Civic Spaces, Social Ecosystems

With the changing economic landscape and increasing trend to privatise public spaces and facilities, the understanding of what constitutes a civic space is shifting. At a time where other public institutions are stretched to support its citizens, civic spaces can take over multiple roles to add to the wellbeing and life of the citizens. To better understand these roles and current trends, this study analyses six London-based case studies, all with differing civic focus and program.

The term civic describes the multiple relationships between the citizen and the city. We are specifically interested in relation- ships which do not rely primarily on passive, consumption based models but instead enable citizen to take a more active part in the city and in the communities they belong to; spaces which mediate the city and create closeness between the many different groups that occupy it. In this context, we de ned social ecosystem as the multilayered, dynamic relationship among and between the tenants, users, civic space and the surrounding area.
The degree to which these spaces allow for multiple relations between the citizen and the city will set the measure of success. The study will set out best practice and list key ingredients including, crucially, a commentary about stewardship, ownership, management and economic models. Furthermore, the study will provide a series of recommendations on potential management / delivery models and other considerations opportunities.

Case Studies

This study maps out six successful spaces, which facilitate a multi-layered understanding of civic life and the spaces that help foster it. Three examples are located in new developments and four best practice examples are from established town centres. The projects and spaces are of varying scale, age, infrastructure and history to give a true representation of types of initiatives present across London. To understand them each holistically, they all have been analysed spatially and against their programme, outreach, economy and governance structure. The following six case studies were identified:

1. Chats Palace, an arts-led cultural community centre; 
2. Stour Space, an creative minded organisation in a warehouse; 3. The Old School Rooms & Round Chapel, a traditional town hall; 4. Bromley by Bow, an health and art centre; 
5. Hub 67, an interim use project;
 6. The Green Man Community Centre, a new development.

Methodology

The study consists of precedent studies of six successful Civic Spaces (i.e. D-Class uses) focusing on viability and key principles (which can slot into SPD’s as they get completed).

This part is primarily based on first hand interviews with project champions and managers of the selected case studies, as well as evaluation of documents supplied by the project team.

• Organisation