
Derwenthorpe is a new mixed tenure development established by the Joseph Rowntree Housing Trust, and as it takes shape and the homes becomes occupied, it will be possible to explore residents’ levels of confidence with social technologies, and to study how that in turn influences relative poverty and social exclusion.
There’s a 3D ‘fly-through’ of the new development on this page.
We’ll be working with the project team and local partners to develop a digital inclusion strategy and help raise levels of ‘digital fluency’. Community development activities in the area are already underway. This work will be supported, and the ways in which social technologies are used for community development will be investigated. The working hypothesis is that increased levels of digital inclusion will contribute to more community connectedness, and vice versa. Findings should help to clarify how social technologies establish and enhance the relationships and interactions that underpin community capacity and efficacy.
The Local Level team comprises Kevin Harris, Martin Dudley, Alison Gilchrist and Hugh Flouch, with advisory contributions from Keith Hampton and Carol Calvert.