Regeneration in a cold climateFrom policy change to behaviour change

Why we can’t leave it to the government‘Regeneration to Enable Growth gives us little confidence that the government has a clear strategy for addressing the country’s regeneration needs. It lacks strategic direction and is unclear about the nature of the problem it is trying to solve.’House of Commons communities and local government

committee

Why we can’t leave it to the experts

‘...the challenge now is to maximise the numbers and minimise the price. Although the scale is different, the “numbers game” which led directly to the housing disasters of the sixties is being played again, this time by housing associations instead of councils.’

David Page, Building for Communities, 1993

5 public service models that won’t work any more1 The Olympian god2 The Fat Controller3 The Philanthropist4 The Revolutionary 5 The Wagon Circle

7 foundations for strong communities1 Affordable, decent and safe homes2 Good physical and mental health3 Clean and healthy neighbourhoods4 Satisfying work, paid or voluntary 5 Good relationships6 Feeling those you care about are safe7 Access to communal and green spaces (source: Oxfam Humankind Index)

Coproduction: a model for hard times‘The medicine of kindness, the salve of co-operation and the tonic of pride’

Mary Clear, Incredible Edible Todmorden

‘The key to it is be right with folk, and I always think in life that if you’re right with folk then they’ll be right with you’

Peter Beck, housing manager, Kirklees

Coproduction: time to get out of the silo‘Public services that rest on an equal and reciprocal relationship between professionals, people using services, their families and neighbours’

Public Services Inside Out (Boyle, Slay and Stephens, 2010)

Coproduction: It’s the people, stupid (not “it’s the stupid people”)‘We cannot control what will happen if we unleash the potential of real people in real communities, but we have to do it’

Martin Simon, Timebanking UK

Coproduction: building belonging‘There are Moss-heads and there are Farm-heads. I am a Farm-head’

8-year-old boy, Stockbridge Village, Knowsley (quoted in We’re Lovely, Us People on Stockbridge)

Coproduction: building resilience‘A fence at the top of the cliff is always better than an ambulance at the bottom’

David Robinson, Community Links

Coproduction: building a sense of agency‘A composer can have all the talent of Mozart and a passionate desire to succeed, but if he believes that he cannot compose music, he will come to nothing’

Martin Seligman, Learned Optimism

Why coproduction means rethinking housing1 Housing as a foundation for community: from bricks and mortar to learning, work, health and hopes2 Housing as an anchor of place: putting down roots and building networks3 Housing as a stepping stone: an opportunity to build skills, confidence and standing

Why coproduction means rethinking work1 The value created within communities is often fashioned outside the workplace2 Work is not always a route out of poverty: 61% of children in poverty have working parents3 Insecure and precarious work damages communities. Zero-hours or commission-only contracts can harm physical and mental health

Making it happen: three stories

Story 1: WECH‘If more places were like WECH there would be more happiness’

Local resident, 2010

‘For nearly a decade WECH has housed a police officer as a tenant in exchange for him playing a role in community affairs’

WECH report, 2010

Story 2: Taff Housing‘[Public services] are no longer looking inwards so obsessively towards targets and procedures, but they find themselves looking increasingly outwards at the local neighbourhood to create supportive social networks...’

David Boyle, The Human Element, 2011

Story 3: Fresh Horizons, Huddersfield‘None of the people who apply for a post here had ever thought to apply for a local authority post. What we do is look for the potential in people rather than their track record’

Mike McCusker, chief executive, Fresh Horizons

Why small makes sense‘When a parent takes a child swimming or to the park they don’t think of it as a diversion from crime. They think of it as fun, part of a happy childhood’

David Robinson, Community Links

Urban acupuncture: small is bountiful‘Cities have the capability of providing something for everybody, only because, and only when, they are created by everybody’

Jane Jacobs, The Death and Life of Great American Cities

Urban acupunctureStory 1: The pothole gardener

Urban acupunctureStory 2: Meanwhile Space

Urban acupunctureStory 3: Placemaking with dirty hands

‘Don’t ossify, occupy’ - an old slogan for new times• Occupy the debate: get involved• Occupy the space: animate what’s empty• Occupy the attention: become a shop window for hope

Thank youMore from me:• my website: urbanpollinators.co.uk• on Twitter: @urbanpollinator• my blog: Living with Rats