What is Community Consultation for Quality of Life (CCQOL)?
It is a major research project funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council to develop a new, map-based model of community engagement that takes place both online and face-to-face across the UK.
A collaboration with the universities of Reading, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Ulster, the project is testing different ways of doing community engagement well – using digital mapping, urban rooms and community outreach.
Working across urban areas in each of the four nations, the project is gathering data and engaging in conversation about what does and doesn’t work, what challenges exist and what can be done to overcome them.
Project aims
1. To allow people to input into digital maps so we can measure and assess the impact of changes to their neighbourhoods. Used alongside data that assesses social and environmental value, this will enable us to gather data continually so we can: get a holistic view of land use; promote the use of maps and open data for for democratic decision-making in planning; widen participation to tackle climate change and social justice issues.
2. To develop best practice guidelines for doing community consultation and engagement.
Four pilot projects
The CCQOL project is taking place across in four nations across the United Kingdom.
The pilots are taking place in:
Each project focuses on a theme developed in response to its local community and context, helping to develop community mapping methodologies through its research.
Get involved
Our urban rooms may have closed, but you can still be a part of this project.
Share your views on your experiences of consultation through our survey.
We’ll use what we learn to help us develop a code of conduct for community engagement – to be published in autumn 2023.
