Urban design and social capital: lessons from a case study in Braunstone, Leicester, United Kingdom

Abstract

A valuable asset in sustainable regeneration is the ‘community’ in an area with their developed networks, bonds and ties or in other words its social capital. Braunstone in Leicester is typical of many disadvantaged areas in the UK, with persistent socio-economic problems exacerbated by a poor physical setting. With a large regeneration programme funded by the New Deal for Communities coming to a close, we conducted a case study to explore the impact of improved local facilities and the effect of walkability on social capital. The lessons learnt suggest that responding to needs at a finer grain is vital in developing neighbourhoods for social capital. Such fine grain responses should include the needs of different user groups, local patterns of use and measures to improve the branded and stigmatised perceptions of neighbourhoods. Accessing services by walking and using public transport is vital to engage in social activities, while a poor physical environment and a lack of accessible services affects levels of participation. Local facilities provide a mediating role in developing social capital in a community by providing opportunity for social interaction that encourages people to reside in an area in the longer term. Integration of the neighbourhood in its wider context with easy connections to the outside world is a vital incentive for longer-term residency if social capital is to grow over a period of time.