Institute for Community Studies

Safety in numbers?

Publication 30 June 2020

Safety in numbers? sets out the questions that matter to communities, as told to us and prioritised by more than 3,000 people across the UK. This agenda is the result of a nationally representative process of research and co-creation.

Institute for Community Studies announced as a strategic partner in the UK’s Civic University Network.

News 27 May 2020

The first priority of the Civic University Network will be to develop and support an impactful sector response to the Covid-19 crisis. First and foremost, this will involve consulting with universities, the civil society sector and community organisations to build a

Learning in Lockdown

Blog 15 April 2020

The Citadel The Citadel, as we are more colloquially known to our service users, has been helping children and young people in the Leith area of Edinburgh since 1980. In recent times, our provision has focussed on youth clubs offering a wide range of social,

Community Organising at Pace

Blog 31 March 2020

I believe wholeheartedly in the power of community – to enable citizens to lead and to seek out local solutions to local issues. The current public health crisis facing communities across the world offers a unique opportunity to reveal the value of community,

Community & Covid-19

Blog 20 March 2020

We understand that Covid-19 is already changing and will profoundly change the experience of community and life in every local place in the UK. This research gives us a detailed account of the state of community on the brink of

Looking local

Blog 29 November 2019

ICS research sheds a new light on communities’ agenda for this general election In a general election dominated by big national issues, our new research looks at what matters to people in Britain: community. Over the last three months we’ve

Communities – nine ways to break them

Blog 28 October 2019

Originally published at: juliaunwin.com  All my working life the call has been for stronger communities. Communities that could – depending on fashion and decade – care for their neighbours, enable regeneration, manage their carbon footprints, be more resilient, engage in community

The Institute for Community Studies goes live.

Blog 15 October 2019

Two years after first discussing the idea of relaunching the Institute, today our Manifesto gives a fantastic summary of what’re we’re about and our mission. You can get a sense of all those collaborating on research in and with communities

History and the challenge of community today

Blog 15 October 2019

Based on the research I did for Me, Me, Me?: the Search for Community in Post-war England my historical starting point would be: There has never been a ‘golden age’ of community and Britain has been a strongly individualist society for generations

The word “community” is at risk of losing all meaning

Blog 15 October 2019

Over the years, it has become a staple in corporate-speak, and there seems to me a sad correlation between the rise of the word in marketing and the slow demise of community itself. Everyone now “cares about the community,” especially

The biggest challenge for politics, for all of us, is to reconnect community with place.

Blog 15 October 2019

The biggest challenge for politics, for all of us, is to reconnect community with place.  My job involves turning in places with my camera, spending a couple of days to take the temperature, then moving on. But In 2017 I

Remembering the original Institute for Community Studies

Blog 14 October 2019

Two former employees of the original Institute for Community Studies reflect on Michael Young’s approach to creating change… Michael Young thought that the best way of understanding people’s lives was to ask them, ideally by talking to them himself.  He