active citizenship, enhancing resilience, and promoting sustainable practices, community engagement lays the foundation for a vibrant and resilient community where everyone can thrive.
The Amplified Resilient Community (ARC) aims to unlock community resilience as a way to navigate around global challenges and toward new solutions for wealth creation and life improvement. ARC is a framework which helps to reweave civic, economic and political life from the bottom up. The vision is for communities to develop capacities to become adaptive and flexible under the constraints and uncertainties of globalization.
Thilo Boeck is a senior research fellow based in the Centre for Social Action at De Montfort University. He worked in Youth and Community Development in Peru, Germany and the UK which has influenced his commitment to participative research and training.
He worked in several research projects exploring social capital and community cohesion. He was the social researcher on the Amplified Leicester project.
Twitter: @tgboeck
CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT IN THE NIGER DELTAAJHSSR Journal
ABSTRACT: This paper analyzes the nexus between corporate social responsibility and community
development in Niger Delta, using the case of the Nigerian Agip Oil Company and community development in
selected host communities in Bayelsa State. The paper revealed that, the oil companies score conspicuously low
in the discharge of Corporate Social Responsibility activities in tandem with the huge profit they make from the
area. This is because the living standard of the local people is still low and in pitiable conditions. Again,
whereas, there are memoranda of understanding signed between the oil companies and the host communities,
the oil companies more often than not fail to implement such agreement which negate the promotion of
community development. More so, MOU’s programmes do not reflect the priority needs of the people, which
make such projects subject to abuse and misuse. The paper therefore recommends that the laws governing the
Nigerian oil industry must be reviewed to compel oil companies to carry out social responsibility activities.
Moreso, the MOU’s must be respected, implemented and fully driven by the spirit of popular participation to
give the oil bearing communities a sense of belonging, if that is done, it will help to close the curtain of strained
relationship between oil companies and their host communities.
KEYWORDS: Oil, Development, Corporate Social Responsibility, Multinational Corporations.
The document discusses the importance of considering social dimensions in urban planning and design. It defines key terms like social sustainability, community resilience, and the relationship between the built environment and social outcomes. Case studies show how urban design can enhance social sustainability by encouraging community participation, considering community needs, and facilitating social interaction. The built environment also shapes a community's resilience to climate events by supporting private and public spaces and social networks. The authors recommend socially-aware planning and design processes to guide development that strengthens communities.
The document discusses the Big Society initiative in the UK. It aims to give more power to local communities and individuals to solve problems themselves. The key objectives are to change the relationship between citizens and the state, give more control to individuals and communities, and change behaviors and values to tackle social issues locally. It seeks to do this through increasing accountability, activism, volunteering, and the role of community and voluntary groups in public service delivery.
Concern Universal works to reduce poverty and inequality in 10 countries through empowering communities. They understand poverty as more than just low income, but as a lack of basic capabilities and access to services. Poverty is caused by social, economic, and political factors that perpetuate oppression and limit opportunities. Concern Universal aims to address the underlying drivers of poverty like vulnerability, inequality, and unfair resource distribution through partnerships with communities and governments, empowering people, and holding leaders accountable. They take a holistic, flexible approach focused on facilitating sustainable change led by local people.
This document reviews methodological approaches to studying neighborhood effects on choice and well-being. It summarizes the original concepts from the Chicago School of urban sociology and critiques their assumptions. It then describes two prominent contemporary studies: the Moving to Opportunity social experiment, which used randomized controlled trials to study the effects of relocating families from high-poverty to low-poverty neighborhoods; and Sampson's work using statistical analysis and social network theory to understand neighborhood influences. The document argues these modern approaches partially address earlier critiques but questions remain about fully accounting for institutional and structural factors.
Approximately 1000 words.Synthesizing the theories (you do not.docxYASHU40
Approximately 1000 words.
Synthesizing the theories (you do not need to draw from ALL the theories/readings), use at least three readings to develop your own view that describes and understands the relationship between technology and society. In developing your view, take the most important and persuasive parts of the existing theories and explain them. In the end, be sure to clearly articulate and define the relationship between technology and society: which has more power or control? How do they relate to one another?
Journal of Communication ISSN 0021-9916
O R I G I N A L A R T I C L E
The Social Life of Wireless Urban Spaces:
Internet Use, Social Networks, and the Public
Realm
Keith N. Hampton, Oren Livio, & Lauren Sessions Goulet
Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
This study explores the role of urban public spaces for democratic and social engagement.
It examines the impact of wireless Internet use on urban public spaces, Internet users, and
others who inhabit these spaces. Through observations of 7 parks, plazas, and markets in 4
North American cities, and surveys of wireless Internet users in those sites, we explore how
this new technology is related to processes of social interaction, privatism, and democratic
engagement. Findings reveal that Internet use within public spaces affords interactions with
existing acquaintances that are more diverse than those associated with mobile phone use.
However, the level of colocated social diversity to which Internet users are exposed is less
than that of most users of these spaces. Yet, online activities in public spaces do contribute
to broader participation in the public sphere. Internet connectivity within public spaces
may contribute to higher overall levels of democratic and social engagement than what is
afforded by exposure within similar spaces free of Internet connectivity.
doi:10.1111/j.1460-2466.2010.01510.x
Internet access in public parks, plazas, markets, and streets has been made possible
through the proliferation of broadband wireless Internet in the form of municipal
and community wi-fi (e.g., NYC Wireless) and advanced mobile phone networks
(e.g., 3G). The experience of wireless Internet use in the public realm contrasts with
traditional wired Internet use, which is confined primarily to the private realm of the
home and the parochial realm of the workplace. An extensive literature has addressed
the influence of Internet use on the composition of people’s social networks
(Hampton, Sessions, & Her, in press), their engagement in political, voluntary, and
other organizational activities (Boulianne, 2009), and their interactions within home
and workplaces (Bakardjieva, 2005; Quan-Haase & Wellman, 2006). But, Internet
use in the public realm has remained relatively unexplored. This type of use carries
with it significant implications for urban planning, the structure of community, and
the nature of democracy.
Inte.
The document discusses Caroline Corriveau's thesis proposal titled "Intentional Living: Rethinking Communities & Connections" which explores designing a community of small, customized homes that promote connections between residents and efficient land use. The proposal aims to provide an alternative to unaffordable suburban developments by encouraging resident involvement in home design and a stronger sense of community. Corriveau acknowledges influences from pioneers of small home design and intentional living and outlines the goals and evaluation criteria for the proposed community.
My experience in community safety stems from serving on the Nassau County Police Commissioners Counsel. 2018-2021 The goal of the counsel members is to act as a liaison between the community and Nassau County PD and improve relations between the Police Department and the local Community which helps keep our children and community safer.
Brendan Meney is applying for a PhD in Architecture to research designing and building in remote Aboriginal communities through self-empowerment. His research will explore alternative approaches that give Aboriginal people greater autonomy over their living environments. He will draw on his 30 years of experience working in Central Australia to develop a methodology for empowering communities to make their own decisions about shelter. The research aims to produce a case study demonstrating how communities can build local capacity and reduce reliance on governments through stronger partnerships and alternative housing programs. Meney's methodology will include examining past projects to understand the influences on his practice and identify lessons learned, as well as validating aspects of his work that exemplify a better approach.
The document discusses the decline of social capital and civic engagement in America and potential solutions for renewal. It outlines how social capital benefits communities through social networks, trust, and civic participation. However, factors like increased mobility, technology, and generational changes have led to disengagement. This has repercussions for education, neighborhoods, democracy and more. Solutions proposed include reforming education, workplaces, communities and politics to revive civic values and participation. Examples of innovative civic engagement in environmental and other groups are provided.
Civic Stewardship -- Boston Action-Learning Labwmsnyder
Proposal: Launch a community-based action-learning lab to accelerate innovation and application of systematic approaches to civic stewardship.
Approach: Applies systematic methods in the civic context that are now used in successful organizations to increase local ownership for ambitious goals, and to foster innovation and collaboration for achieving them.
Opportunity: Spur progress on our most persistent and costly socio-economic and environmental problems by cultivating a national network of neighborhood-based civic stewardship initiatives. A critical mass of neighborhood efforts in 300 U.S. cities can save hundreds of billions in annual government costs, while fostering “collective efficacy” and wellbeing in communities nationwide.
Why now: Recent developments in measures (spurred by the proliferation of “public data”), social media (e.g., neighborhood websites), and monetization (e.g., social impact bonds) are “disruptive innovations” that create ripe opportunities for quantum change.
FDN018 01 Exploring professional sectors TCTim Curtis
This document outlines an introductory professional development session that explores career options and professional sectors. The session introduces the concept of professional sectors and has students identify sectors related to their degree program and interests. Students complete career personality assessments, research potential career paths, and find a video about a prospective job. The goal is for students to develop a realistic understanding of their career options and pathways.
1) The document outlines a planning challenge where a team must arrange transportation for all members to arrive at the Arc de Triomphe in Paris by 6am the next morning from their various homes using public transit and limited taxis or bicycles.
2) It then discusses steps for conducting research interviews and a survey about student food poverty for a class project. This includes contracting with interview subjects, developing interview questions, and planning to collect survey responses and conduct practice interviews with classmates.
3) The document provides guidance on interviewing best practices and emphasizes the importance of care, consent, and follow-up for interview subjects. It also discusses working collaboratively in groups to plan collecting surveys and practicing interviews for their research
This document provides a systems thinking approach to developing a working definition of student food poverty. It defines student food poverty as dysfunctions (e.g. financial, skills, insecurity) within the system of student food provision. This system aims to keep students fit and healthy and involves shops, supermarkets, fast food outlets, and delivery services. The purpose is to improve educational outcomes by involving students, parents, caterers, and shopkeepers in processes like buying, preparing, and cooking food within boundaries of campus, halls, student housing, and home. This working definition considers student food poverty in a complex systems context rather than isolated factors.
The document provides a working definition of student food poverty from a systems thinking perspective. It defines student food poverty as dysfunctions (such as financial issues, lack of skills or security) within the system of student food provision. This system aims to keep students fit and healthy through parts like shops, supermarkets and fast food outlets. The outcomes should be improving educational attainment by involving people like friends, parents and caterers through processes of buying, cooking and preparing food, within boundaries like campus, halls or student housing. The working definition is complex but aims to provide a thorough and useful framing of student food poverty as a systems issue.
This document provides an introduction and overview to the FDN016 module on social problem solving. It outlines the structure and expectations of the module. Students will investigate the social problem of "student food poverty" through 5 phases: identifying the problem, planning an investigation, collecting evidence, analyzing the evidence, and proposing a solution. Assessment will include journals documenting the investigation and a presentation. The tutor, Tim Curtis, is introduced and contact details are provided. Overall, the module will guide students through exploring an undefined social issue using a structured problem-solving process.
Final week rich pictures social venture canvasTim Curtis
This document provides an overview and recap of the key concepts covered in the FDN016 Last Class module, including systems thinking, tackling supercomplex problems, the hidden rules of university, and Changemaker skills. It discusses using rich pictures and systems diagrams to demonstrate the complexity of a problem situation and the relationships between key root causes and factors. Examples of good, less detailed, and more advanced systems diagrams are shown. The document then introduces the Social Venture Canvas as a tool to develop ideas and solutions. It provides examples of Northampton students who have used this tool before closing with reminders about module deadlines and evaluations.
Fdn016 term 2 week 6 systems thinking to solutionsTim Curtis
This document discusses systems thinking and mapping. It encourages watching a film on systems thinking while drawing a systems thinking diagram to engage in active learning. Systems thinking allows us to map all aspects of a problem situation without oversimplifying, and identify root causes versus symptoms. An example systems map is provided related to student food poverty based on literature reviews, surveys, interviews and observations. Participants are instructed to map out everything they know about student food poverty using these sources and techniques, drawing and redrawing diagrams to separate root causes from symptoms. Interventions can then be identified to address dysfunctions.
Fdn016 term 2 week 6 systems thinking to solutionsTim Curtis
Systems thinking allows mapping all aspects of a problem without oversimplifying to develop a rich understanding. This includes identifying the differences between surface symptoms and underlying root causes. The document discusses using systems thinking and mapping to thoroughly understand the current state of knowledge regarding overuse of bottled water due to anxiety about tap water quality and perceptions of bottled water being purer. It also outlines initial plans to address this through a tap water versus bottled water taste test competition on campus involving student pledges.
Fdn016 term 2 week 4 interview analysis finalTim Curtis
This document discusses analysing text data in qualitative research. It provides information on computer assisted qualitative data analysis software (CAQDAS), grounded theory, coding text data, and lessons learned from analysing interview responses about preferences for drinking bottled water versus tap water. Key points include the importance of cleaning and preparing text data before coding, identifying concepts and ideas through first and second level coding, observing the progression of ideas in the text, and noticing that students are anxious about tap water cleanliness and unaware of drinking water standards.
This document provides instructions for coding qualitative text data using grounded theory. It discusses conducting first and second level coding to identify key ideas and concepts across a text. Students are asked to code interview transcripts about time and breakfast, looking for quotes related to the idea of 'time'. They are also asked to code quotes about water from the interviews by coloring similar ideas. The homework assigns analyzing responses to one interview question from multiple students to identify common themes and outliers.
This document provides instructions for analyzing text related to time and meals from student interviews. It directs students to:
1. Code all interview text related to 'time' and breakfast.
2. Compare coding with other students and collect all time-related quotes.
3. Note observations about what the qualitative data suggests and what does not fit.
It then provides sections of text from interviews to code related to time and meals, and water preferences to also code. Homework involves analyzing responses to one interview question from 10-15 students.
This document provides an overview of a data analysis exercise for students. It includes objectives of introducing basic data analysis skills without proving conclusions, ensuring statistically significant sample sizes, and using basic spreadsheet functions and statistical tests. It then outlines plans to analyze previously collected student food survey data using Excel functions like median, mode, average, and count to make observations about the full population. Questions are provided to guide analysis, including whether results are representative and data is reliable. Comparisons will be made between halls students and home students, and first and second year students.
This document outlines the schedule and activities for Term 2 Weeks 1 and 2 of a course. It includes recapping and introducing complex systems analysis. Students are asked to complete a project recap checklist, identify personal risks to managing their work, and do surveys and interviews. Rich picture mapping exercises are described as a way to represent problems holistically using nodes, links, boundaries, and perspectives. Students map out the system of making toast and identify potential interventions. Comparing individual and composite rich pictures can incorporate different experiences and perspectives.
Fdn016 week 9 interview design & test #2Tim Curtis
This document outlines an activity where students will practice interviewing skills by interviewing a classmate roleplaying as an 18-year old student experiencing food poverty.
The class will be divided into groups to interview the student, with each group designing 3 questions. They will practice contracting into and out of the interview, asking follow up questions, and recording the interview.
Afterwards, the whole class will discuss which interview questions worked well and propose 3 common questions for future interviews on this topic across all classes. The goals are to learn interviewing best practices like caring for the interviewee and obtaining informed consent.
Fdn016 week 4 & 5 defining food poverty 2019Tim Curtis
This document provides an overview of course content for FDN016 Weeks 4-5. It discusses defining student food poverty and signing into a Google register. It introduces systems thinking concepts like root definitions, hard and soft systems, and developing a working definition of student food poverty from a systems perspective. Students are asked to find definitions of student food poverty from different sources and compare them. They then create their own definition or express it using systems terminology involving parts, boundaries, processes and people. The document emphasizes applying soft systems methodology to conceptualize the student food system and its purpose, outcomes, and dysfunctions related to food poverty.
Fdn016 week 9 interview design & test #2Tim Curtis
The document outlines instructions for a class activity where students will conduct a mock interview. Students have one hour to self-organize into groups and design 3 semi-structured interview questions to ask an 18-year old student character about student food poverty. Two students will interview the character for up to 5 minutes while audio recording. In the second hour, the class will discuss which questions worked well and propose 3 common questions for a wider investigation.
This document provides guidance and instructions for students regarding a survey design project. It discusses:
1. Completing the first draft of Journal B tasks by the end of the year.
2. Designing a 3-5 question survey in small groups, testing it on another group, and analyzing the results to learn from the experience.
3. Collecting both quantitative and qualitative data through surveys and interviews to understand the experiences of students regarding "food poverty" from a range of perspectives.
This document provides an overview of the tasks and schedule for students in the FDN016 module over the next 4 weeks. It includes:
1) A planning challenge activity where students must arrange transport for a 6am trip from their homes to Luton airport.
2) A reminder of upcoming tasks like designing surveys, interviews, and empathy maps.
3) A suggestion to "projectise" one's life by scheduling studies, work, home responsibilities, and social activities to fit within 100 hours per week using a provided spreadsheet planning tool.
4) Instructions for the Journal B Task B5 activity which involves using the planning tool to schedule expectations for all home degree modules along with FDN016 over
FDN016 Defining food poverty 2019 final versionTim Curtis
This document provides an overview of course content for FDN016 Weeks 4-5. It discusses defining student food poverty and signing into a Google register. It introduces systems thinking concepts like root definitions, hard and soft systems, and developing a working definition of student food poverty from a systems perspective. Students are asked to find definitions of student food poverty from different sources and compare them. They then create their own definition or express it using systems terminology involving parts, boundaries, processes and people. The document emphasizes applying soft systems methodology to conceptualize the student food system and its purpose, outcomes, and dysfunctions related to food poverty.
FDN016 Week 4 and 5 defining food poverty 2019Tim Curtis
This document discusses student food poverty and soft systems methodology. It begins with a discussion of how Google search results can be biased and how the system NELSON aims to provide neutral searches. It then prompts the reader to develop a working definition of "student food poverty" and considers it an "unknown problem situation." It introduces concepts from soft systems methodology like root definitions, cognitive blind spots, and managing "messes" rather than solving problems. The document provides guidance on developing a root definition and modeling a purposeful system using parts, boundaries, processes and people. It includes an activity to find definitions of food poverty from different sources and compare them. Finally, it prompts developing a model of a functioning "student food system" at a
2. 8 Principles of new government Government interventions should look to build social capital and community confidence and capacity from the outset. Particular value should be placed on activity that promotes the quality and strength of neighbour to neighbour relationships and a community’s ability to self-organise on the basis of altruistic exchange of resources, skills and time, Policies should seek to stimulate the development of new types of economic activity that are participative and promote greater distribution of economic power and influence
3. 8 Principles of new government There will need to be much more acceptance of social diversity, disaggregation and localisation There will be a need to look at the relative size of the institutions that deliver public services, and a reversal of easy assumptions around scale and efficiency. There will be a need to increasingly differentiate between not-for-profit organisations contracting to fulfil the service delivery functions of the state and community-based voluntarism.
4. 8 Principles of new government The expectation of local and mutual responsibility-taking should be signalled by the release of correspondingly localised decision-making powers. Finally, policy interventions will need to take long-term account of changing demographics and their impact on society’s economic productivity, the government’s fiscal position, demand on services, and the social nature of our communities. Matt Leach is associate director of ResPublica. http://www.respublica.org.uk/blog/2010/12/8-new-policy-principles-big-society
5. ‘only a footstep away’?: neighbourhoods, social capital & their place in the ‘big society’ a skills for care workforce development background paperjune 2010 Skills for Care, ‘Only a footstep away’? Neighbourhoods, social capital & their place in the ‘Big Society’, (Leeds, 2010) www.skillsforcare.org.uk
6. Almost everyone has neighbours, yet the neighbourhood is a relatively neglected level of analysis - the bulk of academic and policy attention has focused upon the levels above the neighbourhood (the political, economic and value systems of society as a whole) or beneath it (inter-personal relationships in settings such as the family).
7. 10 years of strategy The importance of the neighbourhood in people’s lives has slowly gained a foothold in policy visions, notably as a key aspect of the last government’s Social Exclusion Strategy (SEU 2000, 2001). possible strands to neighbourhood renewal including: jobs and training, reducing crime and anti-social behaviour, provision of better community facilities, tackling problems of neglected and abandoned housing, rebuilding community support and providing greater assistance to schools and young people.
8. 5 years later Why Neighbourhoods Matter make a real difference to the quality and responsiveness of services that are delivered to or affect those neighbourhoods increase the involvement of the community in the making of decisions on the provision of those services and on the life of the neighbourhood provide opportunities for public service providers and voluntary and community groups to work together to deliver outcomes for the locality build social capital—reducing isolation whilst building community capacity and cohesion.
9. In the election Labour Party was considering a manifesto pledge to turn schools and hospitals into ‘mutualised co-ops’ where staff and local people have a real stake in service improvement. The Conservative Party has placed emphasis upon encouraging families, charities and communities to come together to solve problems (Guardian 2009), and their election manifesto highlighted the ambition for “every adult citizen being a member of an active neighbourhood group,” and outlined plans to introduce a National Citizen Service for 16 year olds “to help bring our country together” The Liberal Democrat manifesto similarly stated a commitment “to handing power back to local communities.
10. Big Society “to put more power and opportunity into people’s hands” give communities more powers encourage people to take an active role in their communities transfer power from central to local government support co-ops, mutuals, charities and social enterprises publish government data.
11. Deputy PM, Nick Clegg, The challenge would be to bring about “a huge cultural shift, where people, in their everyday lives, in their communities, in their homes, on their street, don’t always turn to answers from officialdom, from local authorities, from government, but that they feel both free and empowered to help themselves and help their own communities.”
13. proximity much agreement that neighbours live within walking distance and that face-to-face contact is possible. Models of community mapping, or population profiling, use such an approach. For example, Mosaic is a methodology that classifies UK postcodes against more than 400 socio-demographic variables. Residents within a specific postcode area are more likely to reflect the characteristics of that group than of another.
14. meaning Thus while neighbourhoods may be defined geographically for some purposes, the meaning of neighbourhoods is generally understood in terms of social networks and relationships. a conflict between subjective and objective maps of locality.
15. Being nearby “It is only in the working class that one is likely to find a combination of factors all operating together to produce a high degree of density: concentration of people of the same or similar occupations in the local area; jobs and homes in the same local area; low population turnover and continuity of relationships; at least occasional opportunities for relatives and friends to help one another to get jobs; little demand for physical mobility; little opportunity for social mobility.” (Bridge 2002, 10)
16. Decline of community Arguments about the decline of community are in large measure arguments about an unavoidable decline in the density of local social networks (or neighbourhoods). High density has generally been associated with solidarity, commitment and normative consensus, whereas low density is held to bring about all sorts of contrary conditions. It is through the erosion of density that modernisation and urbanisation are said to have weakened traditional social solidarities,
17. Social mobility Most neighbourhoods today do not constrain their inhabitants into strongly bonded relationships with one another. Better transport, longer journeys to work, geographical dispersal of kin and friends, a wider range of shopping and recreational opportunities, and the privatisation of the family, have all reduced the centrality of the neighbourhood as a locus of social interaction and social support.
18. Neighbourliness?? Manifest neighbourliness is characterised by overt forms of social relationships such as mutual visiting in the home and going out for leisure and recreation. Latent neighbourliness is characterised by favourable attitudes to neighbours which result in positive action when a need arises in times of emergency or crisis. (Mann 1954)
19. Abrams neighbours are simply people who live near one another neighbourhood is an effectively defined terrain inhabited by neighbours neighbouring is the actual pattern of interaction observed within any given neighbourhood neighbourliness is a positive and committed relationship constructed between neighbours as a form of friendship.
22. proximity Abrams research (Bulmer 1986) found that the most frequently mentioned influence on whether or not neighbourly relations developed was proximity – being next door to someone is different from living in the next street to them. Proximity is also related to the previously noted importance of the ‘watch and ward’ function in times of crisis and emergency. the neighbourhood unequivocally starts as we leave our front door, where it ends will vary according to many spatial and temporal factors, but the concept of a ‘walkable zone’ remains important.
23. “People endow a neighbourhood with organisation through their walking patterns from the nodal points of their homes—walking children to school, walking to the bus stop or local shops, and walking to call on neighbours... but the extent to which a neighbourhood emerges empirically depends on whether local interactions create common attributes bounded by group properties.” (Blackman 2006, 33)
24. Timeliness Speed of response is a further special province of neighbours, ranging from the quick convenience of ad hoc borrowing and lending, to help in an emergency when time is of the essence. availability of time to participate in neighbouring is one of the factors associated with the ‘loss of community’. ‘neighbouring is not what it used to be’ is explained in terms of the availability of time.
25. Physical environment Inside the home – whether it is damp, cold, noisy or overcrowded – sits within the wider neighbourhood context of which it is a part. There is also some evidence to suggest that the physical layout of both the house and the neighbourhood can shape levels of neighbourly activity. significance of the front porch as a semi-public space in which non-threatening and non-intrusive neighbourly relations could be initiated and reproduced.
26. Length of residence obvious factor accounting for variations in neighbouring was the longevity of the settlement and the length of residence there of particular households. Clear differences were observed between long-time residents and newcomers in terms of contact with neighbours and the sort of help exchanged. Exchange theory. In the modern neighbourhood milieu, exchange relations will typically evolve as a slow process, starting with minor transactions in which little trust is required because little risk is involved.
27. social polarisation Reciprocal care between neighbours grows where information and trust are high, and where resources for satisfying needs in other ways are low. This is most likely to occur in relatively isolated, relatively closed and relatively threatened social milieu with highly homogeneous populations. in their study of young people growing up in depressed parts of Teesside, Macdonald and Marsh (2005) found that most chose to remain living in very deprived neighbourhoods, seeing these as ‘normal’. Local social divisions were perceived instead at a very fine-grained scale such as streets or parts of an estate with troublesome residents.
28. Social relations argued that most neighbours do not typically choose to make their friends among their neighbours, and that those who do tend to be seeking highly specific solutions to highly specific problems. Bridge (2002) describes this situation as ‘residual neighbouring’ for people who do not have access to broader networks. Social exclusion in terms of ‘social relations’, which included such factors as isolation and loneliness, and lack of participation in everyday social activities. many older people who live alone (and are hence technically ‘isolated’) do lead socially active lives and have close friendships that are more important than thinning family ties.
29. Building Cohesive Communities Department of Communities and Local Government (2009) identifies the following dimensions of ‘commitment to a shared future’: wanting to live in the area using local services, shops, schools and businesses investing in local social capital such as volunteering, attending neighbourhood forums and being local leaders feeling safe and having contact with neighbours having a sense of their own power to be involved and to influence understanding and welcoming the range of different people in the area developing a local identity focusing on shared local experiences. What is less clear is how all of this can be brought about.
30. Putting People First established by the previous administration (DH 2007). Building Community Capacity (DHCN) focused on exploring the role of social capital and co-production in the transformation of adult social care, which comprises the fourth quadrant of transformation
31. Innovative practice A series of case study vignettes on the Building Community Capacity website outlines some of the innovations currently underway. These include examples of population profiling, community development, social enterprise development, auditing community volunteering, time banking, homesharing, ‘buddy’ schemes, etc.
32. Neighbourhood Renewal Neighbourhood Renewal (NR) Strategy action plan (CO/SEU 2001) with the aim that no one should be seriously disadvantaged by where they live because of ‘failing’ local services or a poor environment. Funding for NR programmes was initially allocated to the 88 most deprived areas in England with the expectation that the (then) growing budgets for mainstream public services would underpin the NR strategies, and that there would be further targeting of the most deprived neighbourhoods. Safer Stronger Communities Fund (SSCF) in 2006 to focus on these small localities in 84 local authority areas Neighbourhood Element which provides funding for 100 of the most disadvantaged neighbourhoods in England
33. Results of all the effort? The final evaluation of the neighbourhood renewal strategy has recently been published (DCLG 2010a). Although it concludes that changes in the conditions of the more deprived neighbourhoods have improved, and that the gap with the national average has closed, it is clear that they remain a long way behind and are beginning to feel the impact of the recession. New Deal for Communities programme (DCLG 2010b). Here there was also an improvement on most core indicators, especially in people’s feelings about their neighbourhoods. Stronger relationships were established with those agencies having a ‘natural’ neighbourhood presence (like the police), but little improvement in the generation of social capital was evident.
34. Neighbourhood Management Neighbourhood Agreements to be piloted by the Home Office, which will give the public in a local area more say about how issues where they live can best be tackled, and lead to allocations of resources that better reflect community priorities. The Community Assets Programme will aim to empower communities by encouraging the transfer of under-used local authority assets to local organisations. Social Impact Bonds aim to attract non-government investment into local activities with returns generated from a proportion of the related reduction in government spending on acute services. Social Investment Wholesale Bank to provide capital to organisations delivering social impact to support the sustainability of social enterprises. Civic Health Index to enable people to assess how well civic society is faring and how it can be enabled to thrive.
37. neighbourhood mapping and data analysis Community profiling avoidance of the temptation to start with a ‘laundry list’ of everyone who has a stake in the neighbourhood. who acts and interacts, around what and with whom. ‘Super Output Areas’ (SOA) of populations of around 7000 attempts to bring together a high volume of information provided for small target areas. SOA data can include: health and care data on life expectancy, hospital episodes, healthy lifestyle behaviours and the provision of unpaid care crime and community safety data covering crime, fires and road accidents community well-being information on community involvement, social inclusion and street cleanliness housing data sets on tenure and condition, overcrowding and homelessness economic deprivation data relating to economic activity, poverty and welfare benefits. The ability to create you own data: “the quality and quantity of timely and publicly available service data at a neighbourhood level for most mainstream services remains severely limited” (DCLG 2008e, 11).
38. Supporting evidence for local delivery 80% of partnership managers identified analytical skill needs within their partnership, most frequently relating to interpreting and challenging data aspects of these needs include knowing how to ‘create a narrative’ from data analysis and assessing the quality of evidence 40% of partnership managers indicated that limits on available analytical skills had hampered partnership performance there is relatively short supply of expertise in statistical techniques, IT applications, indicator selection and target setting the scale of the skills gap is likely to be understated – a common response was ‘we don’t know what we don’t know’ nearly half of partnership managers experienced difficulty in sourcing analytical advice and assistance. (DCLG 2008g)
39. community engagement and involvement Community engagement and involvement is now widely seen as a self-evident virtue. Burton 2004 identifies three key benefits: it aids social cohesion through its developmental effects on individuals and hence on society the planning and delivery of services is effective and decisions are accorded legitimacy since they reflect the interests of participants it is a right of citizenship that is justified on the grounds of due process.
40. community capacity building A Home Office report, for example, describes it as: “activities, resources and support that strengthen the skills, abilities and confidence of people and community groups to take effective action and leading roles in the development of their communities.” (HO 2004) A sense of community: a degree of connectedness among members and a recognition of mutuality of circumstance. A level of commitment among community members: this covers the existence of community members who see themselves as stakeholders in the collective wellbeing of the neighbourhood, and their willingness to perform actively in that role. Mechanisms of problem-solving: the capacity to translate commitment into action by identifying priorities and solving problems. Access to resources: economic, human, physical and political, including those external to the neighbourhood.
41. Challenges and skills local knowledge and analysis: few such organisations pay attention to planning unless it is a funding requirement engaging with the wider community: small organisations often lack the knowledge or confidence to go out and engage more people organisational capacity and leadership: few resources tend to be invested in building this capacity divisions and fragmentation in the neighbourhood: many communities do have social capital, but they lack the capacity to build ties across diverse social groups lack of influence with local power-holders: many community organisations still feel marginalised in partnerships with statutory authorities and other agencies difficulties in securing sustainable funding: four of the twenty organisations in the programme failed to survive in their original form. (JRF 2007)
42. Location of the skills The role of the facilitator in the JRF programme is not dissimilar from the traditional role of community development workers, Although the traditional specialist role of ‘community development worker’ is now less common, the role continues in specialist niches and services such as neighbourhood management, community arts, health promotion initiatives, anti-drug campaigns, youth work and Sure Start.
43. developing neighbourhood leaders in touch and able to listen to all sections of their community able to involve others and work in partnership make things happen locally make good use of resources accountable to the community committed to developing new leaders gateways rather than gatekeepers. (DCLG 2009d) lessons to be learned about engaging informal neighbourhood leaders as ‘community ambassadors’, community monitors and even paraprofessionals
44. Implications Everybody’s business: Neighbourhood policy and practice crosses all sectors—informal, independent, statutory and the voluntary and community sector. It also straddles many organisational and professional boundaries, and is about much more than Skills for Care and the Department of Health. primary health care services, community health services, adults’ and children’s social care and support, early years and primary school provision, neighbourhood policing, a community pharmacy, neighbourhood wardens of some sort, a number of voluntary and community groups, housing offices, commercial and leisure facilities, and some measure of social capital.
45. Weaving together formal and informal support There has been a tendency for care in the neighbourhood and care by the neighbourhood to develop along separate tracks.
46. Analytical skills empirical evidence on neighbourliness; reviews of neighbourhood policies; the importance of a joined-up approach; illustrations of good practice; and skills in neighbourhood mapping and data analysis