Social infrastructure

Social infrastructure brings people together. It includes community spaces and places, networks and groups, physical connectedness to key services and online digital connections. Social infrastructure is both a determinant and outcome of social capital – they reinforce one another.

Community Needs Index

The Community Needs Index, developed by Local Trust in partnership with the Oxford Consultants for Social Inclusion, measures social infrastructure in terms of three key domains.

An increasing body of evidence has shown that social infrastructure is critical to fostering healthy, connected, resilient and prosperous communities. It also plays an important role in improving socio-economic outcomes in the most disadvantaged neighbourhoods.

Image source: Local Trust.org.uk

Local Trust’s Policy Spotlight 1: How social infrastructure improves life outcomes

This paper explores the impact of the continuing loss of social infrastructure in the neighbourhoods most in need and how this effects social capital stocks and other life outcomes.