Improving a place takes on a very different perspective when the place is so new. Obviously, this area has always been on the map, but the part of London that has emerged after the 2012 Olympic Games is completely different to what it looked and felt like prior to London winning the Games in 2005.
The London Borough of Hackney is, in many ways, the poster child for place improvement. There are few places in the UK that have undergone such wholesale change in such a short period of time. In about a decade and a half, Hackney has gone from being one of the least to the most desirable
Such a simple question eh? Who needs even 500 words to answer that? We may broadly agree that it’s a recipe of sorts; a few key ingredients with some optional extras that are dependent on your personal taste and flavour; 8oz of an aesthetic and clean physical environment, a large knob of aspirational work opportunity,
The recent rise in violence has made me angry. My answer to how we improve places is influenced by that anger, but also by the optimism that we have built VOYAGE with. At VOYAGE, we are committed to transforming and developing the opportunities and aspirations of young black communities across London. We are working to
As someone who has spent their entire life working in social enterprise and social investment, I come to this topic biased and have a strong belief that charities and social enterprises have a key role to play in improving a place. This comes from a sense that a stronger social economy can play a key
Paul Hamlyn was an entrepreneur, whose success was built on challenging traditional approaches, innovating and bringing new products to market, and backing individuals. He was also a migrant, whose own experiences of displacement and prejudice have shaped that values that guide the work of the charity he established in 1987. Today the Paul Hamlyn Foundation
Another way of framing the question is: if a place is improving, how can we make sure that the people living there benefit from the improvements and have a measure of control over what’s happening? We can all cite the regeneration schemes lauded as great successes, where the area was undoubtedly improved, with glittering new
EC1 New Deal made a difference. This was a difference both to the area where its work was focussed, with improvements to long neglected housing estates and projects for services in the area, and to the people in that area, both to the recipients of various schemes made possible by the funding to those involved
The aim at the outset was clear – to target funding at those areas which had missed out on Lottery funding in the past, but to do so in a way that would build community confidence and capacity to address the root causes of their missing out in the first place. The intention was that,
The ‘How’ question is best understood and answered alongside its regular bedfellows: why, who, where and when. The Why Question The ‘why’ question is most important as it is the basis for a vision and how success may be measured. In my experience of looking at community and regeneration plans, the hardest part is creating
