About Connected Communities

Why Connected Communities?

In addressing what we call the social aspiration gap – the gap between the world we aspire to and the way in which we act – the RSA is seeking to understand what kind of citizens and communities we need if we are to rise to the challenges we face. At the neighbourhood level we believe this means we must be more engaged in local democratic, problem solving, decision-making and service delivery processes. We must ensure that individuals and communities have a real say in shaping their future lives and local environments.

Across the political spectrum there is a growing recognition of the importance of these questions and of the need to support social productivity (external PDF). David Cameron has talked of the need to build the "Big Society" and Ed Miliband has called for the creation of a "Good Society".

While there is a degree of consensus emerging on goals, there is much less agreement on ends; on how to achieve the vision.

In a recent pamphlet for the RSA called N Squared, Paul Omerod argued that "the policy framework for the twenty-first century... needs to be underpinned by an understanding [of]… how networks influence our choices and how these change over time."

The Connected Communities project is an attempt to apply Omerod's suggestion to questions around social productivity.

The RSA is interested in constructing more sophisticated, network-based solutions to social problems alongside more traditional, hierarchical interventions. This links to our own ambition to work more like this as an organisation: The RSA Fellowship network is exploring new ways of engaging and empowering Fellows to become a dynamic network of social change makers and innovators and supporting them in driving sustainable social change.

What is the Connected Communities project?

The Connected Communities projected is multi-faceted comprising several interrelated research projects, through which we aim to gain a better understanding of the conditions under which a new civic collectivism, or social productivity, may emerge - one that is organic, spontaneous, and bottom-up.

Connected Communities is an action research programme that employs social network analysis as a means to understand, plan for and foster the kind of communities that residents want to live in.

The project, which currently focuses primarily on New Cross Gate and to a lesser extent on Knowle West and Peterborough, involves producing social and organisational network maps (such as the image above right) of the local areas concerned by surveying and interviewing local people. Drawing on these responses, our maps and research are then used to inform bespoke community development strategies that are directed towards regenerating neighbourhoods in inclusive, efficient, locally-owned and embedded ways.

This work is being done up by a joint Research Team of Fellows and staff.

Further information

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