The Social Life

of Cities

A new programme for city leaders

Pr o s p e c t u s , S u m m e r 2 0 1 2
 This prospectus invites city governments to
join an ambitious new collaboration to improve
the way that urban developments connect with
residents and with communities.

Our aspiration is to accelerate urban innovation

and reshape the way that city leaders and urban
planners think about creating and shaping
thriving and sustainable places.

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 Introduction

The Social Life of Cities is a new We are seeking city partners that:
collaboration between Cisco, the Young aspire to focus on quality of life and quality of
Foundation, and its new venture Social place
Life. The Social Life of Cities will work at wish to explore how the quality of place and
the intersection of urban design, social community is forged at the intersection of
design and technology design to develop technology, social design and urban design
and test new policy, investment, and offer explicit endorsement of the projects intent
urban innovation models that can make and focus from their highest level of leadership,
including Mayors and city leaders
cities more successful.
value strong input from community organisations,
entrepreneurs and innovators in the creation of
The initiative offers city partners:
new communities
an opportunity to tackle some of their most
aim to shift thinking, policy and practice at the
pressing local problems by building a practical
highest levels of city governance and amongst
understanding of how their city-wide strategies
individual players in the placemaking process
for economic, cultural, technological and social
including architects, designers, and property
development connect to the local experience
developers.
access to an international network that will
generate high profile and agenda-setting new
thinking
the chance to shape a tailored project drawing on
Ciscos insight into connectivity and networking,
and Social Life and the Young Foundations in depth

Jodhpur, Rajasthan, India

knowledge of social sustainability, placemaking,
service design and urban innovation.
We are inviting a select cohort to be among the first
five cities to become founding partners. The Social
Life of Cities founding partners will bring a willingness
to explore different ways of doing things, reflecting
their commitment to innovation.

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 Who we are

Social Life is a new venture set up by the Young Foundation to

accelerate innovation in placemaking. We are a centre of excellence
in social sustainability, working with built environment professionals to
understand and test different ways of putting people at the centre of
urban development.

The Young Foundation brings together insights, innovation and

entrepreneurship to meet social needs. We work across the UK and
internationally carrying out research, influencing policy, creating
new organisations and supporting others to do the same, often with
imaginative uses of new technology. We have over 60 staff, working on
over 40 ventures at any one time, with staff in New York and Paris as
well as London and Birmingham in the UK.

LACMA, Los Angeles

Cisco has shaped the future of the Internet by creating unprecedented
value and opportunity for customers, employees, investors and ecosystem
partners to become the worldwide leader in networking - transforming
how people connect, communicate and collaborate.

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 Project overview

For the past two years, Social Life, the Our objectives are to:

Young Foundation and Cisco have been
exploring the social sustainability of
cities and communities.
We have been thinking about how we can improve our
practical understanding of the link between citywide
placemaking programmes and the experience of people living
in local neighbourhoods. Too many programmes from urban
regeneration, to smart cities and the development of new
housing settlements - fail because they do not pay sufficient
attention to the complex needs of the people who will be at
the sharp end of change.
Our conversations have been based on the Young Foundations
track record of driving social innovation in the UK and
internationally, and work on social sustainability, now being
taken forward by the new Young Foundation venture Social
Life; and on Ciscos contribution to urban innovation under
the connected urban development and smart+connected
programmes. Out of these we are now launching a three year
practically focused research and action project.
create a new urban innovators network, bringing together
a group of city leaders interested in accelerating urban
innovation
convene a group of leading global thinkers to shape the
initiative, and to inform and learn from our emerging
thinking and practice
collaborate with city agencies and their partners, across
sectors, to design and implement tailored projects that
bring together technology, urban and social design to
improve the lives of their residents
learn quickly, test and measure the impact of our local
projects, document and share our results
create an influential body of thinking that changes the
practice of urban design, improving the way technology is
used in creative ways to improve the social life of cities.
The Social Life of Cities is a blend of research, thought
leadership and action learning through practical projects
in partner cities. Our intention is to explore what works,
what fails (and why) and to draw out insights from cities and
communities that can be transferred to other places and
contexts.

Objective 1 Objective 2 Objective 3 Objective 4 Objective 5

Work with Convene the Collaborate Learn, test Create new &

East End, London

city leaders best global across sectors, & measure influential body
to create a thinkers design tailored impact, of thinking
new urban projects in document & that changes
innovators local areas share results the practice of
network urban design

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 Advisory panel

To inform our work we are convening some of the

worlds leading thinkers about urban innovation to
provide advice and guidance. Their input will enrich
the collaboration and give partner cities access to
their networks and knowledge.

Our initial advisory panel members will be:

Dan Hill, Strategic Design Lead, SITRA, Helsinki and

Adjunct Professor, Faculty of Architecture, University
of Technology, Sydney

Geoff Mulgan, Chief Executive NESTA and former

Chief Executive, Young Foundation

Professor Sir Peter Hall, Bartlett Professor of Planning

and Regeneration at The Bartlett, University College
London

Professor Ricky Burdett, Professor of Urban Studies,

London School of Economics and Political Science,
Director, LSE Cities and Urban Age and Global
Distinguished Professor, New York University

Market in Nicaragua
Professor Saskia Sassen, Robert S. Lynd Professor of
Sociology, Columbia University, Co-Chair Committee
on Global Thought, Columbia University

1. Manhattan, New York

The list will be augmented with further members in
coming months.

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 The Social Life of Cities: Structure

The programme has three key elements: Tailored local pilots

We will collaborate with city partners to carry out
practical projects crafted to meet the need of each
city, and to enable stakeholders to think differently
about tackling social problems and placemaking. Our
aim is to stimulate creative disruption using social
design tools to co-create practical, local innovation
The urban projects and pilots.
innovators
Each city partner will receive 25 days of project
network
development and advisory support from Cisco, the
Young Foundation and Social Life, to co-design and
co-produce a tailored local project.
The work programme will be flexible and tailored to
Creating a Tailored local
local priorities but is likely to include:
new body of projects with
thought & individual scoping work with city leaders to identify a local
practice cities focus for the work
social design and action learning/workshop sessions
rapid prototyping support to identify, refine and
develop ideas including advice on technology and
network design
ongoing support and critique.
The urban innovators network
We will convene networks of city partners to create
opportunities to think differently about urban Creating an influential body of thought and practice

Seoul, South Korea

innovation and social cities. This will offer engagement
Capturing the lessons from our work with individual
with global experts (on urbanism, innovation and
cities and the urban innovators network, we will
sustainability) and other cities through virtual
develop and document our experience. This will
networking, TelePresences, and events including an
give individual city partners the offer to shape new
Urban Innovation Camp.
research and policy directions.

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 The offer to cities

We are looking for five cities to become

founding partners in the Social Life of
Cities. A further five will be recruited in
2013.

The programme offers city partners:

an opportunity to build a practical understanding
of how macro city-wide strategies for economic,
cultural, technological and social development
connect to the experience of local communities
a testing ground for new ways of working which
will generate valuable lessons for the wider area
the opportunity to make a step change in their
practice and policies and tackle some of their most
pressing problems
international profile as leaders in urban innovation
engagement with global experts (on urbanism, social
design, innovation and sustainability) and other
cities through virtual networking, TelePresences,
and events
association with a leading network that will
showcase the work of the collaborative and of

Broadway Market, London

individual city partners.

2. Giant Chess, Leeds, UK

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 What we ask from cities
The Social Life of Cities partner cities
must be committed to exploring new
thinking and practice that improves the
human and social dimension of their
cities.
This could be evidenced in a number of ways, including
past practice and track record, evidence of priority
investment in past projects or clear statements of
intent and policy direction by key city leaders or, of
course, a combination of all three.
Participating cities need to subscribe to the ideas and
intent of the project and be prepared to make an
active contribution, not only to support initiatives in
their own jurisdiction, but to share their ideas and
experience with others.
We ask that cities:
make a clear commitment from the most senior
levels of city leadership in support of the citys
participation in the project
invest a minimum of 20,000 as a direct contribution
to the tailored work in their city. This funding could
come from the public or private sectors or from
Foundations
Oslo, Norway
ensure good access to relevant information and
people within the city administration to assist in
the design, delivery and assessment of the project
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give projects emerging from the collaboration,
including those that are led by non-government
organisations or individuals, appropriate
recognition, visibility and support.
Social Life of Cities initiatives may be led by
stakeholders outside municipal government, however
they should all be recognised and valued by the
formal structures and power and authority in the city.
City leaders need to be open to learning from what
emerges about placemaking and the social dimension
of successful communities.
Timing will be adjusted to meet the needs of different
cities, but we would hope to complete the practical
projects for the first five city partners by Summer
2013.
Initial discussions are taking place with Chicago,
Seoul, Rio de Janeiro, London, Malm and Sydney.
Other cities with which discussions are starting
include New York, Toronto, Vancouver, Melbourne,
Adelaide, New Delhi, Bangalore, Brisbane, Helsinki,
and Manchester.
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 Next steps

We will be delighted to discuss possibilities

with interested partners. To take this
forward, cities will need to:

confirm their willingness to discuss participation

in the Social Life of Cities on the basis of the
programme of work set out in this prospectus
identify a small group of people, including
representatives from the city administration as
well as from outside government, who will be able
to agree a specific initiative or group of initiatives
that will form the basis of their participation in
the collaboration
enter into detailed negotiations to finalise the
shape and scope of the their participation.

Manhattan Housing, New York

3. Stratford, London

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 For more information contact: Cover images:

Front cover: LACMA, Los Angeles by Social Life

Nicola Bacon or Saffron Woodcraft at Social Life:
Introduction: Jodhpur, Rajasthan, India by Mr Jon
nicola.bacon@social-life.co
Ardem Esq. (FlickR)
saffron.woodcraft@social-life.co
Who we are: LACMA, Los Angeles by Social Life

Project overview: East End, London by Jon Spencer

www.social-life.co
Advisory panel: Market in Nicaragua by Nick Caistor

The social life of cities: Seoul, South Korea by

Social Life

Martin Stewart-Weeks or Relina Bulchandani at The offer to cities: Broadway Market, London, by
Cisco: Lucia Caistor-Arendar

msweeks@cisco.com What we ask from cities: Oslo, Norway by Social

Life
rbulchan@cisco.com
Next steps: Manhattan Housing, New York by Lucia
Caistor-Arendar
www.cisco.com

Other images:

1. Manhattan, New York by Lucia Caistor-Arendar

2. Giant Chess, Leeds, UK by Noiis (FlickR)
3. Stratford, London by Social Life
4. Paris Riverfront by Social Life
4. Paris Riverfront
5. Pier 45, New York by Ed Yourdon (FlickR)

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 5. Pier 45, New York

Prospectus designed by Lucia Caistor-Arendar

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