The concept of social sustainability is useful for thinking about the social dimensions of new housing developments and placemaking.

Social Life have created a social sustainability framework that came out of a commission from the Homes & Communities agency to explore research and evidence about what makes new places thrive. The background to this is set out in the report “Design for Social Sustainability”.

Barnwood Trust, Bromford and Cheltenham Borough Homes came together in 2016 to publish a report “Welcome to the Future“. This is intended as an introductory resource for all those involved in planning, designing, developing or managing housing. The focus is on understanding the essential building blocks of communities that are vibrant, inclusive and socially sustainable.

This toolkit uses the concept of social sustainability.

Social Life defines social  sustainability as:

“A process for creating sustainable, successful places that promote wellbeing, by understanding what people need from the places they live and work.

Social sustainability combines design of the physical realm with design of the social world – infrastructure to support social and cultural life, social amenities, systems for citizen engagement and space for people and places to evolve.”

Social Life have created a social sustainability framework. This came out of a commission from the Homes & Communities agency to explore research and evidence about what makes new places thrive. The background to this is set out in the report “Design for Social Sustainability’.

Social sustainability gives us a starting point for thinking about the social dimensions of new housing developments and placemaking.

The social dimensions of new housing developments and placemaking

The concept of social sustainability is useful for thinking about the social dimensions of new housing developments and placemaking. 

Social Life have created a social sustainability framework that came out of a commission from the Homes & Communities agency to explore research and evidence about what makes new places thrive. The background to this is set out in the report “Design for Social Sustainability

AMENITIES + SOCIAL INFRASTRUCTURE

This dimension captures the services and spaces that are needed to support individual wellbeing and collective community life. It includes amenities and support services – from schools, to public spaces, transport and community workers – that meet the needs of all the groups in the neighbourhood and that encourage people from different backgrounds to meet.

VOICE + INFLUENCE

This focuses on the extent to which residents feel they have control over the environment in which they live. It includes governance structures that enable residents to participate in local decision-making and stewardship, and residents ability to take action to change the places they live and to shape places for the future.

SOCIAL + CULTURAL LIFE

This is about the less tangible elements of local life, such as neighbourliness, trust, a sense of place, feelings of safety and the relationships between different groups. It includes the collective activities and social architecture to foster local networks, belonging and community identity.

ADAPTABILITY + RESILIENCE

This describes the capacity of places to adapt to changing needs, circumstances and populations. It includes flexible planning so that housing, infrastructure and services can adapt over time, as well as flexible uses of buildings and public space.

How has it been used?

Social Life’s social sustainability framework has been used to help community groups, councils, housing associations and developers plan and design new schemes and initiatives, for example in Brixton in South London, in Cheltenham and Tewksbury to help understand what community infrastructure is needed to support residents living in and around housing growth areas, and across London by L&Q housing association in planning shared spaces in new developments.

The social sustainability framework has also been used to understand how neighbourhoods and towns are faring: in Corby, in Sutton in South London and across Europe. It has also been translated into Korean and is being used by agencies in Seoul to help design their neighbourhood regeneration programmes.

The framework also has been used as the starting point for measuring the impact of changes in the built environment, including new housing developments, and regeneration schemes.

Social Life has been delivering training courses for the Barnwood Trust on social sustainability in new housing developments in Gloucestershire since 2014.

The Evidence – read about the evidence that how people relate to each other in local communities impacts on their quality of life 

Explore the case studies

Churcham

Churcham is a small development of seven new houses on a Rural Exception Site in Churcham…

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The Malings

The Malings is a housing scheme that combines traditional community values…

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Abode Housing

Abode at Great Kneighton is a flagship development for Cambridge City Council…

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View all of the case studies