In our latest Village In The City podcast recording Mark McKergow will be talking to Bella Kerr from the Generations Working Together. Bella is Intergenerational Development Officer She is a very enthusiastic proponent not only of getting generations working together but of making that work high-quality and mutually useful.

This is a fascinating area where a lot of very useful difference can be made with a bit of planning and forethought. Bella will be talking about her experiences as well as giving us some top tips about how to get connection going between older and younger people. There will also be lots of resource signposting.

This event takes place during Global Intergenerational Week (24-30 April 2023) so it’s a great chance to be tuning in to the possibilities offered by this kind of programme.

This will be a podcast recording on Zoom. Joining the recording means you have the chance to ask questions of our guests and share your own experiences. The session will be an hour at most.

Open to all. Please join us if you can. Register free for the Zoom call at https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/podcast-recording-bella-kerr-on-intergenerational-working-in-your-village-tickets-598319438547

Bella Kerr is Intergenerational Development Officer with Generations Working Together (GWT). She works with organisations across GWT Scottish Networks as well as globally connecting and facilitating intergenerational work to connect people, locally, nationally and globally. The work connects people from different generations, assisting and supporting them to form intentional intergenerational relationships. The work also looks at Ageism and Stereotypes (between young and older people), Research, keeping up to date with new ideas and Intergenerational Housing Places and Spaces, looking at and exploring the use of community space and how we can connect across generations to interact in our local communities. GWT is FREE to join for anyone living in Scotland and membership offers information and resources and training on intergenerational work and the difference that it can make when bringing young and older people together.

A key discussion paper has appeared from our good friends at the Centre for Thriving Places, working with Carnegie UK Trust. Both organisations have been working to help build thriving places (where people can prosper in all kinds of ways, not simply financially) which are both fair (in terms of possibilities and opportunities for all) and also green (sustainable in the long term). The paper by Liz Zeidler and others takes in important step forward in looking at eight different models (from around the UK and internationally) and examining whether they are saying broadly the same thing.

The short answer is – YES! The paper looks at eight (count them!) models including SEED from Carnegie, Doughnut Economics from Kate Raworth and co, Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act, The National Performance Framework (Scotland), The ONS Wellbeing Dashboard (UK), The UN Sustainable Development Goals, and The OECD Better Life Index. The conclusion is that, yes, all these frameworks are pointing in very much the same direction although with differences of emphasis for the various elements.

The metaphor Liz and her colleagues use in the paper is that the ingredients list for better place building is now quite well understood. The next step is to move from ingredients to recipes; how to use the various elements together in real situations to produce results which fit different places.

I would add to the metaphor by illustration. Imagine a kitchen store cupboard with basic ingredients for baking: flour, sugar, eggs, butter/vegan spread, milk, baking powder. We’ve all agreed that these are key parts of a positive and satisfying baking experience. AND the next thing is to actually make things and share how we’ve done it. So, this simple list can be the way to sponge cake, scones, pancakes, buns, cookies, muffins and more. Add some fried fruit to expand the list. Or cheese (cheese scone anyone). Add yeast for bread. These smaller special ingredients can expand the range out of all proportion to their size and cost.

And of course which recipes might be developed depends on the place in question and what the people of that place want and value. It’s time to stop producing frameworks (enough!) and start using them for real and real situations to build, learn and expand better places, thriving people and a sustainable future.

Is the relevant at the level of Villages In The City? I think it is. Connecting your efforts at a neighbourhood level with useful national and international frameworks can help bring people with you, connect local to global and also be useful if and when you seek funds. So take a look!

Download The Shared Ingredients For A Wellbeing Economy paper here (pdf, free download). 

Join the Wellbeing Economy Alliance here. 

See the wonderful work of the Centre For Thriving Places including their Thriving Places Index and Happiness Pulse here. 

Our final topic of the month for 2022 is a very appropriate one for December (at least in Western/Christian countries) – inclusive gatherings.  This time of year is a traditional moment for all kinds of get-togethers for family, work and (of course) community. Once we have communication and connection. some hosts and some meeting places, the next thing is clearly to invite people to come together.  This is what our Village Builders Handbook has to say on the subject:

Having established the importance and desirability of getting people from all walks of life together from time to time, the next thing to think about is what kind of event will attract people to come out and get involved. Not every kind of event will appeal to everyone, but it’s a good start to think about broadly appealing inclusive gatherings.

Broad inclusive appeal

These events can turn into milestones in the year which happen on a continuing basis. A summer street party, a music weekend, a Christmas Fayre, a New Year / Hogmanay (as we call it in Scotland) event, a garden party, an open gardens weekend, a BBQ. It all depends where you are, what the traditions are, and what you think will get people involved and enjoying themselves together.

Lara Celini is an experienced village-builder in the Willowbrae district of Edinburgh. Some of the events she and her team have organised include:

• A ‘big lunch’ with the street closed to traffic – which has become an annual event
• This can also include things like making bunting sessions as part of the preparations
• A #PetsofWillowbrae hashtag on social media so that people learn the names of all the pets
• ‘Viral kindness cards’ for people to pick up, seek help and offer support
• Decorating windows (a popular thing in the COVID lockdown here in Edinburgh, pictures and teddy bears are popular) – see the Window Wanderland website for ideas
• Sharing food events work very well – lots of people can contribute and enjoy!
• Ceilidhs, barn dances and other formats which involve learning the dances which get people interacting. (Very popular in Scotland!)
• Lantern procession – perhaps culminating in the dramatic burning of the lanterns!
• Quizzes and other events – keep them fun (though there is definitely a place for serious quizzing too!)
• Making ‘kindness cards’ for the local Care home, getting the children involved and engaging with seniors
• Other creative projects such as decorating cotton shopping bags to take away and use (instead of plastic bags)
• Jumble trail – people put out things they no longer want, and everyone roams around collecting
• Community weeding events (‘Willowbrae Weeds You’) to maintain community ground and streets.

You can hear more from Lara on Village In The City podcast #2 – click on the link here.

In the past, churches used to also be broadly attended and bring people together. They still do, though in UK settings this is increasingly a minority interest. Village-builders should be looking to engage churches in their work – they have a role to play and can be very useful partners. There are definitely benefits to coming together from time to time to sing, hear inspiring stories, reflect on the difficult questions of life, and meet others. The Sunday Assembly movement is one organisation who support such meetings on an inclusive basis.

We heard from Rev Nick Bowry on a Village In The City call that churches are often very interested in helping to build flourishing communities and lives, whether that’s for church-goers or the wider population. In general ministers are accustomed to going out to look for partners with whom to work – if you arrive on their doorstep with an inclusive mindset and a collaborative stance, they will likely be delighted.

More focused events

Along with these broadly inclusive events, a good Village In The City will look to be offering chances for people to meet based on particular needs or interests. Examples include:

• Newcomers get-together – a chance for new arrivals in the village to come together, meet each other, find out about local events and possibilities and say hello to the village building team
• Laptop Wednesday – a day in the week for homeworkers to gather, work in the same space, and support each other
• Play Street – some places support the closure of local street to allow children and families to play safely
• Film club – a monthly chance to watch an interesting film and discuss it afterwards over a drink

This is a very short starter list!  We hope to add more as the project progresses. In general, the more specific to the locale, the better the event will be. I used to live in St George’s Avenue in north London, where the people held a street party every year on… St George’s Day!

Look for ‘excuses’

One good thing to be doing as your village comes together is to look for ‘excuses’ for events and gatherings. Although I terms these ‘excuses’, they are actually important local things or events that are worth noting, celebrating, marking, and generally getting people out for. Particularly in the British context, people love an excuse to celebrate, to get together, to suspend the usual rules of keeping oneself to oneself. So when something useful comes along, it can make very good sense to seize the moment and declare some kind of one-off event. You then have the option of considering doing it again next time/next year/whenever (or not). And… these kind of local ‘excuses’ can be a good part of starting to build an identity for your place.

Mark McKergow has found a good excuse in his own neighbourhood of Edinburgh West End – the West End Coorie!  More about this in a future blog post here.

You can download the whole Village Builders Handbook (pdf) free here.

Our latest theme at Village In The City is about the importance of meeting places. In many European places there are plazas, market squares, places where folk can bump into each other as well as meet in a pre-arranged way. If we are to get people talking to each other, then places to do it are (of course) vital. And these are actual physical places – it’s the proximity of others that makes a Village In The City different from other communities. Finding places where people can come freely to meet others, work together, create new options for the neighbourhood, is very important.

INDOOR SPACES

Some places already have ‘community centres’. If your neighbourhood does, have a look at it. Is it welcoming? Is it used? Is it valued. I have seen many so-called ‘community halls’ that are none of these things. How can you improve it? (This is usually more of a matter of some cleaning and Care than financial investment in the first instance.)
If you don’t have a public place, find a friendly cafe or pub that can offer space (usually in exchange for buying a coffee). There is something in it for the venue to be seen at the heart of community activities, so a good ally is very useful. Having your meetings in public is a good start – it helps your activities be visible, it saves any individual from having to open their home, and it allows everyone to participate on an equal footing. This blog by Richard Lucas has great ideas about how to find a suitable space.

OUTDOOR SPACES

It’s great if your village has an outdoor space you can use too. These are sometimes right there and obvious, in other settings a little more imagination is required. Even if land is privately owned and controlled, it is often possible to negotiate use for occasional special events.

Finding places where people can have chance encounters as well as planned events is also a good idea. Back in time people used to meet at street markets which were a key day in the week to get out and about. Many continental European cities have a continuing tradition of city squares with cafes where people can bump into each other. This is not always easy to engineer, but the opportunity to bump into others, say hello, have a chat and exchange news is key to a functioning Village In The City. Dog-walkers and people waiting at the school gates have more opportunities for this than many of the rest of us… how can you get people out and about where YOU are?

(This is a short extract from our Village Builders Handbook – free pdf download. Join the conversation in our online community at http://members.villageinthecity.net.)

NEW podcast: The journey from ‘community engagement’ to ‘community development’ at Strathcarron Hospice, what they did and some surprising and positive differences emerging. Mark talks to Susan High and Hannah Gray. Click here or better still subscribe to Village In The City podcasts at Apple, Google, Spotify, Amazon etc.

We’re talking to Susan High and Hannah Gray from Strathcarron Hospice near Falkirk in Scotland. Susan and Hannah have played a key role in moving the hospice from a ‘community engagement’ focus (a good thing in itself) to a ‘community development’ focus (even better). This work over the past 2-3 years has had eye-opening results and useful outcomes for their work both as clinicians and in the community.

This journey is described in Cormac Russell’s paper Understanding ground-up community development from a practice perspective published in the open access journal Lifestyle Medicine. It’s free to download and very well worth a read! VITC founder Mark McKergow summarises the paper and points to come of the challenges to come in his blog here.

On the call we talk about a ‘three lane model’ for community development. Lane 1: things the community can do for themselves, and the best way to support is to get out of the way. Lane 2: Things the community can do for themselves with a little help from outside. Lane 3: things the community needs outside help to do, and the best way to support is to keep focus on what the community wants, not what the experts think they ‘should’ want.

Hannah also mentions the Denny Poppies project – find out more here.

Link to the podcast https://shows.acast.com/village-in-the-city/episodes/strathcarron-hospice-moving-from-community-engagement-to-com

You can join Village In The City, access our free online community, get our handbook, blogs, resources and frameworks at http://villageinthecity.net.

Our next podcast recording is on Thursday 10th November 2022 at 2.30pm. Mark will be joined by Susan High and colleagues from Strathcarron Hospice to talk about their journey from ‘community engagement’ to ‘community development’ over the past five years or so.

Strathcarron’s continuing journey from ‘community engagement’ to ‘community development’ was featured recently in Cormac Russell’s latest paper Understanding ground-up community development from a practice perspective published in the open access journal Lifestyle Medicine.

The paper affirms that Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD) approaches are preferable Community Engagement practices, as they offer more authentic pathways toward community-centred population health and Wellbeing. The article concludes that once effective ground-up community development has been initiated supplementary efforts at reform and relief are more likely to have desired and sustained impact. VITC founder Mark McKergow summarises the paper and points to come of the challenges to come here.

We will have the chance to get the inside story on what Strathcarron have been doing from community development co-ordinator Susan High and her colleagues. We’ll discuss what made then think about this change, how they did it, the impact so far (on both the hospice and on the community), and the lessons learned so far.

This will be a podcast recording on Zoom. Joining the recording means you have the chance to ask questions of our guests and share your own experiences. The session will be an hour at most.

Open to all. Please join us if you can. Register your free place at https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/podcast-recording-from-engagement-to-community-development-with-susan-high-tickets-450325374317 .

Active and inclusive communities need active and inclusive people to help them work, bring people together, organise events, connect with newcomers and be there from time to time just to help pull it all together. These people are ‘hosts’.

In the dictionary, a host is defined as ‘someone who receives or entertains guests’. This translates into acting to bring people together, usually for some kind of purpose. In the olden days this fell (in a British context anyway) to the village priest and the pub landlord between them. Both had a position which brought them into contact with many others in the community and between them they had contact with most people. These days, both of these positions are not so influential (though they can still be important) – church attendance is dropping, while the pub is often more like a restaurant than a community gathering place.

The growth of villages in the city will depend on people stepping forward to connect people, invite them to events and gatherings, create spaces for those gatherings, and introduce people to each other. This may look more like Facebook-group Admin than Reverend Father (though any good clergyman will tell you that organising is a good part of their roles too!). In the Village In The City movement we call these hosts Village-Builders.

We all, at some unconscious level, know what good hosting looks like; after all, we have all been to parties, invited people to our houses and taken part in events and celebrations. However, it is quite hard to find good information about what exactly good hosts actually do. Village In The City founder Mark McKergow is an international expert in this field. His book Host is a rich exploration of the history and practice of hospitality in the context of community and organisational leadership. Hosts have an unusual position – they are both responsible for their guests (the ‘others’) and also serve them, help provide what’s needed and ensure that everyone is comfortable and engaged.

Mark identifies six key roles of a host (summarised briefly here):

Initiator

This is about looking around, seeing what needs to be done next, and then setting things in motion. What needs to be created?  What needs to be enhanced?  What (perhaps) needs to be superseded?  Who else is interested?  How to get things off the ground?  Host leaders step forward and make the first move.

Inviter

Reach out with an extended hand of welcome and engagement. Village Builders rarely have a lot of authority, it’s about working with influence and soft power. Getting others involved is best done in a way which invites – rather than insists – that they join us in working on some project, purpose or endeavour.

Space Creator

The role of host involves creating a suitable space – physical and interactional/psychological – for events to emerge and unfold. This can be physical space, and also psychological space – how does it feel to be involved?  Creating supportive and suitable spaces, whether for big events or small meetings, is a key part of the hosting role.

Gatekeeper

A Village Builder  knows the importance (and the creative possibilities) of defining boundaries. Having some key rules about how people work together at the outset can make dealing with the inevitable ups and downs much easier. Setting expectations and norms for ‘how we do things’ is crucial, particularly in the early stages of building your village. It’s easier to start on the right foot than have to change later on.  

Connector

Village Builders build connections between people, link people and ideas AND know when to leave them to get on with it. If we’ve initiated something, invited people and created a space, we clearly want to create something that it wouldn’t happen without people getting together. As connectors, we understand that, having brought people together, at some point we need to get out of the way, let the magic work and allow possibilities to emerge. Not every connection will bear fruit, but that’s no reason not to keep making them.

Co-participator

Co-participators initiate, provide AND join in along with everyone else. It is no surprise; for example, when we are invited for dinner, we expect the host to not only serve us with food, but eat the same food with us. Not only that; hosting etiquette the world over demands that the host serve their guests first. A good Village Builder will be there at events and meetings, not only to show a lead but also to enjoy participating. (And if participating isn’t enjoyable, then it’s time to do something about it!)

Sharing the Village Building

It’s a very good idea to gather a (small) team in the first instance to share the work off Village Building. More heads tend to provide more ideas and a wider perspective. It’s very good to have people to share ideas and discuss difficulties. I would suggest making this relatively informal at the outset, invite people to be involved, and welcome others who show an interest. Do not rush to formalise things – that may come later. The first thing is to get things moving in some of the directions proposed on this site.

This is an extract from our free Village Builders Handbook – download it free here. 

At Village In The City we’re interested in building micro-local communities. Jason Sears, founder of VillageCo, has a slightly different yet related goal – building ‘village-like’ communities in large cities in the USA and then helping them become more local. Jason is using an open-source ‘social gathering model’ to do this, working in Seattle Washington and Boise Idaho.

Jason talks to Mark about VillageCo, what they’re doing, how it’s working, this social gathering model and what Jason has learned so far. We touched on how Jason is using Open Space Technology as part of his gatherings, the Sunday Assembly ‘non-religious church’ and the importance of relationship building. Jason also offers his very top tip for local community builders around the world.

Hear the podcast here or subscribe wherever you get your podcasts (Apple, Google, Amazon etc).

https://shows.acast.com/village-in-the-city/episodes/jason-sears-and-villageco-building-village-like-communities-

One key thing is that connection has to be, in some ways anyhow, two-way. It’s no longer enough to have one person in charge of sending out ‘communication’ to everyone else. We need ways in which citizens can connect with each other directly. Fortunately the tech revolution has made this much easier (in some ways). Facebook groups, Whatsapp groups, online forums, social media all have a part to play.

We suggest starting with a Facebook group or similar. Although not everyone is on Facebook and some have principled objections to it, the simple fact is that a Facebook group provides great functionality, free, with moderation features to ensure the discussion stays constructive and inclusive. Many people use the platform as part of their daily routine which means they see updates without having to go look for them (a factor which makes online forums less attractive, they require a special look to see what’s going on). Our Edinburgh West End group has grown from 20 to 2200 members over the past two years.

You can also limit participation to those who really do live (and perhaps work) locally. It’s a boon of the internet that people can in principle join from anywhere in the world, but for this type of micro-local group it pays to limit it to those who are on the spot. (This is an example of ‘gatekeeping’, a key activity for village builders, which we will discuss later when we come to Hosts.)

We have also found the value in having a behind the scenes organisers group for quick discussions about the suitability of posts etc – we use a Facebook Messenger group, Whatsapp groups are a good alternative. It’s important for the organisers/admins to be able to quickly sort out any problems and be able to support each other.

Another way to keep things useful and relevant in your online community is to have open rules of participation. We ask all members to sign up to these when they join. Our latest rules in the Edinburgh West End group are:

Membership 

Membership is conditional on answering all membership questions when applying. Failure to answer all questions will result in your application being declined. Membership is open to anyone/business who lives or works in the West End council ward area (Water of Leith to Morrison St, Magdala Crescent to Queensferry St) and nearby streets. Visiting tradesmen are not eligible.

No unauthorised promotions or spam 

Give more to this group than you take. Self-promotion, spam or irrelevant links aren’t allowed unless with prior Admin approval. When promoting a business include at the very top **Business Post**

Be kind and courteous 

We’re all in this together to create a welcoming environment. Let’s treat everyone with respect. Healthy debates are natural, but kindness is required. Post positive recommendations avoid the negative

Respect everyone’s privacy 

Being part of this group requires mutual trust. Authentic, expressive discussions make groups great, but may also be sensitive and private. What’s shared in the group should stay in the group.

No hate speech or bullying 

Make sure that everyone feels safe. Bullying of any kind isn’t allowed, and degrading comments about things such as race, religion, culture, sexual orientation, gender or identity will not be tolerated.

Consult group admins before creating Events in the group 

As the group stands, any member can create an Event.  In order to ensure that any Events are relevant and suitable, please consult with the group administrators and moderators before creating an event.

Political comments 

Posts or comments of a political nature, political views, party affiliations and political promotion are prohibited. Elected representatives and organisations are welcome to be members.

Press and media 

Members/Groups who have an association (directly or indirectly) with media or press outlets must not use any content (images or text) within the Group without the permission of the member concerned.

Transparency 

The group, all posts & comments made by members are public. The admins moderate conversations and any which violate rules may be removed. Repeated violations will lead to the member being removed.

Complaints and concerns

Members who have any complaints or concerns regarding group content should message a member of the Admin team to raise their concerns.

These rules have developed and evolved over time. Some of the appeared in response to specific circumstances (for example, a local paper picked up on a post without asking the poster). Others are quite general. Evolve your rules over time! Facebook only allows 10 rules so you may have to be careful how you word it all.

These rules are very valuable, particularly in difficult situations where you can point to them before (or alongside) taking action. I tend to have a slightly generous ‘give them another chance’ stance. I have learned, however, from a fellow admin in our group who has the firmer position (in a Scots accent) “When in doot, boot them oot!”.