The Urbanism Hour: The social impacts of large scale regenerations across London
A look at best practice and lessons about embedding social sustainability in theinvestment, design, planning, delivery and management of place
The Urbanism Hours are virtual lunch time events that explore a given theme within the built environment, with two speakers and a Q&A discussion. For September's Urbanism Hour we'll be joined by Mena Ali and Simeon Shtebunaev from Social Life.
The talk will present best practice and decade-long learning about embedding social sustainability in the processes of investment, design, planning, delivery and management of place. Social Life are looking to present findings from a decade of work on some of London’s most prominent and challenging regeneration projects. In each case we have worked to measure the impact of regeneration on communities over time including South Acton in Ealing, Aylesbury in Southwark, Grahame Park Estate in Barnet, Clapham Park Estate in Lambeth and Woodberry Down Estate in Hackney. We will discuss the process of social impact assessment, the methodology employed and present main findings, tracking the impact of our work.
Social Life is a social enterprise, created by the Young Foundation in 2012. Our work is about understanding how peoples' day-to-day experience of local places is shaped by the built environment - housing, public spaces, parks and local high streets - and how change, through regeneration, new development or small improvements to public spaces, affects the social fabric, opportunities and wellbeing of local areas.
Speakers:
Mena Ali
Mena joined Social Life as a researcher in April 2023. Prior to this role Mena worked as an architectural assistant for Article 25, where she gained experience in delivering community-centred projects across the global south. Through this work, she developed a strong interest in how interventions in the built environment can actively contribute to economic resilience, promote social sustainability and improve wellbeing. Mena holds an MSc in Urban Economic Development from UCL. Since joining Social Life, Mena has contributed to projects including assessing council-owned buildings in Hackney and carrying out a fourth round of social sustainability assessments in South Acton. She worked on social impact assessment of Clapham Park Estate, working closely with residents as researchers, and supported the evaluation of the Mayor of London's Commission for Diversity in the Public Realm.
Simeon Shtebunaev
Aimeonis an interdisciplinary researcher in the built environment. Their PhD project at Birmingham City University explores how young people engage in the planning of future 'smart' cities. He was a principal investigator on the AHRC funded project “Are you game for climate action?” developing the board game Climania with young people focusing on the role of the built environment in climate change. Simeon was selected as the RIBAJ Rising Star 2021 and RTPI Young Planner of the Year 2022, and is currently a trustee of the RTPI. At Social Life Simeon has led on social impact assessments of the Grahame Park Estate in Barnet and Clapham Park Estate in Lambeth, both involved substantial resident input and close working with local agencies and communities. Simeon is working with the Centre for New Midlands to develop a new Decent Neighbourhoods Strategy.
Additional speaker to be announced.
This event is virtual and will take place via Zoom. You can find the Zoom link in your booking confirmation, and a reminder will also be sent out on the morning of the event.
