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Professor Flora Samuel is Head of the Department of Architecture in the University of Cambridge. Here she discusses the impact of her research on community maps for local planning authorities, and how her continued engagement with CSaP through Policy Fellowships and Policy Workshops has benefited her work.
“It’s been an absolute pleasure working with CSaP. The staff are so on the ball and offer new dimensions to your research that you might not have seen before. They add depth and reach to your work. I highly recommend it, and it's fun too!”
My research focusses on helping local authorities make better use of their limited resources, and one way to do that is by making planning more evidence-based. Loosely speaking, my work involves trying to make the planning system more inclusive. It's difficult for many people to engage with the planning system and to understand the jargon-heavy, professional language used, and many communities feel that things are being done to them, rather than with them. Typically, only about 1% of the population gets involved in the consultation process, and often it’s the angry ones, leading to misrepresentative input from community groups. The planning system is severely underfunded, with a significant disparity between how local authorities are able to innovate. I research the Isle of Anglesey in North Wales which has an area the size of Greater London and a population of just 69,000. Here there are few resources leading to stretched planning services, whereas, Cambridge is relatively affluent with a large population, high land values and high Council tax.
“We are developing a model for granular, community-led data collection which can be rolled out cheaply, simply and easily to other local authorities.”
We are interested in using maps, particularly community-made maps, to allow people to input the things they value in their area – things that they want preserved. This can then be overlaid onto existing large data sets like DataMapWales, which has over 2,000 layers of data. These maps are an amazing resource that can show progress on national measures, such as the Well-being of Future Generations Act in Wales. By combining community insights with national data, we can begin to address the gap between what the community perceives and what the data shows, we call this the social performance gap.
Additionally, we’re investigating how AI could simplify planning consultations, by making them cheaper, and could better detect patterns within community input – what communities say and want about their places. This is especially relevant for rural areas like Anglesey, where we are dredging up data layers from various sources like third sector organisations and charities to create a comprehensive picture of an area.
“As Cambridge academics, we’re incredibly privileged to have access to such high-level civil servants and experts through CSaP.”
I’m relatively new to Cambridge, so I wasn’t aware of the resources available here. For example, the CSaP Fellowship has been a remarkable resource, allowing us to connect with willing and influential figures. Previously, I found it very difficult to engage with policy but CSaP has made it easier to engage in a meaningful way.
We’ve held two Policy Workshops with CSaP focussed on the digital transformation of local authorities. The first centred on how to engage communities, while the second focussed more on the challenges around data. One surprising issue that emerged was that large data providers are offering local authorities deals that essentially lock them into using their services for the next decade, which is an alarming prospect.
These workshops brought together engaged people, including leading experts in town planning and urban design. We also had excellent turnout from innovative mapping authorities like Manchester, Cambridge, and London, as well as key members from [what was] the Department for Levelling Up, Housing, and Communities.
An important takeaway from the workshop was the realisation that while top-tier local authorities are innovative, many smaller, rural councils, like Anglesey, are stretched thin and need more support. Out of that discussion came the idea of creating guidance for local authorities that are new to digital transformation. These workshops were part of our Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) funded Green Transitions Ecosystem project, called the Community Open Map Platform. We plan to publish guidelines for local authorities informed by this project.
“For academics who may not think their work is relevant to policy, I’d suggest taking a fresh look. Even if you don’t think Policy Workshops are for you, they quite probably are.”
For me, as a researcher, engaging with CSaP has expanded my network immeasurably in a very convivial way. I was able to connect with people I had wanted to work with and build better relationships. I was surprised by how high-level the workshop participants were, and how willing they were to listen. It was great to put names to faces and establish better communication with those leading major consultations in our field; it made it easier to engage with them about our work.
The workshop chaired by Phillip Guildford (CSaP Director of Strategy and Operations), was especially valuable; he added significant value to the conversation, which helped strengthen the outcomes of the event. This gives something back to the people who’ve been engaging, beyond the building of their own network by helping them develop their own projects. It’s a very productive environment.
Moving forward with CSaP, I have a new project called ‘A child-friendly Cambridge’. We received Policy Innovation Fund support for this via CSaP, and it will involve us working with Cambridge City Council, Greater Cambridge Shared Planning and other partners on a policy workshop to bring people together to develop principles, goals and processes to help make spatial planning in the Cambridge area more child-friendly in the long term.