Local Level News

The National Neighbourhood Management Network recently asked me for some thoughts on neighbourliness in relation to regeneration and neighbourhood management, now published. A slightly longer version is available for download here.

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Local Level will be working with neighbourhood volunteers in Shipley, to help them define and develop their potential roles as 'street reps'. Models of street reps or street champions have been evolving under neighbourhood management in recent years. Our work in Shipley is designed to ensure that the role is defined and thought-through by the activists themselves, and that they are supported and can support one another as they go.

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Neighbourliness and cohesion
Published: Thursday, March 01, 2007

Following the publication of the interim report of the Commission on Integration and Cohesion, Local Level has prepared a short submission on neighbourliness.

It emphasises the essential connection between neighbourly behaviour and civil relations generally, and hence for cohesion. It stresses the significance of minimal informal interactions between residents as the basis for a sense of security and stability; and it tries to set out why there is a problem of neighbourliness and where the solutions might lie. The submission is available here.

The Museums Libraries and Archives Council has published a paper by Kevin Harris on localism, governance and the public realm.

Based on interviews with practitioners and policy analysts, the paper explores the potential role of the local cultural sector in reasserting the public realm, within a new context of community engagement, local governance and engaged democracy.

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The British Council has published a Local Level essay written by Kevin Harris on the relationship between e-government, democracy and social media. It argues that new forms of democracy are emerging which are more informal and conversational, and that this 'engaged democracy' is more strongly reflected in the uses of social media than by the e-government 'industry'. The essay is available here.

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The regeneration agency Shared Intelligence have organised a seminar on neighbourliness, in London, 27 February 2007. Kevin Harris will be speaking alongside Liz Richardson from the University of Manchester (Liz was author of a chapter on incentives for neighbourliness in the Respect in the neighbourhood book).

The event takes place at NCVO near Kings Cross, from 1500-1800. The fee of £35 includes a copy of the book and a wine reception. Further information and a booking form here.

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The Museums Libraries and Archives Council London is exploring how the city's public libraries can help meet the information needs of local community and voluntary organisations. I'll be running a workshop and contributing to the analysis over the next few months. The project is due to complete in June 2007.

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Local Level is beginning a community engagement programme of training for museums, libraries and archives professionals in south east England. The contract has been awarded by MLA South East and will involve training and support through learning sets. It will be led for Local Level by Catherine Herman and John Vincent. The evaluation will be carried out by Rebecca Linley and Kevin Harris.

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In my role as an associate of Community Development Foundation I've been asked to carry out a piece of work on neighbourliness for Age Concern England.

The project will build on the understanding, within Age Concerns, of the issues that affect the quality of local social relations. I'll be working with Giles Lane of Proboscis to explore the potential of some mapping techniques to help the agencies bring about change in their neighbourhoods.

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Russell House have just published Respect in the neighbourhood: why neighbourliness matters, edited by Kevin Harris. There's a leaflet here and you can order direct from RHP (recommended) or via Amazon.

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In September I joined a small British party on a two-week trip to Kyrgyzstan to explore the possibility of developing a community development study tour in the future. As guests of the civil society agency Counterpart-Sheriktesh we visited two regional agencies and four local community projects. A brief initial report is available on the Neighbourhoods blog here.

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Local Level has been asked by Swindon Borough Council to carry out a review of its community services, covering adult learning, community facilities management, and community development, and placing the team's practice in a national policy context. We'll be trying to develop a process that involves local activists and groups towards a future participative culture of neighbourhood governance.

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In July 2006 BBC News ran a series of short pieces by David Sillito about neighbourhoods and neighbouring, to which I made a small contribution which can still be seen here.

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I've taken most of the past six weeks out to finish editing a book on Respect in the neighbourhood. The book shows why neighbouring matters: the neighbourhood is the essential and most neglected context for civil relations. A crisis of respect requires concerted policy attention to be paid to the quality of local social relations. There are chapters on interpretations of 'respect,' on the importance of neighbouring, reporting on recent research, explaining the importance of the street-scene, exploring culturally diverse experiences of respect, and addressing the policy approach. There will be a foreword by Richard Sennett. Respect in the neighbourhood will be published in November by Russell House Publishing. I'll add a link to the blurb here in due course.

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Following a successful international seminar that I organised and ran in March, I will be preparing a short publication for the British Council on empowerment and participation in the network society. What was striking at the time was that while several countries show evidence of rapid innovation in e-government applications, there is often weak appreciation of the empowerment and exclusion issues that sit alongside such advances. The report should be completed by the end of September.

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I'm just starting a piece of work for the Musuems, Libraries and Archives Council on the impact of, and the sector's contribution to, the neighbourhood governance agenda. The research will be based mainly on interviews with practitioners and officials and is likely to be completed by the end of September.

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An essay which I have written about the Havelock estate has been published here by Proboscis in their Cultural snapshots series. The essay offers a snapshot of the physical conditions, low levels of social interaction, and civic absence that characterises the neighbourhood. It notes the sense of weakening community presence in the face of unresponsive environmental services and a looming drugs threat. It attempts to explain why participation in community initiatives is sometimes very difficult to establish or sustain, and it contrasts this reactive, fragmentary style of urban life with the contemporary image of lively urban consumption.

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I will be making a presentation about social inclusion at the Inspire national conference, at the British Library 25 April 2006. The Inspire programme is working on a seamless cross-sectoral pathway for learners across public, academic and national libraries.

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Local Level will be carrying out further work with Proboscis and the Havelock Independent residents' Organisation (HIRO) in Southall, beginning in April 2006, thanks to funding from the Department for Constitutional Affairs' Innovations Fund. The aim of the project is to stimulate interactions and a habit of participation at local level. We aim to enable local people to build up an organic and accretive knowledge base of the issues and concerns in the neighbourhood. This will encourage the conversations and connections that will engage residents to participate more fully in the democratic processes of managing their estate, relationships with the local authority and more broadly. More on the Social Tapestries blog here.

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Together with the Centre for the Analysis of Social Exclusion, I've organised a seminar on 'Informal social control and the respect agenda,' which takes place at the LSE in London on 18 January 2006. The meeting will be chaired by Richard Sennett.

It's a chance to hear about two recent research projects that have looked at social behaviour in local contexts. The event runs from 1630-1800, followed by a reception. There is no charge for attending. To reserve a place, email Yusuf Osman.

There's a note about the topic on my blog here. And there's a pdf flier here.

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Local Level collaborated with the Havelock Independent Residents' Organisation, Proboscis, and Partners in Changethis week to run a Community Open Day. A large-scale aerial map of the neighbourhood was laid out on a table in the community shop, to provide a focus for discussions about issues that were of concern to local people. There are notes about the session on the Neighbourhoods blog hereand on the Social Tapestries blog here.

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New Start magazinehas published an article I wrote in the summer, called 'The generations game,' in their Learning Curve section, 18 November 2005. It features the Havelock Independent Residents' Organisation, with some comments from Bev Carter of Partners in Change, who introduced me to this remarkable group of people.

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I'll be running a workshop on neighbourhood governance for Community Development Foundation, 22 November, replacing the postponed conference on the same theme. I'll do a short write-up afterwards on the Neighbourhoods weblog.

There's now a note about the event here.

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Local Level has been asked to help Bradford District libraries, archives and information servicein a public consultation exercise. I'll be working on the project over the next couple of months with Martin Dudley of Research and Innovation Services.

We'll be running workshops, with games and discussions, in Wibsey, Thornbury, and Shipley between 28 and 30 November 2005.

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What's the value to organisations of time spent in advisory groups and other people's committees? In the community and voluntary sector especially, experienced people contribute a lot of time to helping other agencies with their ideas and practice.

Local Level has just completed an exploratory study for Community Development Foundationto begin trying to assess the value and impact of the time spent by staff when sharing intellectual capital. The report is not public but if you're interested in the methodology, please get in touch.

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