Time is precious and, as we tip into the next quarter of this century, keeping up with the pace of change often feels a struggle. In the wake of the Covid-19, with the sadness and separation it created, UK communities are still anxiously navigating daily challenges around the rising cost of living. Too many of us feel powerless to make choices beyond the short term. The quick-fix solution is to shift into ‘reactive mode’. But that’s exhausting – and, worse, it doesn’t work.
Insurmountable problems?
Young people are among those most affected, with half of those polled by The Prince’s Trust in 2023 ‘not planning beyond the next six months’. The cost of living (57 per cent), the UK economy (44 per cent) and mental health (39 per cent) were said to have the biggest impact on their future plans.
At the same time – and affecting us all – the climate crisis looms large, with 80% of respondents to the Summer 2024 Department for Energy Security and Net Zero’s (DESNZ) national attitudinal survey being very or fairly concerned about climate change, accompanied by a sense of limited personal agency and fewer people agreeing they can personally make changes to help reduce climate change. More than a third (35%) agreed it’s not worth making changes if others do not do the same.
Internationally, where war breaks out, and people are displaced, we in the UK watch in horror – but often protect ourselves by creating a mental distance, perhaps accompanied by labels that enable the ‘othering’ of those who are directly affected. These ‘geo-political issues’ are too big and horrific for us to see our role in addressing. Collective responsibility for change feels, to varying degrees, easier to ignore.
Valuing home and connection
In this turbulent context, the value placed on homes, neighbourhoods and communities has taken on greater significance for many. However, our homes are not always places of refuge and restoration. Research by the Health Foundation found that 23% of people living in overcrowded housing had experienced psychological distress. A lack of systemic and organisational response has resulted in low levels of trust between communities and those responsible for regeneration and development. Only 2% of those responding to Grosvenor’s 2019 national survey felt they could trust developers to act in an honest way in large-scale developments, and just 7% trusted their local council to make decisions on large-scale development in the best interests of their local area.
Our call to action
When low levels of trust and response combine, feelings of powerlessness increase, as does apathy around driving positive change. We know that residents need to play an ongoing, active and equal role in reshaping experiences of home, neighbourhood and place, but too little resource, space and time are built in for this. Without a radical shift in decision-making power, people can’t take agency or shape plans. How, in that position, can they ever shift out of that exhausting reactive mode?
This question prompts more. What approaches could help create the balance we need in our everyday lives? How might we reimagine our relationships, replenishing the resources we and others need, and living our lives as more than individuals? And how can we move past a problem-focused mindset, to collectively imagine more hopeful futures?
Learning together
In 2024, The Young Foundation shared our vision, putting social participation on the agenda. This is our call to action, in support of a movement of neighbours, with people and place-based organisations coming together in partnership.
Much of our thinking is grounded in what we’ve learnt from the work of others about being a good neighbour, and what’s needed for better neighbourhoods – for example, by working with community researchers and residents in South Ham and Buckskin to ensure their lived experiences and the value of their place shaped the future priorities for local development and change.
Reflecting on this work, we’re supporting further partnerships between residents and organisations who, together, invest the time, space and resources to care, and start looking up and acting outwards. Such movements require five elements:
- Co-produced, written commitments for ongoing partnership working, defining principles, roles and responsibilities for organisations and residents over time, to share power, and move away from limiting and extractive project-focused transactions.
- Place-based infrastructure supporting participation and decision-making from street level groups, through neighbourhood town halls, to resident boards. There is a role for local governments and anchor institutions – including universities, NHS trusts, housing providers – to create spaces where neighbours can feed into decisions that will affect their area.
- Sustained investment to develop organisational skills. Based on valuing lived experience and building a shared understanding of place priorities and development processes, led by the hopes and aspirations of communities.
- Bringing communities into conversations early – and keeping those conversations going. This requires mutual trust and understanding; skills, training and development opportunities for communities; and maintenance of spaces beyond the end of a programme.
- Reimagining lost local social infrastructure, such as Sure Start, youth groups, health centres, business centres, and shared public spaces. AI and new technologies can support communities to imagine how these spaces might evolve to meet changing social and environmental needs, including blended on- and offline lives.
Community first
Our work with communities – illustrated by the story of South Ham and Buckskin – is a celebration of care in action, and the impact this can have. We know that without continued support and investment by anchor organisations, such aspirations are fragile, as they are built on relationships and trust. But there are seeds of hope and joy in our community-connecting, opportunity-unlocking work. And we’re proud to plant the idea that a movement of hope is possible; a movement of neighbours.
Community Community needs & priorities Community wellbeing Social innovation Systems change Posted on: 24 January 2025 Authors: Al Mathers, Leonie Taylor, Jack Layton,