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Insights

In-house and independent research and essays sharing experience and knowledge of community-led change

In focus

Counterweight

If local government embodies representative democracy, Big Local areas are bastions of participative democracy, championing the cause for a ‘flatter’ society. Weaving together remarkable stories from Big Local areas, David Boyle paints a picture of what healthy local democracy can look like.

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Research

Find out what we're learning from Big Local

research
Building community wealth in neighbourhoods

Exploring community wealth building in the context of Big Local

Local economies
research
Community wealth building in neighbourhoods

A summary of the consultation held at St George’s House

Local economies
research
The Community Hub Handbook

How to run a successful hub and make your neighbourhood thrive

Spaces and services
research
Developing potential – a guide for communities

Helping communities make the most of regeneration in their area

Housing
research
Developing potential

Research aimed at bridging the gap between developers and communities

Housing
research
The halfway point

Reflections on Big Local: Sharing knowledge from the largest single-purpose, Lottery-funded endowment

Local economies Power and leadership
View all research

Essays

Read about how people and places are changing through Big Local in our essay series written by independent thinkers

| Big Local
Counterweight

How Big Local areas are levelling the scales of local power

David Boyle

| Big Local
A level playing field

How sport can unite and transform communities

Ryan Herman

| Big Local
Beyond age

Why communities are investing in young people’s futures

Antony Mason

| Big Local
Creating the future

Art, communities and change

Maddy Costa

| Big Local
Building wealth

How communities are reshaping the economy from the bottom up

Hazel Sheffield

| Big Local
Designs on the past

What can history do for hard-pressed communities?

Carey Newson

| Big Local
Community Spirits

The changing role
of faith in place

Stephen Bates

| Big Local
Skittled out?

The collapse and revival of England’s social infrastructure

Dan Gregory

| Big Local
New seeds beneath the snow?

Big Local neighbourhoods in action

Julian Dobson

| Big Local
The grammar of change

Big Local neighbourhoods in action

David Boyle

View all essays

Independent evaluation

Communities in Control

How health is affected by the power to make decisions

Our Bigger Story

An innovative longitudinal multimedia evaluation of Big Local