A presentation given to the Centre for Social Relations at Coventry University, to demonstrate how Social LIfe's work can be used as a tool to develop better community and neighbourhood programmes. We focused on the Foleshill area of the city, using this as an example of the way our work could be practically applied.

1. Designing a new community initiative,
and introducing Social Life’s work
A workshop for Coventry University
8th October 2013

2. Social Life’s aim is to put people at the heart of
placemaking, we work in the UK and
internationally.

3. We continue to build neighborhoods that fail to
thrive as flourishing communities and struggle
finding ways to revive failing areas.

4. Where are the people?

6. • Our
Our organisational heritage

7. Today’s workshop
Aims:
• to introduce Coventry University’s Centre
for Social Relations to Social Life’s work
• to use social design and innovation
methods to develop ideas for a
“neighbourhood university” in Foleshill

9. Our work

10. Our starting point

11. The first question: what is a
community?

12. An alternative view
• Physical boundaries to promote geographical
identity
• Local myths & stories
• Visible leadership
• Strong social relationships, networks & bonds
• Rituals and rhythms
• Shared belief systems, garden cities, new towns,
eco-cities

13. Stuck vs dynamic?

14. A framework for social sustainability
The Young Foundation/Social Life Social Sustainability Framework, 2011

15. What we do
We do research and use
ethnography
We use data
We advise organisations
across sectors
We run practical projects
We facilitate discussions

16. Innovation methods

17. Understanding how places innovate
The Young Foundation social innovation spiral

18. Framing Malmö’s innovation story
Data/studies on
social need
External inspiration, social design
principles, co-design solutions
with participants
Learn from success of
environmental
sustainability programmes
Consensus about need for
new approach
Disengaged communities,
poor education, high
levels of disadvantage
Malmö is known
internationally
for green tech
but also in
Scandanavia for
its social
problems

20. Prompts
Innovations develop as a result of urgent need: this can be
commercial, social or political
There are many tools to help people make the link
between needs and activities
Your task
Using prompt cards, think about the neighbourhood
university.
How could this work?

21. Big neighbourhood data

22. Wellbeing
Resilience
Wellbeing and resilience in Poplar

23. Social sustainability indicators
13 indicators made up of 35 questions measuring dimensions of
social sustainability.

24. Comparable area benchmarks:
statistically significant results
No%problems%affec@ng%facili@es%in%local%area*%
%Importance%of%where%you%live%to%sense%of%who%you%are*%
Plan%to%remain%resident%of%this%neighbourhood%for%a%number%of%
Feel%like%I%belong%to%this%neighbourhood_*%
How%safe%do%you%feel%walking%alone%in%this%area%during%the%day%in%
Been%feeling%reasonable%happy*%
Can%you%influence%decisions%affec@ng%area*%
How%important%is%it%for%you%personally%to%feel%that%you%can%
Series1%
%Tried%to%get%something%done%about%the%local%environment*%
Felt%you%were%playing%a%useful%part%in%things_*%
%People%pull%together%to%improve%neighbourhood*%
I%borrow%things%and%exchange%favours%with%my%neighbours*%
Most%people%can%be%trusted%or%you%cannot%be%too%careful%with%
How%sa@sfied%or%dissa@sfied%are%you%with%your%local%area%as%a%
Have%been%asked%what%you%what%you%think%*%
How%safe%do%you%feel%walking%alone%a9er%dark%in%wider%area*%
!0.4%
!0.3%
!0.2%
!0.1%
0%
0.1%
0.2%
0.3%
0.4%
0.5%

25. Empire Square
Imperial Wharf
Knowle Village
The Hamptons

26. Cressingham Gardens SW2

28. Neighbourhood data
Data can be used a tool to help understand and think
about places, sometimes it provokes strong reactions
Data that reveals how people feel about a place and how
they experience their lives often tells a very different
story to conventional deprivation statistics
Your task
Look at the maps of Foleshill what do these tell you?
Is the data about what we would expect to find in
comparable areas useful? Misleading? Downright wrong?

29. Mapping community assets

30. Eco Bicester: we worked with Cherwell council and the developer of
exemplar stage, A2Dominion, to build social sustainability into the ambitious
new development, planned to be 20,000 homes over 20 years.

31. Bicester Community Asset Map
N
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32. Bicester Community Asset
Assets located in Bicester
1 Bicester Link Point (Cherwell DC)
2 Bicester Town Council
3 Bicester Resource & Wellbeing Centre
Statutory
Organisations
Assets located outside Bicester
or non-physical assets
1 Bicester Village
1 Langford Village Community Centre
Community
Centres
Bicester Vision
2 West Bicester Community Centre
3 Bicester East Community Centre
Places of
Interest
5 Garth Park
Bicester Chamber of Commerce (Banbury)
1 Bicester Local History Society
Banburyshire Community Transport Assoc.
2 Bicester Rotary Club
Cherwell Volunteer Bureau (Cherwell DC)
Cherwell District Council (Banbury)
Community
Organisations
1 St Edburg’s C of E Church
3 Bicester Round Table
4 Langford Women’s Institute
Religious
Organisations
1 Langford Village RA
2 Emmanuel Church
3 Bicester Methodist Church
Grassroots Bicester
4 Parish of the Immaculate Conception
Oxfordshire Community & Voluntary Action
2 Bicester Parkland RA
Heyford Park RA (Upper Heyford)
1 Bicester Leisure Centre
Bure Park RA
2 Stagecoach Bicester (Theatrical arts)
Sport &
Leisure
Organisations
1 Langford Medical Practice
4 Longfields Primary School
5 Kings Meadow Primary School
Schools
1 1st Bicester Scout Group
5 Bicester Town Rail
2 2507 (Bicester) Squadon ATC
Bicester Hive (Bicester Garrison)
3 St Mary’s RC Primary School
4 Bicester Choral & Operative Society
4 Bicester North Rail
7 Child First (Day Care)
2 Bure Park Primary School
3 Bicester Concert Band
3 Montgomery House Surgery
6 Bicester Library
1 Brookside Primary School
5 Bicester Green Gym
2 North Bicester Surgery
Community
Facillities
3 Bicester Market
4 Chesterton Golf Club
4 Southwold Community Centre
Cherwell Crime Partnership: Bicester
Residents
Associations
2 Bicester Farmers Market
Youth
Organisations
3 Bicester Courtyard Youth Arts Centre
6 Bicester Community College
7 Glory Farm Primary School
8 Langford Village Primary School
9 The Cooper Secondary School
10 Bardwell Community Special School
7th Bicester Scout Group
11 St Edburgs C of E Primary School
Bicester Youth Council
12 Southwold County Primary School
March 2012

33. Bicester Community Asset Map
N
2
A4095
5
9
A40
ell
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ish
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kW

35. Mapping Foleshill’s assets
It is relatively easy to find out about local institutions.
It is more difficult to find out about people based assets,
and strengths that grow out of social networks.
Your task
Look at the pictures of Foleshill, what do these tell you
about the assets in the area and within the community?
What else do you know about community assets in
Foleshill? How would you go about filling out this picture?

36. Using personas

37. The Social Life of Cities is a new collaboration with Cisco: bringing
together city leaders to find new ways of driving urban innovation and to
think differently about creating thriving and sustainable places.
We have been working in Chicago’s south side, and Malmö in Sweden.

38. July 2012: How can digital technology create
resilient neighborhoods in Chicago’s South Side?

39. Resilience: the ordinary superpower

41. Developing personas for South Chicago

42. AMOS
Think about different kinds of people living and working in
South Side neighborhoods and why they would use TATV
The issue
The issue facing me that the
service is trying to address is….
Touchpoints and devices
Touchpoints and devices
He has smartphone and uses
Things Iahave with or around it
to (eg car, TV, mobile
metext his friends, use the
internet, Because …
phone) ….listen to music, text
his family.
Who are the people and organizations that I
Relating
spend time withorganisations Ime others?
The people and and connect spend
time and connect with are … because….
Amos goes to the neighborhood high school and
has good relationship with some teachers. He
sometimes goes to an after school youth group
that runs anti-drugs, anti-gang programs
for boys. His family regularly attends
Church.
Amos is 16 and lives in Woodlawn with
his mother, brother and sister. He lives
in an apartment in a public housing
building. He feels unsafe in the
neighborhood because of gangs and gun
crime. He has friends who have been
robbed at gunpoint and been caught up
inBiography He is careful about when
shootings.
My name he goes and his mother
and where is….My age …..I live
in…..with..… My being study his
worries about him family,out on andown.
work background ….
What matters to me day to day?
What matters
Staying safe on the streets,
What s important to me in my dayseeing life is… I spent time doing …
to-day his friends.
because …. My values are …
Capacities and resources
HowcanTATV helping can tackle a
I is do easily…. I me t do easily…
problem? are … because ….
My skills
Amos wants to know about trouble
hotspots so he can avoid them and wants
alerts about violent incidents so he can
stay out of the way.

44. Developing personas for Foleshill
Hypothetical service users help people think about the
detail of different people’s experience and empathise
with their lives.
This is a user centred design method.
Your task
Take the personas templates and create some
hypothetical Foleshill residents
What would you need to do to make this robust? What
research would you need to carry out?

45. Designing interventions

46. Community consultation
about Somerleyton Road

47. Using trade off lines

49. Consolidating
personas:
south Chicago

50. First ideas for
the design of
the Stay Safe
app: south
Chicago

52. Using the personas, beginning to design a
template
Design methods allow us to turn complex issues into
visualisations.
Our initial designs need to be tested and prototyped.
Your task
Look at the two sheets and see how you could work with
your personas to start to build a picture of how a
neighbourhood university could work in Foleshill.

53. social-life.co
nicola.bacon@social-life.co
saffron.woodcraft@social-life.co