Resources

The Connected Communities Projects have produced a wide variety of resources from reports to films. Many of these resources are available through the links on this page. Individual project websites are also a great place to look for resources and further information - you can access them through our Project Pages.

Conceptualisations and meanings of ‘community‘: The theory and operationalization of a contested concept

This Discussion Paper explores conceptualisations and meanings of ‘community‘ as a contested concept, focusing on how 21st-century researchers across the world have gone about capturing ‘community‘ using a variety of methods. Read more

Researching with Communities

This project seeks to determine the extent to which complexity theory might offer the most effective means for understanding how communities can be successfully engaged in and with academic research. Read more

Illuminating the Evolution of Community Participation

The review understands the “Big Society” as an example of policy translation (Freeman 2009). Through reflecting on what is ʺlost in translation”, the review identifies spaces for contestation and challenge. Read more

Towards Co-Production in Research with Communities

This review takes a cross-cutting perspective, aiming to advance the theory and practice of coproduction in research with communities. Read more

Conceptualising school-community relations in disadvantaged areas

Taking state-funded schools as an exemplar of public services, this study has explored the role of schools in relation to geographical communities which experience economic deprivation and associated disadvantages. Read more

Living Together: The Temporal Dimension of Civic Health

This report examines two prominent philosophical conceptions of the life of an individual – the ‘episodic’ and the ‘narrative’ – and considers what they can tell us about the lives of communities. Read more

A review of theories, concepts and interventions relating to community-level strengths and their impact on health and wellbeing

This paper draws on two reviews of the relationship between strong communities and health and well being. Read more

Keeping in Touch

This report is the first iteration of a series of questions that would support the development of a digital communications strategy for communities of interest or place. Read more

Resilient, mutual self-help in cities of growing diversity

This paper aims to stimulate debate in relation to thinking around resilience, mutual self-help and participation, both formal and informal, in an era of “super-diversity.”

An analysis of the capacity of volunteer sports coaches as community assets in the Big Society

In the contemporary context of “The Big Society‟, the aim of this review was to locate and analyse existing evidence to support expectations about the role of volunteer coaches, and community sport, in community social action. Read more