Commonplace: Using tech to give local residents a voice

New technology platforms can help open up and expand the consultation stage of urban design and development. East London housing association Poplar Harca has used new app Commonplace to identify the needs of local residents.

Entrepreneur Mike Saunders, chief executive of tech start-up Commonplace, saw an opportunity to meet the local authority need for consultation, feedback and community engagement while offering residents the chance to make their voice heard in shaping their community.

Commonplace has just received £243k funding – largely from a syndicate of angel investors, including impact angel network Clearly Social Angels and Angels in the City.

Commonplace uses an innovative, simple app and website allowing residents to comment on their local environment, be consulted for planning and building works, and to have a voice in how their neighbourhood develops. By logging in to Commonplace, they can rate certain areas and respond to comments and questions. It helps developers, housing associations and local authorities to include residents in regeneration and identify local concerns and ideas for improvements.

Commonplace is usually commissioned by an organisation that works in the built environment arena – private or public developers, housing associations, local community groups or planners and architects.

The organisation then gets immediate access to all comments from local residents – including the time and date that they were posted. Residents convey their opinions and the reasons they value or dislike certain places. They can also suggest ways to improve it. This data is immensely valuable, and it also comes with basic demographic information – this can be used to compares the social demographic of the locality with those commenting and help understand needs and sentiments according to things such as age, gender and ethnic background.

It is already being used in 20 local authorities, including in Tower Hamlets in east London, where housing association Poplar Harca has used it to identify the needs and concerns of residents in one particular road. They are now using the information that they have collected to influence decisions about new community projects and developments, finding it a useful tool for ongoing communication with their tenants.

Disruptive technologies such as these change the power dynamic in local areas and provide a neutral, transparent platform – so important in urban planning where often those most affected by the change are least engaged in consultations around it.

By opening up the urban consultation and planning process to those directly affected by development and regeneration, Commonplace offers communities greater control and influence over development – and a chance to collaborate in creating change in their local area.