What we do

The Neighbourly Lab’s mission is to figure out “what works” to shape strong neighbourhoods* and communities. We aim to do this by collecting data^ and generating the best research in this space.

The Lab is focused on efficacy – figuring out what works, and where and why, so that solutions can be scaled and replicated elsewhere. Because of this emphasis on scale and replicability, the Lab has a particular interest in the role of technology and social infrastructure.

The Lab looks broadly at all types of neighbourhoods and everyday-life interactions (for example: in streets or shops or buses), and this extends to how people engage with each other in online environments. Therefore, our “cohort” is universal, covering everybody in the UK.

In much of its work, however, the Lab will focus on parts of the UK with higher-than-average levels of social or economic hardship, or where there are perceived problems related to connectedness. We are guided by the MHCLG’s priority-areas (for example, the 101 English towns identified for support through the Towns Fund).

*By strong neighbourhoods we mean places with high levels of social connectedness and community participation, and low degrees of social exclusion, prejudice and loneliness.

^Our approach to gathering signals on connectedness spans a multitude of methods from big data to thick data (ethnographic) approaches.