Putting relationships first: building connection in a place
This meeting, which took place on 28 April 2022, is one of a series looking at putting relationships first. The topic considered on this occasion was how to build connection, inclusion and social capital in a place. After some reflections by our thought leader for this cell, David Robinson from the Relationships Project, we heard from Nicola Baker from Social Life, which specialises in research and community projects exploring how people are affected by changes in the built environment, and Olu Alake from the Peel, a charity that has been building a connected community in Clerkenwell since 1898.
Key points made by the speakers and participants in the subsequent discussion include:
Many businesses, from the local corner shop to supermarkets are natural ‘bumping places’ where people who would otherwise not meet rub shoulders and, although some people want quick transactions others want a chat. We need to design relationships in, not out of these places, said David Robinson.
Social infrastructure needs to be defined widely, including the formal and informal spaces in which people meet, if we want to understand and make good places. Social Life had worked with Hawkins Brown for the GLA to look at how social infrastructure, including businesses, helps social integration in London, with this final report, Social Connection by Design: How London’s Social Spaces and Networks Help Us Live Well Together.
They had identified a ‘social structure eco-system’, studying three areas where they asked people what they valued and where they liked to meet people like themselves and where they go to meet people who are different. Formal spaces, for example schools or a hairdressers, are where they meet the latter. Informal spaces, for example coffee bars and restaurants, are where they spend time with people like themselves. Food networks, such as Pembroke House and Homerton food network, are important not just for people who may be food poor but also those who may be relationship poor, Nicola told us.
It’s important to map what’s there and understand the eco-system of social infrastructure, really listening to people, finding out what people value, and then to nurture it. Rural areas may be very different from urban ones, having very few corporate organisations but lots of small businesses and a lack of physical assets. Big businesses, like supermarkets, can also be very local.
Local authorities can be important connectors between different groups and have a role in improving local social infrastructure. The GLA now have a Good Growth by Design programme, for example.
Often places consist of different communities who do not mix at all and a conscious effort needs to be made to bring them together. In Clerkenwell, for example, Olu pointed out, there is a very high concentration of creative industries alongside housing estates with a high child poverty rate, and they never mix.
Community hubs don’t just deliver services, they can also be a facilitator within the community to make lives better and promote well-being. This is the new strategy being adopted by the Peel, Olu told us, based on the view that ‘resources are the people, not in us’. They developed a community newspaper, with wide circulation, facilitated activities such as a street party and a basketball team that were led by the community and were what local people said they wanted to do, recruited community organisers and worked with the local businesses community, approaching them with clear asks. All their community led projects are sponsored by local business.
It can be the connections that are made, not the service, that matter. Olu told a story of a single mother who popped into their centre and seemed to enjoy it, staying for hours, but she never came back. When he met her in the street he asked why. She said that she had met so many people at the centre with whom she had since maintained a connection that she didn’t need come back.
This is a very different way of operating for many charities and it is important to celebrate and share the stories and find the right partners at the right time and ask them to do the right thing.
Not all relationships are constructive and some may be cursory - it’s important to focus on creating positive connection that makes a difference in people’s lives.