Co-creating social value in placemaking: the grand balancing act

Social value in the built environment refers to the social impact any organisation or project in that sector makes to its many and varied stakeholders. This involves different agents, such as design and planning professionals, engineering and construction professionals and workers, trades, facilities management providers and their personnel, and community groups and their members. We examine social value activities with a focus on placemaking, and show how in the Midlands, UK, regional strategic influence, consultant, design, and planning efforts relate to the Useful Projects Social Value Maturity Framework and align with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). We highlight how the agents collectively help ensure that Nottingham is one exemplar city with a direct participation structure of civil society in urban planning and management that operates regularly and democratically; how their activities help improve education, awareness-raising and human and institutional capacity on climate change mitigation, adaptation, impact reduction and early warning; and how they together ensure responsive, inclusive, participatory and representative decision-making at all levels. We present a transformative case study of social value in practice, which has a partnerships model at its heart, and the potential to inform future methodologies for business and community engagement to improve social outcomes.