Social Integration and Regeneration Learning Network — Evaluation Report

Prof. Diana Stirbu introduces the evaluation of the Social Integration and Regeneration Learning Network — November 2021

London is one of the most diverse and constantly evolving cities in the world. Its neighbourhoods, high streets and public spaces offer multiple opportunities for Londoners to take part in and lead vibrant social lives, and connect with others. However, the pace, extent and ways in which places and spaces transform can sometimes have a damaging impact on local communities and the way we live together.

Through service provision, planning and regeneration, local authorities are uniquely placed to facilitate connections and help strengthen links between local communities, civil society and businesses to realise the Mayor’s vision for social integration. To this aim, the GLA commissioned Snook, NEF Consulting and London Metropolitan University to deliver City Hall’s first Social Integration Design Lab in 2018–19. The initiative provided space, structured facilitation and one-to-one support to local authority officers and managers from regeneration, planning, community engagement and service delivery teams to think more deeply about how to improve social integration in their boroughs. The Design Lab provided space for reflection, knowledge exchange and experimentation. The evaluation demonstrated there was real value in bringing people together, disrupting the established working culture in planning and regeneration, and framing community engagement as a long-term embedded process in regeneration.

Following the completion of the Design Lab, the GLA commissioned London Metropolitan University to design and deliver the Social Integration and Regeneration Learning Network in 2020, to continue supporting social integration efforts of local authorities and expand the audience beyond the participating teams in the Design Lab. The Learning Network brought together urban regeneration and social integration professionals, experts and academics to share ideas, innovations and challenges, and develop an understanding of social integration and regeneration across all London boroughs. After a hiatus (March-August 2020) caused by the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, lockdown and social distancing measures, London Metropolitan University redesigned and delivered the Learning Network as a digital programme between October 2020 and April 2021.

Undoubtedly, the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 challenged every aspect of social and public life. It has impacted local authorities financially[1],[2] and presented an immediate and understandable need to focus more efforts on supporting vulnerable residents and businesses with inevitable implications on wider regeneration and social integration work. But the COVID-19 pandemic has also brought to light just how important the space around us is, and the extent to which it can either enable or create barriers to local relationships and neighbourliness, participation and equality. It also reinforced the significance of social integration by exposing (and exacerbating) long-standing inequalities within the UK.[3]

Therefore, in addition to adapting to an online format, the Learning Network shifted the focus to include reflections and lessons from the pandemic response, and to explore thinking and practice in terms of recovery planning. In this sense, the Learning Network not only built on previous work, but it has done so in a radical new context — one characterised by crisis, uncertainty and a total system reboot.

While the Design Lab focused on encouraging regeneration practice to start with a better understanding of how people use public space and built assets through user research and testing, the Learning Network focused on community engagement as an integral part of regeneration, from planning to delivery, cross-sector coordination, and tools for measuring social value.

The principal findings of the Learning Network’s activities were that:

• peer learning opportunities should be designed as a mixture of digital and face-to-face interactions
• advancing knowledge and understanding of social integration in regeneration is underpinned by a mix of subject expertise and interdisciplinary perspective, which requires a range of expert facilitators across relevant disciplines
• opening up the conversations and interactions to community organisations and other sectors can support deeper learning on social integration in a regeneration context
• the above, however, should be carefully curated so that the learning space remains safe and allows for open discussion for local authority participants.
• fully developing an active community of practice across social integration and regeneration in London requires further co-design, development and testing of the proof of concept. Ongoing costs need to reflect both the level of facilitation required and the kind of interactions that are most effective (i.e. thematic working groups, knowledge acquisition, training and professional development).

This report (read in full here) outlines the main lessons and advancements in knowledge from the SIRLN programme.