RIBA Guide to Community Engagement
2012
RIBA guide to community engagement for architects
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Getting community engagement right report 
This RIBA guide explores how architects can play a meaningful role in engaging communities within the context of the Localism Bill and emerging neighbourhood planning policies. It focuses on approaches to consultation and participatory design that go beyond tokenistic involvement, giving local people a genuine voice in shaping the spaces they inhabit.
Our Approach
To produce this guide, we (Rowena Hay) conducted:
Interviews with practising architects and planners, gathering first-hand insights, reflections, and examples from their work with communities.
A literature review of participatory design, community engagement theory, and case studies from the UK and abroad.
This combined approach ensured that the guide was informed both by practical experience and by robust academic and professional evidence, providing a foundation for best-practice recommendations for architects engaging with communities.
Role of Architects in Community Engagement
Architects act as facilitators, listeners, and guides in participatory design. Historical examples since the 1970s—such as the Byker Wall in Newcastle and Segal self-build housing in Lewisham—demonstrate the value of collaborative design with residents. Contemporary practice continues to prioritize engagement, particularly with marginalized groups, to ensure that built environments reflect local needs and aspirations.
Key principles:
Early and sustained involvement: Communities should be involved from project inception through to post-occupancy evaluation.
Mutual learning: Architects and communities engage in two-way learning to co-create solutions.
Trust and transparency: Genuine empowerment requires communities to see the impact of their input.
Inclusivity: Engagement should include all users, residents, workers, and community groups, particularly those often excluded.
Principles of Successful Community Engagement
Why involve people: To create a robust vision, foster ownership, and raise design aspirations.
Who to involve: Residents, workers, volunteers, underrepresented groups, and regular visitors to the area.
When to involve: From the earliest stages, through design development, and post-occupancy evaluation.
How to involve: Set clear objectives, allocate resources, promote discussion rather than dictating solutions, hold events in accessible venues, provide childcare, and use diverse communication methods including social media.
Case studies
Castleford Bridge, West Yorkshire – McDowell + Benedetti
Community-led design connected residential areas to the town centre, creating a pedestrian bridge and public space that fostered pride and ownership among local residents.
Broadway Community Garden, Tilbury Estate, Essex – Muf architecture/art
Through participatory art and workshops, residents transformed a neglected estate space into a vibrant garden that reflected local identity and promoted community cohesion.
Graylingwell Park, Chichester – John Thompson & Partners
A mixed-use development incorporated community priorities such as heritage retention, environmental sustainability, and creation of public spaces, with ongoing engagement via forums, newsletters, and focus groups.
Spa Fields, Islington, London – Park Life/Fluid
Redesign of a small urban park addressed safety and accessibility for women and young people, creating spaces they felt ownership over, including youth shelters and improved routes.
Homes for Older People, Camden – Niall McLaughlin Architects
Workshops with older residents and staff informed care home design, ensuring spaces met mobility, social, and wellbeing needs, including for people with dementia.
Kingsdale School, East Dulwich – dRMM
Participatory engagement with students, staff, and parents shaped the refurbishment of a school building, enhancing educational outcomes, community use, and user pride.
Outcomes
Architects facilitate meaningful community participation, not just token consultation.
Engagement enhances project sustainability, social value, and civic pride.
Case studies demonstrate that early, inclusive, and creative participation leads to designs that better serve local communities.
“Evidence and experience drawn from participatory design practice points to the fact that a collaborative design process done well not only engages local people in the design of the built environment that they experience everyday, but can also lead to better and more sustainable projects, and to a more collaborative and positive process of change. .”
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