Appendix B — Community asset mapping
Involving local under-represented groups to identify the assets of their local neighbourhood provides a positive approach, proactively looking for solutions, rather than focusing on deficits and problems.
Assets could include buildings, institutions, facilities, services, spaces, community groups or individuals and their skills, talents and capacities. The purpose is to understand what a place is like, how it works and what is valued from the perspective of under-represented groups. It can also help make ‘invisible’ networks and assets visible.
This may help developers, planners, etc., to identify opportunities and priorities for a site, particularly beyond the site boundary (e.g. integrating assets, unlocking further potential, maximising existing assets rather than duplicating, understanding which assets are under threat, etc.) and encourage further engagement with under-represented groups when development may impact on existing assets.
Community asset mapping can also help developers, planners, etc., understand the demographics of under-represented groups who use different assets, how they use them and whether they could be used by other demographics and/or in different ways. This type of information could improve allocation of funding and maximise the impact of funding (e.g. Section 106; Community Infrastructure Levy).