What is social infrastructure?

For communities to prosper they need places, organisations, groups and activities that bring people together to build relationships and support one another. 

These things make up what we call social infrastructure. Social infrastructure is essential to creating communities where people feel connected, confident and able to have a say in what happens around them. This social safety net not only provides emotional and practical support to households but is also associated with increased financial resilience.

Social infrastructure explained

Social infrastructure is the network of community spaces, organisations, groups, and activities that help people connect with one another and take part in community life.

It can include:

• community centres, halls, social clubs, places of worship
• libraries, parks, sports facilities
• neighbourhood and residents' groups
• voluntary and community organisations
• the community workers, volunteers and local leaders who help make these things happen.

Social infrastructure can be physical or social. A building can provide a place for people to meet, come together and take part in activities. Whereas local groups, organisations and community leaders keep these buildings going, fill them with life and organise activities — from knitting clubs and quiz nights to food pantries and community meetings. Strong social infrastructure gives people opportunities to connect, build relationships, support one another and have a say in their communities.

Why does social infrastructure matter?

Social infrastructure helps communities become more connected, confident and resilient. When people have places to meet and opportunities to build relationships, they can develop networks of support that help them through difficult times. These connections can provide practical help, information, friendship and a sense of belonging that motivates people to contribute to society.

This matters for economic security too, and being economically secure is about more than having enough money. Strong social connections and access to community support can help people withstand everyday challenges and recover from financial shocks.

Our research found that people who said their local area was badly served by community groups and spaces were more likely to feel economically insecure than people in areas that were well served, 51% compared with 34%.

Social infrastructure can also help people come together to identify shared concerns, organise around them and make change happen. Strong communities are not necessarily communities where everyone thinks or lives in the same way. They are places where people have opportunities to meet, develop relationships and work together despite their differences.

How does social infrastructure help people in difficult times?

Strong social infrastructure can act as a local safety net. So, when people face a crisis, whether that is financial difficulty, illness, bereavement, flooding, or another unexpected event, they may turn to people and organisations in their community for support.

During the pandemic, for example, communities with established relationships, networks and local leaders were able to organise support and mutual aid quickly, setting up teams of first responders and reacting to local needs. Places without these connections found it harder to mobilise.

This does not mean communities should have to replace public services or provide support that government should provide. Rather, strong social infrastructure is one part of the wider foundations people need to live secure and resilient lives.

What happens to neighbourhoods where social infrastructure is weaker?

Not every neighbourhood has the same access to community spaces, groups and activities and many have seen these things decline over years. The reasons are complex but changes to local economies, cuts to public spending, the loss or sale of community buildings and the centralisation of decision making have all contributed to the weakening of social infrastructure in some places.

This decline is not evenly distributed and some neighbourhoods in the UK face both high levels of economic disadvantage and weaker social infrastructure. Building on an approach originally developed by OCSI for Local Trust, we call this double disadvantage.

Our research identified 686 neighbourhoods in England, home to 5.7 million people, facing the most acute form of this double disadvantage. These neighbourhoods tend to have both greater exposure to hardship and weaker local support systems to help people deal with it.

Our research found that the neighbourhoods facing the greatest combination of economic deprivation and weak social infrastructure are often also the places facing greater challenges in maintaining community organisations and spaces.

For example, community spaces in the most doubly disadvantaged fifth of neighbourhoods closed at nearly 3 times the rate of those in the least doubly disadvantaged neighbourhoods over a 20-year period. This creates a difficult cycle where places that could benefit most from stronger community infrastructure can face greater barriers to securing funding, protecting community assets and building local capacity.

What can be done to strengthen social infrastructure?

Social infrastructure needs long-term investment and support, and our belief is that government should treat community spaces, groups and activities as essential infrastructure, rather than something that is nice to have or can just be funded temporarily.

Our recent report sets out 5 principles for a stronger approach:

• Essential — social infrastructure should be recognised as fundamental to secure and resilient communities.
• Perpetual — support should be long term rather than dependent on short-term programmes and funding.
• Institution building — investment should help communities build lasting organisations, assets and capacity.
• Trusting of communities — communities should have meaningful control over decisions and resources that affect them.
• Progressively universal — every neighbourhood should benefit, while directing greater support to places facing the greatest disadvantage.

This could include longer-term investment in community organisations and workers, protecting and improving community buildings, and giving local people greater opportunities to own and control assets that matter to their communities.