Commonplace

With over 400 Active Travel projects AND 1 million+ contributions, we help communities, councils, and decision-makers create more walkable, bike-friendly, wheelable and sustainable places. 🔹 Waltham Forest’s Mini-Holland – One of the earliest large-scale Active Travel projects, helped to establish us as leaders in this space. 🚲 🌱 https://lnkd.in/e6qF-SDJ. The impact highlights: - Residents cycled 24% more and walked/cycled 41 extra minutes weekly. - Car traffic dropped by 58% in key areas, making streets safer. - Life expectancy increased by 6 weeks due to cleaner air and more activity. - 22 km of cycle lanes, 700 trees, 300 bike hangars, and 15 pocket parks added. - Shops thrived, with full occupancy for the first time in 15 years. A few more examples: ✔️ Mapped Routes & Interventions 📍 Interactive maps overlay proposed routes. https://lnkd.in/e8gGmBdp Sheffield City Council | South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority | Department for Transport (DfT), United Kingdom ✔️ Effective Feedback Loops 🔄 Structured consultation with embedded real-time data insights. https://lnkd.in/eYKfGNJ2 West Yorkshire Combined Authority | Leeds City Council ✔️ Video-Led Engagement 🎥 Using video to boost community engagement. https://lnkd.in/eidRe68S Surrey County Council ✔️ Resident & Visitor Engagement 🏞️ Connecting both residents and visitors in shaping transport. https://lnkd.in/eT6yHteA Hope Valley Climate Action (HVCA) ✔️ Council-Wide Transport Strategy 🏛️ A borough-wide approach to sustainable transport planning. https://lnkd.in/ew3_y38a Royal Borough of Greenwich ✔️ Rural Transport Planning 🌾 Addressing transport needs in rural communities. https://lnkd.in/eMPW42vk Wiltshire Council ✔️ Nationwide Cycling Survey 🚴♂️ Scaling Active Travel projects regionally and nationally. https://lnkd.in/eByMbpFR Sustrans ✔️ Rural LCWIP 📊 Supporting long-term local Active Travel strategies. https://lnkd.in/eb7-jBKh Central Bedfordshire Council ✔️ Sustrans Scotland Projects Hub – Driving change across Scotland with innovative engagement. 🏴 https://lnkd.in/eZW9_H5j 💡 One key insight: While Active Travel can be a divisive topic at first, long-term engagement leads to positive sentiment shifts. Councils and decision-makers who continuously involve communities over multiple quarters see growing support for Active Travel and Low Traffic Neighbourhoods. If you're looking to connect communities, gather meaningful insights, and drive real change, let’s chat! 🚀 Commonplace Did you know - we have a bespoke AI engagement analysis model for Active Travel? #ActiveTravel #SustainableTransport #CommunityEngagement #Cycling #Walking #Placemaking #UrbanPlanning #Decarbonisation #FutureCities

Build-to-Rent (BTR) tenants are happier with their homes than the national average - 89% say they’re satisfied, compared to 82% of renters overall. They’re also more likely to feel they have enough opportunities for exercise. But here’s the kicker: they feel way less safe at night... Brand new research from our pals at the Quality of Life Foundation, the British Property Federation, and the The Association for Rental Living found that while 87% of men and 83% of women nationwide feel safe walking around after dark, those numbers drop to just 73% and 59% for BTR residents. One tenant summed it up: “We need more police presence, 24-hour security... There have been daily robberies and multiple stabbings, making the neighborhood very unsafe.” This is where real engagement and data-driven insights matter! Commonplace helps give residents a voice, allowing developers to listen and make changes that actually improve tenant happiness. Meanwhile, (our new owners) Zencity’s 'pulse surveys' provide ongoing benchmarking to track these issues over time. And with Zencity’s 'Blockwise' solution, cities and property managers can go even deeper - using real-time public safety data to understand crime trends, deploy resources effectively, and build safer communities. Sentiment data isn’t just useful - it’s essential for future-proofing developments and making sure people aren’t just living in these homes, but actually thriving in them! Thanks to The Developer and Festival of Place for sharing this insightful piece! #BuildToRent #TenantExperience #PublicSafety #FutureOfLiving #UrbanDevelopment #CommunityEngagement #SmartCities #DataDriven #ResidentVoice #QualityOfLife #Zencity #Commonplace #RealEstateInnovation

Do you think the upcoming planning changes will lead to stronger local engagement and democracy? I am fascinated by the opportunity for social technologies to bring local communities together rather than pull them apart, to expand democracy rather than restrict it. So far it hasn’t felt that 2025 will change much. Big tech does not appear to be covering itself in democratic glory. But maybe, in the weeds of the upcoming Planning and Infrastructure Bill, there are the seeds of something very positive. It's highly likely that the bill will include provisions that look a bit like 'zoning', and others such as the ‘brownfield passport’, which will create a stronger presumption in favour of development. Is this a good or bad thing for communities who want a meaningful say in how their neighbourhood changes? I argue in a recent MJ article, that these planning changes could create more rather than less opportunity for communities: 🚳 In close to 4,000 engagements run on Commonplace, I’ve observed that those seeking a ‘yes’ or ’no’ tend to produce more polarised and often bad tempered responses ✅ Whereas those that seek to address the ‘what’ rather than the ‘if’ tend to be more constructive, and have a greater impact on the outcome 🤝 Could YIMBYs and NIMBYs to be replaced by ’SVIMBYs’ (something of value in my back yard)? Empowered communities pushing for outcomes they need, enabled by development There are also great opportunities for councils and developers: in a report published last year with Landsec, British Land and Berkeley Homes, we showed that strong engagement can result in increased viability. https://lnkd.in/eFxtCvEp Technology has a huge role to play in this movement. Being part of Zencity means that Commonplace now brings even more value to the table in building trust and connecting people to the places they live, work and play. The full piece is in the The Municipal Journal: https://lnkd.in/esKhnBEy #urbanplanning #sustainability #housing #NPPF #planning #urbandesign #buildbackbetter #communityengagement Max Farrell Chris Hogwood Michael Meadows Andrew White Sean Groves Kate Honey Ed Watson Tom Kerr Jane Groom Martyn Evans Hon FRIBA Camilla Mankabady Chris Scott Debbie Jackson Hon FRIBA Pete Gladwell Dinny Shaw Sam Emery

Public consultations were supposed to be about giving people a voice. A way for communities to weigh in on the decisions that shape their neighbourhoods, cities, and futures. But in 2025, that voice isn’t always human. 🤖 Bots, AI-generated responses, and mass-coordinated campaigns are infiltrating engagement platforms, manipulating results, and drowning out real opinions. From infrastructure projects to social policies, online consultations are being gamed - and not by accident. Bad actors are leveraging technology to flood responses, sway decisions, and shut down initiatives they don’t like. The result? A process meant to be democratic is turning into a battleground of misinformation and manipulation. ⌚ But not on our watch! At Commonplace, we’re fighting back! With over a decade of data and millions of responses analysed, we’ve built a consultation platform that doesn’t just collect feedback - it protects it. This is how we’re making sure only REAL voices get heard, and fake ones get shut out! Find out HOW in my latest article... #RealVoicesOnly #StopTheBots #PublicConsultation #CommunityVoices #TrustInTech #FightMisinformation #DigitalDemocracy #DigitalEngagement #AuthenticEngagement #TechForGood #ProtectTheProcess