We are delighted to announce that Malmö (Sweden) and Chicago are the first two locations for our practical, urban innovation projects to get underway.
Place-based social investment in Malmö (Sweden)
We are working with the City of Malmö's Environment Department to develop a new placemaking model that can be funded by social investment, part of the City's "Regeneration Dialogue", which aims to comprehensively regenerate the City's 1960's and 1970's apartment blocks. Malmö has been an innovator in environmental sustainability, but the City faces social problems that have spilled over into violence in recent years. Our work will support the City to develop a new placemaking model, prioritising wellbeing and resilience, underpinned by social investment. This will be piloted in Lindängen, a peripheral area of the City. This is ambitious work that will draw on international thinking about placemaking and local social innovation, and how the emerging field of social investment can benefit specific areas.
Digital tools to tackle crime in Chicago's South Side
We are working with the University of Chicago's Office for Civic Engagement to prototype a community-led, anonymous crime reporting service that uses digital technologies to connect South Side citizens to public agencies that are tackling crime. The idea was developed by South Side community groups, City stakeholders, the University and Cisco, at workshops held in 2012.
Community groups identified the need to tackle violent crime, involve residents in a dialogue about addressing crime, and start to rebuild trust and relationships between local people. Rapid prototyping workshops in Chicago will be held over the summer.
