Social Spaces view of Big Society

Big Society is an opportuni ty to change

the re la t ionship between government and c i t izens

Population Explosion

Financial Systems Collapse

Peak Oil & Resource Depletion

Damage to the

Environment

Responses

C o m p e t i t i o n C o l l a b o r a t i o n

{

LOCAL

NATIONAL

GLOBAL

C o m p e t i t i o n

• R e i n f o r c e s t r a d i t i o n a l s y s t e m s

• Fight harder through democrat ic processes

• Increase in lobbying for interests

• Community organis ing the Al insky way

• I n t h i s p a r a d i g m

• Advocacy is the v is ion

• Al l Communit ies are needy

• Government holds control over resources

• People are div ided

• F a v o u r s

• Conf l ic t

• Assert ive and conf ident indiv iduals

• Pressure pol i t ics

C o m p e t i t i o n

• R e i n f o r c e s t r a d i t i o n a l s y s t e m s

• Fight harder through democrat ic processes

• Increase in lobbying for interests

• Community organis ing the Al insky way

R e i n v e n t s s y s t e m s

• Revolut ion in creat ive & design th inking

• Reconsider what ‘ resources’ mean and what we value

• Imaginat ion, ideas, energies, ta lents, exist ing mater ia l resources

C o l l a b o r a t i o n

• I n t h i s p a r a d i g m

• Advocacy is the v is ion

• Al l Communit ies are needy

• Government holds control over resources

• People are div ided

I n t h i s p a r a d i g m

• Community is the v is ion

• Everyone can contr ibute

• Government is an al ly, an enabler

• People are brought together

• F a v o u r s

• Conf l ic t

• Assert ive and conf ident indiv iduals

• Pressure pol i t ics

F a v o u r s

• Creat ive & design th inking

• Expert faci l i tat ion

• Whole communit ies

RepresentNeeds

“We want you to do more”

“We want you to do more”

Government

Citizens

C o m p e t i t i o n

C o l l a b o r a t i o n

Citizen-led Participation

Local Authority

Facilitation

“How can we help you?”

“How can we help you?”

CollaborateAssets

Government

Citizens

RepresentNeeds

“We want you to do more”

“We want you to do more”

Government

Citizens

C o m p e t i t i o n

C o m p e t i t i o n

Bottom Up

Government

Citizens

[Over] SIMPLE VIEW

Big Society Top Down

C o l l a b o r a t i o nC o m p e t i t i o n

Bottom Up

Government

Citizens

[Over] SIMPLE VIEW

Big Society

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

10

9

8

7

6

5

4

3

2

1

Citizen-led Participation

Local Authority

Facilitation

Facilation

Facilitation

Facilitation

COMPLEX VIEW

Government

Citizens

Top Down

Big Society is an about people tak ing ownership

of the i r communit ies , l i tera l ly bui ld ing them

together.

It requires facilitation to reveal and unlock existing capacity

What does facilitation look like?

Facilitation is about understanding your

resources, connecting them in new ways. This includes people’s ideas, aspirations, skills and

talents.

With an asset-based approach lightweight

‘connecting’ projects can be designed magically

from little or no financial resource.

LEARNING DREAMSMinnesota

Jerry Stein knocked on doors asking what people would like to learn. This could be

baking, learning to drive a car, read or write. He then knocked on doors until he found

someone that could enable that learning, by babysitting perhaps or by direct teaching.

The result is a community networked through generosity around learning, effectively

unlocking hidden capacity. Attendance has gone from 60% - 100% at local schools.

Communities need to be connected first before they can build

What does connection look like?

Connection is created through engaging

people in new and old ways through

understanding and creatively using

common denominators

LEARNSHAREM A K E

MENS SHEDSAustralia

There are over 500 community managed Mens Shed in Australia. Research into the overall

effects of the sheds have discovered the benefits of this type of productive connection

show that the men have higher levels of wellbeing that has rippled out in the

communities, creating widespread cohesion and intergenerational activity.

PEOPLE’S SUPERMARKET

London

The People’s Supermarket is based on a community model where customers can also

become members and qualify for discounts on their shopping. Members fulfil a number of hours working in the shop giving them the opportunity to meet a wide range of local community members and become more

integral to the community.

FALLEN FRUITLA

The Fallen Fruit project in LA is a community harvesting project collects fruit overhanging pavements. The project captured people’s

imagination when they began their night walks, gathering 100s of people along the way. The project has huge Public Jam making sessions and tree planting projets - allowing people to engage in community in a light and enjoyable

way creating new productive ways for the community to interact.

(Also see Grow Sheffield and Incredible Edibles in the UK)

PIELABAllabama

PieLab shows us what new types of community centre might look like. Starting

as a pop-up pie shop, the project now occupies a large full-time high street shop where they continue to sell pies, but act

predominantly as a new type of community space where people are invited to hold

creative and social events.

POP UP TEA ROOMBirmingham

A range of meanwhile projects sponsored by Birmingham City Council. This has included

pop up tea rooms where the community have come to meet. Another example of new style community spaces, stimulated by the idea of

using underused spaces.

HOTEL TRANSVAALThe Hague

TextHotel Treansvaal utilises the social structure of the neighbourhood Transvaal in the Hague, a

neighbourhood undergoing urban renewal. Due to the urban restructuring, a lot of the social

apartment blocks have been schedule to disappear. Hotel Transvaal (2006) could be

seen as an inverted hotel, the neighbourhood as a whole functions as a hotel. In a centrally placed building, a restaurant, internet café, gallery and a number of hotel rooms was

realised. They act as a meeting place, where hotel guests from the other hotel rooms come into contact with each other and people from

the neighbourhood.

“The next generation of true innovation is going to be achieved by the collective, not

by the lone genius.”

Larry Brilliant

“We have been presented, with the opportunity to re-centre ourselves, to narrow our focus to our local environment and to project our dreams of

our changed future.”

Lidewij Edelkoort