Key Insights from the LDN Collective Launch: Engagement, Co-Design and Social Value
Are you looking to engage with your local communities as part of your placemaking and development strategies, but not sure how to engage with them in meaningful and inclusive ways?
If so, read on to learn about the LDN Collective’s new Community Engagement offer.
On July 17th 2024, Concept Culture supported the launch of the LDN Collective’s new Engagement, Co-Design, and Social Value offer, collaborating with LDN Collective members ECF, edge Urban Design, Commonplace, You See Media, and Tim Ashwin.
The event was held at the Seven Dials Club in Covent Garden, an open mic venue normally entertaining people with funny one-liners. However, this time around it served as a forum to discuss three key areas in the built environment sector: Engagement, Co-Design, and Social Value. The aim of the event was to bring new perspectives to community engagement in the built environment sector, empowering communities to shape their own future.
In this blog, we will explore the key messages from the event and share different ways to engage with communities to increase social value through co-design.
Source: Lawrence Barraclough, You See Media
Everyone’s voice is important
All attendees were invited to share their views on engagement, co-design, and social value. Flipcharts were placed around the tables, each posing questions like "What is engagement?", "What is co-design?", and "What is social value?". Attendees were encouraged to participate by adding their ideas and drawings to the flipcharts.
Source: Lawrence Barraclough, You See Media
ECF’s Managing Director Oliver Deed, edge Urban Design’s Director Hannah Smart, and Tim Ashwin Consulting’s Director Tim Ashwin also shared their perspectives on what engagement, co-design, and social value mean to them.
All three emphasised the importance of open communication, collaboration, and inclusivity. They highlighted the need to listen to communities, empower them, and reach people where they are rather than expecting them to come to you.
Source: Lawrence Barraclough, You See Media
Case studies: Urban Regeneration and Public Realm
The main part of the event was the exciting workshops, where all attendees not only had the opportunity to share their perspective and experiences but also could network and meet people from various backgrounds across the built environment sector.
Creative Director Tanisha Raffiuddin facilitated one of the group discussions where participants discussed key challenges and explored “what good looks like”, using two case studies – one involving a major urban regeneration, the other a smaller-scale public realm improvement.
Source: Lawrence Barraclough, You See Media
Engagement: The good, the bad, and the ugly
Throughout the evening, the attendees had the opportunity to share their own experiences with good and bad engagement. In true open-mic fashion, they stood up with their microphone and spoke directly to the audience. After listening to people’s stories, it became clear that good engagement is not always straightforward.
Engagement is the first part of the development process where you can conduct surveys, host workshops and offer various activities to engage with the community.
Oliver Deed shared his advice on creating good engagement. The first thing you should do is to ask yourself who your audience is. Are they young? Do they have disabilities? Are they families with small children? Research and understand your audience to determine the best ways to engage with them. Think about both voices who are “hard to reach” and those “hard to ignore”.
For example, consider creating fun workshops and activities for younger audiences. Additionally, you can hand out flyers with QR codes, allowing you to meet them face-to-face while also providing them with the opportunity to learn more about you and your project online.
Below, we have outlined five key points from the workshops on how to achieve good engagement:
Maintain regular communication with the community to establish trust.
Conduct the necessary desk work, such as researching the individuals and groups affected by the scheme and mapping out the full range of stakeholders, including residents, workers, local businesses, public officials, and community organisations.
Encourage and reward participation by respecting people's time and compensating them for their contributions when appropriate.
Ask people how they would like to engage and identify whom they believe should be involved.
Avoid labels by focusing on what people value and the strengths of the area, rather than whether residents of a so-called "deprived" area perceive it as such.
Co-Design: Give Power to the Community
The next step in the process is Co-Design. After engaging with the community and identifying your key audience, invite them to participate. Listen to their needs and design ideas, then test these designs to determine what works and what does not.
Hannah Smart shared her insights on co-design and stated that the core principle of co-design is to treat community members as the primary experts. It is important to make the process honest and authentic, actively listening to the community’s needs and their concerns about the development, and transferring ownership and control to the people who will live there long-term.
Following this, we watched "City of London 2024 Plan," a captivating film by the talented Lawrence Barraclough from You See Media about LDN Collective’s stakeholder engagement work for the City of London. The video beautifully showcased the essence of the engagement activities conducted with the community, illustrating the value of deeply understanding the area and collecting diverse perspectives from both residents and workers.
Below are five key tips from the workshops on how to create an effective co-design process:
Consider the needs of future residents and others affected, even if they do not live there.
Start the process early with co-visioning and building a narrative.
Encourage creativity by making it fun, original, and emotionally engaging.
Avoid projects that merely pay lip service to community involvement without making substantial changes or impacts (also known as “token” projects”).
Whenever possible, allocate a substantial portion of the development for locals to design.
Social Value: Enhance People’s Quality of Life
When you have created good engagement and been through your co-designing process, you can start to look at the social value and create your strategy. Social value in the built environment refers to how buildings, places, and infrastructure improve people’s quality of life and support community well-being.
The event’s final speaker was Tim Ashwin from Tim Ashwin Consulting, who shared his perspective on social value. He emphasised that effective communication is essential for incorporating social values and achieving a meaningful impact. Maximising social value means considering from the broadest context how a project will affect people’s lives.
This can include implementing engagement programs, ensuring the needs and aspirations of under-represented and hard-to-reach groups are considered, understanding costs, and being clear about trade-offs and limitations.
To wrap this up, we have listed five key areas to consider below:
Get early feedback on the social value programme - What do people believe would be the most beneficial for them or their community?
Establish clear and measurable objectives, and evaluate proposals to ensure they will create a meaningful impact and deliver real benefits.
Leverage "quick wins" by staying flexible and accommodating opportunities that are quick and easy to implement.
Include things like safety, sense of pride, smaller-scale measures or interventions.
Consider the long-term benefits, lasting impact, and how positive social outcomes will be sustained after the project's completion.
What now?
We left the event feeling optimistic about the future and inspired by the many people dedicated to learning and improving to create spaces that truly serve communities and meet people’s needs.
Although the event had a set end time, this is only the beginning of the conversation. The discussions highlighted the need for ongoing focus and dialogue on the subject of what good community engagement looks like.
Let’s keep asking the important questions and striving for improvement to create sustainable communities.
We want to know YOUR story
Have you worked on a project that made a significant community impact and want to share it but need guidance on how to tell that story?
Or perhaps you are in the early stages of development and need help engaging with your community?
We can help you.
At Concept Culture, we specialise in helping you craft and communicate your story, making sure your story is seen and heard by the audience you serve.
Contact us today, and let us help you connect with your community and share your story.
