Reports and research

How can neighbourhoods be understood and defined?

1 August 2010 | Authors:

This is a review of what is and is not known about neighbourhoods and communities. It starts to analyse the characteristics of neighbourhoods, including how they are defined and the role of the local public realm in bringing them together.

What is an empowering authority? Community empowerment and organisational culture

1 August 2010 | Authors:

This paper builds on The Young Foundation’s practical experience with local authorities to develop and deepen understanding of how organisational cultures affect the success of neighbourhood working. It looks at how culture interacts with structures, people and processes and highlights

Managing the risks of neighbourhood governance

1 August 2010 | Authors: Saffron Woodcraft,

This discussion paper puts forward a framework for managing the risks of neighbourhood governance: There are strong arguments in support of neighbourhoods being given the powers to act on very local issues, to control local liveability services and community assets,

Capital Ideas

1 July 2010 | Authors: Geoff Mulgan, Jitinder Kohli,

We see innovation in action every day in our lives. When we think of innovation, most of us think of the private sector. And that’s hardly surprising since private-sector innovation accounts for more than 85 percent of economic growth in

Scaling New Heights

1 July 2010 | Authors: Geoff Mulgan, Jitinder Kohli,

President Clinton once said, “nearly every problem has been solved by someone, somewhere. The challenge of the 21st century is to find out what works and scale it up.” The question of scaling is a great issue for any progressive

Cohesive Communities

1 July 2010 | Authors: Alessandra Buonfino, Geoff Mulgan, Rushanara Ali, Sarah Hewes,

This report was commissioned by Local Government Improvement and Development to investigate how local authorities and the voluntary and community sector (VCS) can work more productively together to build empowered and cohesive communities. The research took place over a period

Listen, Participate, Transform: A social media framework for local government

30 June 2010 | Authors: Mandeep Hothi,

This think-piece, the second in a series from the Young Foundation’s Local 2.0 project, provides local authorities with a simple, practical framework to base their social media activity on. For those working in local government, social media is soon to

Opening Doors to Apprenticeships 2: Reflecting on ways forward

1 June 2010 | Authors: Bethia McNeil, Hannah Walsh, Kirsty Anderson, Dr Marcia Brophy,

Opening Doors to Apprenticeships: Reflecting on ways forward is the second of two linked publications, following on from Opening doors to Apprenticeships: Setting the Scene. This report considers the practical next steps that need to be taken in order to

Innovating better ways of living in later life: context, examples and opportunities

1 May 2010 | Authors: Carmel O’Sullivan, Diogo Vasconcelos, Geoff Mulgan,

The paper looks at the changing facts of ageing as both a challenge and an opportunity. The focus is in particular on the many ways in which societies are innovating better ways of living longer, better ways of providing support

The Capital Ambition guide to behaviour change

1 May 2010 | Authors: Sophie Hostick-Boakye, Vicki Sellick,

Can public agencies succeed in changing individual behaviour to make society greener, healthier, more caring, less anti-social? Increasingly, local councils, health and other public bodies are trying to do this – because desirable social outcomes (or specific targets such as

The End of Regeneration? Improving what matters on small housing estates

1 April 2010 | Authors: Corinne Cordes, Dick Muskett, Mandeep Hothi, Saffron Woodcraft,

This toolkit aims to encourage local authorities, housing associations and other public agencies to think differently about how to break the cycle of entrenched poverty and disadvantage on small housing estates. The ideas, approaches and lessons in this toolkit are

Innovation and ideas development – a summary

1 April 2010 | Authors: Sophie Hostick-Boakye, Vicki Sellick,

This paper rounds up the work of the London Collaborative from May 2009: it includes three innovations methods, each introduced to the London Leadership Network and explored through a practical project targeting a pressing social need. The paper outlines: Highlights