https://www.youngfoundation.org/our-work/publications/london-civic-strength-index/
At today’s London Policy & Strategy Network, we hosted City Hall’s Community Engagement team to hear more about the development of the first iteration of London’s Civic Strength Index, a framework identifying the key factors contributing to Civic Strength and attempts to start measuring these across the City.
Civic strength exists when communities are supported by robust public and social infrastructure to build strong relationships and meaningful engagement in the issues that matter to them.
We discussed the opportunities to unlock data across London boroughs that could feed into the Index and improve our understanding of the makeup of Civic Strength across the capital.
Interests
- How can we map, share and use civic strengths?
- What should/could civic strengths look like post-Covid and align with opportunities such as the Integrated Care System and movements such as Black Lives Matter?
- How can civic strength inform a Neighbourhood Community Infrastructure Levy?
- How can we best engage and measure the impact of community involvement in planning & place-making?
Future challenges & opportunities in the use of the Index
- How can we use the Index to open up policymaking to contribute to ‘Everyday democracy’?
- How can we genuinely co-design this with London’s communities, leaders and Londoners?
- How should we build on the Civic Strength Index for a more geographical shared interest lens, moving away from competitive to mutual interests to draw inward investment?
- How can the Index help us better understand the different (more intangible) dimensions of those places within London that require Levelling Up? This will be important to building the case for Levelling Up in London and other regions across the UK.
- How can we use the Index to measure bridging social capital?
Risks
- The risk is that area that is strong on civic strength are also more successful in gaining funding — and weak sites are increasingly ‘left behind.’
- The risk that quantitative data miss engagement from already under-represented groups
Areas to factor in
- How sensitive is the Index to changes over time and local events/ changes which may impact some of the indicators?
What data can we correlate the Civic Strengths Index with?
- Census data at a demographic level
- CIPFA on libraries
- Indices of Multiple Deprivation
- The happiness of place and house prices
- Digital exclusion
- MOPAC to look at tackling disproportionality in the criminal justice system
- Surveys that capture these less available indicators
- Surveys or existing data on other demographics and social characteristics can be done to identify patterns within specific groups or inequities
- Public health models and the focus on a ‘locus of control’ which is an essential foundation for participation
- For groups under the radar, use Eventbrite sessions — most groups promote their activities via this route and segment across London
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Other videos from the London Policy & Strategy Network sessions are below.
- Local government 2030
- Discover the People’s Budget
- Putting doughnut economics into practice
- How do we develop relational services
- Implementing the socioeconomic duty
- Developing child-friendly communities
- Riding the waves — strengthening organisational resilience
- Developing the Inclusive Enterprise Zone
- Launch of the London Poverty Profile
- What can we expect from the Comprehensive Spending Review
- How do we drive corporate improvement
- Making a doughnut for London
- Health on the high street
- Owning the future: taking a community wealth building approach
- Imagination by design
- Cities as Platforms
- Communities driving change
- Developing a community endowment fund
- What are the future scenarios for London
- How do we mobilise cross-cutting groups & teams to navigate change together?
- How do we navigate uncertainty while trying to shift systems
- Portfolio approaches to blending strategy & experimentation
- Long-term view across generations
- Cross-organisational collaboration
- Radical visions of government
- New operating models
- Council & university collaboration
- Relationship makers
- Capabilities in policy engagement
- Scenarios for civil society
- Tools to influence and drive change in public services
- Learning through the pandemic
- Develop challenge-based prizes
- Discover policy Innovations from across the world
