urbanpollinators.co.uk

Welcome to Urban Pollinators

This site exists as an archive of Urban Pollinators’ work. Julian Dobson, Urban Pollinators’ director until 2022, can now be contacted via the Centre for Regional Economic and Social Research at Sheffield Hallam University.

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A critical hope is the foundation to #BuildBackBetter

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by Julian Dobson and Rowland Atkinson In the middle of the COVID-19 crisis, the hashtag #buildbackbetter became a rallying cry on social media for those who saw the need and opportunity to reconstruct our cities. Demands included closing streets to traffic to reduce pollution and create spaces for play; investing in renewable energy; creating affordable […]

Crisis aid scheme is a patchwork, new research finds

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The abolition of a national system of crisis loans and community care grants has left a patchwork of emergency help offered by local services and charities, research by Urban Pollinators has found. When people are offered assistance, the help is often faster and more responsive to the needs of people in crisis than in the […]

How to create community assets

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  Since 1992, several hundred homes in a corner of west London have been the standard-bearers of a new form of community control. Previously owned by Westminster Council, they were transferred to a resident-controlled housing association, Walterton and Elgin Community Homes, under the 1988 ‘tenants’ choice’ legislation. Walterton and Elgin Community Homes (WECH) arose from […]

Social value starts with the way we think

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Would you ask a convicted armed robber to help you move house? Of course not. Yet a social enterprise in Manchester has been getting some of the city’s most prolific offenders to do just that. Trafford Housing Trust’s CleanStart project looks after empty properties and prepares them for new tenants. It also does removals. More than 200 […]

Inspiration of the week: young people speak out about the riots

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This week we feature a guest post from 18-year-old Susanna Dobson, associate research assistant at De Montfort University’s Centre for Social Action.   Just two weeks after the riots in England filled our television screens with images of burning, looting and violence, I took part in a day of discussion and workshops with young people […]