The starting point for any new housing development is to understand the site - however data describing the social aspects of place, from wellbeing to perceptions about neighbourliness, belonging and safety, is not readily available, without carrying out extensive and expensive reserach. Fine grained community data is usually missing from early analysis and undersanding.
Social Life’s Community Dynamics data can fill this gap in our understanding of local areas. Community Dynamics predicts, at the hyper-local level, how residents living in or close to the sites of new towns feel about twhere they live. This throws light on the strengths and weaknesses of local communities and how they support residents’ individual and collective wellbeing.
This report showcases initial maping of wellbeing, community cohesion and neighbourliness around the three new town sites slated for early action: Tempsford, Chase Park and Crews Hill and South Bank Leeds.
Community Dynamics data is a starting point for government, central and local, to set the strategic brief for each site; for developers to ensure the social success of what they build; for communities to understand their local assets as well as vulnerabilities; and planning and design professionals to create site strategies.
Building new towns that flourish and become socially successful is as important as ensuring that new housing developments are economically and environmentally sustainable. When done well (which isn't always the case) new housing developments can support local identity and local economics and provide parks, shops and community infrastructure for their residents and people living nearby.
