Strengthening social infrastructure to help build resilient communities and neighbourhoods.
For many of us, the people we know and the places we go to locally provide a bedrock of connection and support. Community spaces, activities, and services knit together a social infrastructure that helps us feel secure and connected. Across the country, this social infrastructure brings people together, builds a shared sense of social, civic and cultural identity and ensures there is always someone and somewhere to turn to when times get tough. Strong social infrastructure is vital in building connection, power, agency and resilience — however, many places have seen these foundations eroded.
Through our policy work we are looking at how policy can create the conditions for resilient, connected and powerful communities, particularly in places facing the double disadvantage of economic deprivation and weakened social infrastructure. Through our work in York and the wider North East region we are working alongside communities and anchor institutions to support transformative change.
Strong social infrastructure does not just protect people from hardship — it also helps people feel economically secure — having the positive building blocks of adequate resources, social relationships and strong support systems to cope with life’s ups and downs. Economic security is shaped by far more than income alone, it has social drivers, dynamics and impacts and can also be sustained by strong social infrastructure.
When policymakers focus only on financial measures, they overlook how everyday relationships, places, spaces, and community connections shape people’s sense of security, prosperity and hope. We must ensure that government investment in social infrastructure is both broad and deep.
