Abstract
This paper explores the role of social impact assessment (SIA) as a tool to evaluate the social sustainability of council estate redevelopment or regeneration. The paper first revises the evolution of the concept of SIA in recent years, arguing that it should be included as a core part of the planning approval process to enhance community-centred planning decision-making practices, as claimed by the Just Space network in London. To contribute to this argument, the paper explores how to co-produce an SIA with those communities that are potentially affected by the scheme. We use as a case study William Dunbar and William Saville houses, two housing blocks located in South Kilburn Estate, London Borough of Brent, which are planned to be demolished as part of a large estate redevelopment scheme. The paper uses a diversity of participatory action research methods to co-produce an SIA with residents from the two housing blocks. From the experience of co-producing an SIA with residents, the paper comes out with three sets of findings and contributions. Firstly, the paper provides findings on the impact that demolishing the homes and re-housing residents would have on residents. Secondly, from these findings, the paper contributes to the argument that SIA should be incorporated into the planning system, but they should be co-produced with residents and carefully applied rather than becoming another box-ticking exercise. Thirdly, the paper provides very relevant methodological contributions on how to co-produce the SIA with those potentially affected.
Highlights
Published: 3 December 2021In the current context of the climate emergency, socioeconomic inequality and the problem of housing affordability, it is essential to carefully evaluate—prior to development—the potential impact that housing schemes can have on the environment and on the lives of residents
Building on the co-production methods outlined above, on the discussions that emerged during the workshops, we cocreated a framework, which outlines the key elements that need to be addressed in the social impact assessment (SIA) and clusters them in four themes
This paper has explored methods to incorporate the involvement of people directly affected by a redevelopment scheme in the co-production process of a social impact assessment
Summary
Published: 3 December 2021In the current context of the climate emergency, socioeconomic inequality and the problem of housing affordability, it is essential to carefully evaluate—prior to development—the potential impact that housing schemes can have on the environment and on the lives of residents. While the environmental sustainability of a scheme can be legally subject to consideration, there is not a formal requirement in the English planning system to prepare a Social Impact Assessment (SIA), which evaluates—prior to development—the likely effects that the scheme can have on the lives of people that live there, on the wider public as well as on the existing social infrastructure that supports social and care relationships. This lack of formal requirement to produce an SIA stems from the imbalance in the weight that ‘social sustainability’ is given in comparison to ‘environmental sustainability’ and ‘economic sustainability’ (financial viability assessments are required in planning applications).
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