As a social enterprise, every year we carry out a pro-bono project with communities affected by urban development and regeneration.
In 2012 we worked carried out an initial assessment of wellbeing and resilience on the Moorlands Estate in Brixton for Brixton Green, a non-profit, community-owned mutual society, which was set up to give local people and organisations a voice in the redevelopment of Somerleyton Road. The Moorlands Estate neighbours the Somerleyton Road site, which is being redeveloped by Lambeth Council in partnership with Brixton Green, Ovalhouse, with igloo regeneration acting as development manager.
In 2013 we worked with Brixton Green again, running a community workshop to tell people about opportunities to have a voice in the Somerleyton Road devepment process. Over 100 people came out on a bitterly cold day to share their ideas and perspectives. Read about what people told us and the main issues and ideas from the workshop.
In 2014 we carried out Trading Places, a research project to understand how independent traders in the Elephant & Castle Shopping Centre are being affected by the proposed regeneration. The research explored the Shopping Centre's social value from the traders' perspectives; looking at how people are affected now by the proposed changes and how they are likely to impact on traders and customers' businesses, livelihoods, friendships and local relationships in the future. We shared the research findings with the Elephant Amenity Network and Latin Elephant; ran exhibitions at The Coronet and Peacock Yard Open Studios; and organised a Regeneration Walkshop as part of The Unusual Suspects, a festival about social change organised by the Social Innovation Exchange (SIX). The research findings are available here.
In 2015 our pro bono project focused on assembling information that would be useful to grassroots organisations in the UK and internationally. We have become aware of the number of interesting examples of organisations using mapping technologies to bring together information to campaign for change, advocate for particular interests or reveal hidden aspects of everyday life. Working with SIX we have produced an atlas of participatory maps, which includes examples from East Asia, Africa, North and South America, and Europe. We worked with colleagues in Naples to analyse what we found, to understand the trends and patterns that emerged from the wide range of maps we discovered. Our aim was to make this powerful range of approaches and technologies available to interested groups and organisations trying to improve thier local areas and challenge vested interests.
In 2016 and 2017 our pro bono work focused on our local area, around our office in Walworth. We have made good links with local organisations, including the tenants' and residents' associations, and hope that we will be able to work with these in the future to support local community activism.
We collaborated with Canadian psychologist and psychogeographer Colin Ellard, from the Urban Realities Laboratory at the University of Waterloo in Toronto and carried out a series of walks around our local area. This became part of the 2017 Unusual Suspects Festival. We also showed our work at an exhibition at Newington TRA Hall, alongside our work in the area about urban nature, carried out by Stephen McConnaghie as part of his placement with Social Life.
In 2018 and 2019 we built on this work, organising a walk and an event - Whose Elephant? An exploration of local identities- about our local area as part of the London Festival of Architecture, involving local historians and community activists.
As a social enterprise, every year we carry out a pro-bono project with communities affected by urban development and regeneration.
In 2012 we worked carried out an initial assessment of wellbeing and resilience on the Moorlands Estate in Brixton for Brixton Green, a non-profit, community-owned mutual society, which was set up to give local people and organisations a voice in the redevelopment of Somerleyton Road. The Moorlands Estate neighbours the Somerleyton Road site, which is being redeveloped by Lambeth Council in partnership with Brixton Green, Ovalhouse, with igloo regeneration acting as development manager.
In 2013 we worked with Brixton Green again, running a community workshop to tell people about opportunities to have a voice in the Somerleyton Road devepment process. Over 100 people came out on a bitterly cold day to share their ideas and perspectives. Read about what people told us and the main issues and ideas from the workshop.
In 2014 we carried out Trading Places, a research project to understand how independent traders in the Elephant & Castle Shopping Centre are being affected by the proposed regeneration. The research explored the Shopping Centre's social value from the traders' perspectives; looking at how people are affected now by the proposed changes and how they are likely to impact on traders and customers' businesses, livelihoods, friendships and local relationships in the future. We shared the research findings with the Elephant Amenity Network and Latin Elephant; ran exhibitions at The Coronet and Peacock Yard Open Studios; and organised a Regeneration Walkshop as part of The Unusual Suspects, a festival about social change organised by the Social Innovation Exchange (SIX). The research findings are available here.
In 2015 our pro bono project focused on assembling information that would be useful to grassroots organisations in the UK and internationally. We have become aware of the number of interesting examples of organisations using mapping technologies to bring together information to campaign for change, advocate for particular interests or reveal hidden aspects of everyday life. Working with SIX we have produced an atlas of participatory maps, which includes examples from East Asia, Africa, North and South America, and Europe. We worked with colleagues in Naples to analyse what we found, to understand the trends and patterns that emerged from the wide range of maps we discovered. Our aim was to make this powerful range of approaches and technologies available to interested groups and organisations trying to improve thier local areas and challenge vested interests.
In 2016 and 2017 our pro bono work focused on our local area, around our office in Walworth. We have made good links with local organisations, including the tenants' and residents' associations, and hope that we will be able to work with these in the future to support local community activism.
We collaborated with Canadian psychologist and psychogeographer Colin Ellard, from the Urban Realities Laboratory at the University of Waterloo in Toronto and carried out a series of walks around our local area. This became part of the 2017 Unusual Suspects Festival. We also showed our work at an exhibition at Newington TRA Hall, alongside our work in the area about urban nature, carried out by Stephen McConnaghie as part of his placement with Social Life.
In 2018 and 2019 we built on this work, organising a walk and an event - Whose Elephant? An exploration of local identities- about our local area as part of the London Festival of Architecture, involving local historians and community activists.
