What does it take for a neighbourhood to survive and thrive through change?
Social Life has launched Social Life Practice CIC to help shape neighbourhood change for good. For over 14 years, we have been exploring the social dimensions of neighbourhood change. Along the way, we’ve learned a lot about what people experience, and what helps neighbourhoods thrive.
But the need for action has never been greater. Many of the challenges we identified 14 years ago remain: what people value most is what the system often sees least; power imbalances in decision-making are structural and persistent; and new housing still struggles to create thriving communities.
And now we're facing new challenges too: climate change, growing inequality, social tensions and declining trust.
We want to move beyond understanding neighbourhood change towards helping shape it. We want to be bolder. We recognise that Social Life's existing model can only go so far. This means finding a form of practice that allows us to:
That’s why we have created Social Life Practice CIC.
Our mission is to put evidence to work. Our programmes are organised around three areas where our work has shown the most persistent, structural failure:
1 Safeguarding neighbourhood ecosystems: We help identify and protect the invisible social networks that support everyday life. We co-create the spaces in which they are hosted.
2 Redistributing power in decision-making: We build capacity, co-create and test new governance models that move beyond traditional consultation.
3 Rethinking housing delivery model: We facilitate better collective decision-making to navigate the complex balance between social, environmental, and economic outcomes.
We believe neighbourhoods can thrive through change - if the right relationships, knowledge and practices are in place.
What does it take for a neighbourhood to survive and thrive through change?
Social Life has launched Social Life Practice CIC to help shape neighbourhood change for good. For over 14 years, we have been exploring the social dimensions of neighbourhood change. Along the way, we’ve learned a lot about what people experience, and what helps neighbourhoods thrive.
But the need for action has never been greater. Many of the challenges we identified 14 years ago remain: what people value most is what the system often sees least; power imbalances in decision-making are structural and persistent; and new housing still struggles to create thriving communities.
And now we're facing new challenges too: climate change, growing inequality, social tensions and declining trust.
We want to move beyond understanding neighbourhood change towards helping shape it. We want to be bolder. We recognise that Social Life's existing model can only go so far. This means finding a form of practice that allows us to:
That’s why we have created Social Life Practice CIC.
Our mission is to put evidence to work. Our programmes are organised around three areas where our work has shown the most persistent, structural failure:
1 Safeguarding neighbourhood ecosystems: We help identify and protect the invisible social networks that support everyday life. We co-create the spaces in which they are hosted.
2 Redistributing power in decision-making: We build capacity, co-create and test new governance models that move beyond traditional consultation.
3 Rethinking housing delivery model: We facilitate better collective decision-making to navigate the complex balance between social, environmental, and economic outcomes.
We believe neighbourhoods can thrive through change - if the right relationships, knowledge and practices are in place.
