Places and community

What we do

Our evidence, analysis and guidance looks at what works when it comes to effective policy and practice to improve individual and community wellbeing, how we measure community wellbeing and how it can be understood and improved. We do this by looking at:

• How we relate to, and are interrelated with, other people in our community.

• Do people feel they have the power to participate in local decision-making? 

• Does the place they live in have spaces, events or neighbourhoods to mix with other members of their community? 

Why is this important?

The places where we live, work and spend time clearly have an impact on our wellbeing. So do the people we know and encounter in these places. Community wellbeing can be defined as ‘being well together.’ It is about the strength of networks and support between people in a community and is impacted by:

• The physical conditions of the community
• The opportunity to participate and have a say in the local area. 

For example we know that there are spill over effects of crime, social fragmentation, and deprivation on our individual wellbeing regardless of whether these things affect us directly.

Projects and resources

• community wellbeing – concepts and questions
• community spaces and infrastructure Places, spaces, people and wellbeing / community hubs and green space
• Participatory arts, sport, physical activity and loneliness: the role of intangible assets
• Heritage and wellbeing
• Housing for vulnerable people 
• culture, arts, and sport
• inequalities in wellbeing, and the drivers of wellbeing inequalities
• using locally available data to improve wellbeing
• Different people, same place 
• Carers’ Music Fund 
• Social Prescribing including WELLCOM

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