What has happened to Our Local Communities?

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Posted on 14 July 2020

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What Has Happened to our Local Communities?

Until relatively recently people’s social lives were focused around their local high streets and shopping centres. Immediate family were close by, interaction with neighbours was frequent, and most people purchased from local foodstores, butchers, bakers, greengrocers, and hardware stores. They worked locally and expected to see out their lives in the same town or city. 

In recent times however, sweeping social and economic changes have taken place. Young people are more likely to move away in search of work, family members tend to be dispersed across the country, and the support networks that previously existed are no longer there. Many older people have been left isolated with little meaningful contact with others. Finally, the sharp rise in property prices over recent years has prompted people to move out of city centres, into outlying suburbs with more affordable housing options. 

The retail industry has had to adjust to these changes. Retailers of all kinds have migrated away from high streets and town centres and out to larger units on spacious retail parks amply served by local transport and car parking. They offer a wider range of products all in one place, making shopping a more ‘convenient’ experience, but at what price? Consumers have more choice, more variety, but a much more anonymous experience.

Technological innovation has had the greatest impact of all, particularly since the Coronavirus arrived. People work, meet and interact online, share interests and shop from their homes, and this trend seems set to continue. Online communities appear to have replaced local communities, but some have been left feeling isolated and marginalised. CV19’s recent intervention in our lives has, it could be argued, given us a common enemy to unite against, and this can be seen by the number of people who have supported their neighbours. But will this continue to be the case or has it simply  highlighted/focused the need to support and re-create local communities even more, so that we can pull together when we need it most?

These effects have been felt across the spectrum of cultural, religious, and ethnic communities in the UK. So, what can be done to bring back a sense of local community? One thing we should all be doing is looking around us, keeping an eye out for abandoned buildings, derelict sites, and empty units. You can then take a photograph, let us know what you think it would be good for in your local community and then Land Hero will either help you to develop the site or publish it on its mapping system for a developer, landowner or local authority to take an interest and move forward with it.

Developers are re-visiting urban centres, with a view to restoring and adapting historical, office, industrial and abandoned buildings. Old factories are morphing into community art, leisure, social and office spaces. Former department stores and office blocks are being reimagined as high quality apartments with restaurants and retail thrown in.

Land Hero offers a way of restoring people’s pride in their local high streets and town centres by reimagining lots of smaller local communities within larger ones. It does this by getting you to identify the opportunities available to you from the empty buildings and disused plots of land around you, empowering local communities, encouraging economic investment, and offering new opportunities for housing and employment.

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