It is very difficult for local authorities and policy makers to accurately plan for the future, especially when they do not have a clear understanding of what they want the future to look like. But Croydon Council wanted to do just that when, in September 2008, they commissioned Renaisi to develop an ambitious long term vision for the borough.
Croydon identified that most successful cities have an agreed vision of how they will seek to shape their own future, and that for the borough to achieve its potential they would need to go through a similar process.
City visioning as a process is common across Europe and North America, and UK is no exception, with Belfast, Dublin, Exeter, and Durham all developing visions, as well as the Scottish Government working with their six main cities on individual visions post-devolution.
Developing a vision is important for cities for three main reasons, firstly it paints a picture of the place the residents and workers would aspire it to be, and tells a good story of how we will aim to get there. It also helps to identify and anticipate the effects of external influences on the locality, and crucially to think about the relationships between those likely effects, and to then plan accordingly. Lastly, it helps build community identity, cohesion and solidarity amongst residents and businesses alike.
Renaisi teamed up with The Campaign Company (TCC) to win this commission. TCC brought their expertise of inclusive community consultation as well as their knowledge of up to date technology, to help us design the largest consultation ever undertaken in the borough. Through a series of innovative and exciting engagement techniques we sought to involve every Croydon resident in the design of their future city.
Where are we now
Shaping a long-term, robust vision for Croydon is a complex, challenging and stimulating exercise. There are some commonalities and consistencies across the borough, but there are also very many differences to take into account when trying to unite people behind a shared vision.
The first phase of the visioning process was to understand the realities of people living and working in the borough. An area’s history and the multitude of economic, social, environmental and political forces that have impacted on it, essentially shapes what we see in Croydon today.
Through a series of desk reviews and interviews with key Council employees we will draw together existing data to create a portrait of ‘Where are we now’. This evidence base of the opportunities, threats, trends and drivers of change impacting on the community will allow us a firm position from which to start any consultation.
The second element of the initial phase, was to identify current and future issues facing the borough, and to undergo an extensive scenario planning exercise with key stakeholders.
The issues raised were of course far reaching and diverse, including problems rising from the changing make-up of the population and increased levels of obesity, heart disease and poor diet; the polarisation between communities in the north and the south of the borough; the lack of affordable housing and relatively low skills amongst the working population compared to the rest of London; and concerns over Croydon’s current image and reputation.
Imagine Croydon
It was then time to involve local residents and stakeholders in the debate about the opportunities, challenges and choices that face Croydon. This involved developing a comprehensive rolling programme of consultation, the largest the borough had seen.
We felt it important that this not be seen as just ‘another Council consultation’ process, and set out to create genuine excitement and enthusiasm by attaching a group of young people and residents from Croydon to work with us, and a team of professional creative professionals, to construct the programme of consultation activity.
Much of this was organised through existing events and activities, including Neighbourhood Partnerships and Community Housing Panels. There was also a range of new and innovative methods undertaken such as the Croydon YouQube a ‘big brother’ type diary room that toured the borough. We have also developed with TCC, an Imagine Croydon Sim City style School’s competition, which involves local school children in designing their own future Croydon.
A consultation toolkit was developed which contained a wide range of exercises to prompt people into thinking about how they would like Croydon to change or improve in the future. This was used by groups of individuals or community organisations across the borough. The toolkit is also available on www.imaginecroydon.com website.
Streamlining with the Local Development Framework
What makes this vision development truly innovative is that we are working closely with the planning policy team at Croydon Council to ensure that the current consultation around the Local Development Framework (LDF) has been fully integrated within the vision consultation to fully align and streamline both processes. This will mean that the learning and ideas that come out of the vision will directly inform future preferred options through the LDF.
The consultation process is ongoing and will run until August 2009. Once completed we will move on to Phases 3 and 4, transforming the views and opinions of the community into a single vision for Croydon, and then developing a communications strategy to launch the vision to the wider world.
For more information on Imagine Croydon please contact Donna Lightbown on d.lightbown@renaisi.com
