1. The importance of social architecture in housing with care settings
More resilient communities
Ian Hanton - Development & Commissioning Manager

2. Priory View, Dunstable

3. All Saints View, Houghton Regis

4. Flitwick 55 + Downsizer housing New Flitwick Leisure Centre Extra Care
Shared facilities
Care Home

5. What have we learned?
Good ability to create high quality landmark extra care schemes
Focused on design & construction of the built environment at the expense of developing the social infrastructure
Often an after thought following handover of a building
A needs led framework
Focused on fixing problems and deficits, fuels demand
Schemes work well for the majority but not everyone
More vulnerable populations less likely to benefit
Develop a community framework to change the focus
‘What’s strong, not what’s wrong’
be really clear why, what, who for and how

6. What’s strong, not what’s wrong
Targeting funds to needs directs funding to services, not communities
We might want to change this
To build social capital
To build the ‘agency’ of community
What makes us strong, healthy, more able to cope in times of stress and makes this a good place to be?
Find out what’s already working well and do more of it
Cherish the assets – as soon as people are talking to each other, they are working on the solutions
Social connectivity as a community asset & key determinant of resilience
Flitwick 55+
Community development workstream
Deficits v. strengths
See Loneliness handout
Social Capital – building face to face community networks, civic participation, citizen power; high levels = +ve health outcomes/ well-being, resilience – even the most marginalized communities have social, cultural and material assets
Agency – disinvested in community – easy to cut & destroy the habitat
A mobilized and empowered community will not necessarily choose to act on the same issues that SC&H see as priorities
Asset approach is not community engagement
Connectivity – ASC National surveys –Consistently, 60% of people report lack of social contact as the most important issue for them yet we focus on a task based approach to need - no prevention here

7. What makes people healthy & happy
Social contact – doing things together
60% of adult social care users report a lack of social contact yet our focus remains task based
To be heard, feel acknowledged
Achieve your full potential
To be meaningful to others
To be part of something
Less about programmes – what does it say for someone is to be the focus of a dedicated loneliness programme?

8. The ‘system’ over medicalizes health and well-being despite many of the issues being social in origin and solution
Healthy behaviours – includes the range and qulaoty of relationships/ associations that sustain well-being; strong epidemiological evidence for health benefits of clubs and societies inc. for CHD.
Contrast this with what we spend on being healthy and it seems clear the shift required to unlock health and well-being
Shift the focus from being treated as a demnentia sufferer to helping people live well with; dementia as just one feature of a complex life

9. Social Architecture/ Infrastructure
Includes
Voluntary organisations and community groups that operate in new (and existing) communities
Communities of interest, place and culture that exist in and across localities
The volunteers and volunteering opportunities that exist within communities
The networks of people and organisations that provide contacts, links and association with one another
Opportunities for social action and community engagement
Social interaction between people, neighbours and communities
Capacity building activity to support new community groups
The recruitment, development and support of community leaders
Opportunities for social inclusion, lifelong learning and community development.
Social infrastructure – see handout
The fabric of a functional community including the norms and values essential to inclusion

10. Paradigm shift
Communities need initial investment in community development to mobilise networks
Recognise that it takes time to build confidence
JSNA to JS Assets Assessment
Assess local potential and how to grow capacity
Different leadership model
Less command and control, more a social architect; orchestrator of place
Community building
Starts with identification of community assets – people as producers of development
Build informal associations, networks, relationships, knowledge, social power
Local people are experts in their own lives & where they live
Part of creating a shared future
Participatory appraisal – a research method that ensures local people have a voice, increased skills, knowledge; building trust and confidence
Community Asset Mapping
Focus on behavior change/ relationships, not pump-priming unsustainable projects that don’t create long-term change
Does not ignore needs: emphasis on psycho-social aspects of life

11. Shift to Community Capacity Building
Don’t look for leaders, find the connectors, invite to a party, not a meeting!
Establish a vision and identify
what we’re prepared to do
what help we need and
what needs to be done for us – to builds inter-dependence
Move from our agenda to an emphasis on contact/ connections/ relationships
Move away from delivery to discovery (needs analysis is a strait jacket)
Deepen curiosity of what’s strong, not what’s wrong
Systems tend to engage people for their own needs but fail to engage and connect people in developing their own solutions
Better lives, not necessarily about better services
Flitwic – Commuity Development Workstream inc. dedicated space at design brief stage of development
Social Prescribing – connecting in an authentic way (i.e. not a referral) for a more associational life

12. Where’s the transformation opportunity?
Community Led
Co-production
Charity
Medical To
For By
With
Perhaps mention if there is time
To (medical);
For (charity – the helper and the helped);
With (co-design led by professionals, harvesting the assets of community – a form of colonialism purely for the benefit of the public sector);
By (led by residents/ citizens)
By is where the Transformation opportunity is – shift the money here; courage to move into the ‘by’ space – inc. space for people to make decisions we don’t agree with – requires courage to step into this space

13. Social Architecture Builds Resilience
Services don’t produce outcomes, people do
People as assets, not needs – a big cultural shift
Schemes as anchors – outward looking
Asset based approaches are not free – invest in community capacity building
Social solutions for social problems
Aim for a better balance between service delivery and community building
Social architecture is at least as important as the physical architecture