Last night 18 Hewett Street hosted the first Protein Forum of the year exploring community in the modern city.

A 2008 report by the United Nation’s stated that half the world’s population lived in cities. Since then, that percentage has risen, and now the majority of people live in urban areas rather than rural ones. However a report from the New Economics Foundation found that those living in cities had a significantly lower level of well-being than inhabitants of close-knit, rural communities. So how can we build that sense of community in an urban environment?

The first speak on our panel was Chris Gourlay, CEO and founder of Spacehive, an initiative that operates very much like Kickstarter, but instead of funding business ventures, gives people the chance to propose and donate to public projects that improve their neighbourhood.

Next up was Ben Barker of Pan Studio, a production studio that recently won the Bristol’s Playable City Award with their proposed Hello Lamp Post! project that made everyday city structures, postboxes, bus stops, streetlights, contactable via text message and gave the streets a personality.

Finally Tom Tobia from Assemble and Join spoke on his organisation based near Waterloo that, with funding from Lambeth council, aims to help local residents and businesses build and repair products in their workshop-cum-cafe.

After the presentations there was a great discussion between the panel and audience on how to re-connect local communities, the role of the community and councils, and visions of the future city.

Our Protein Forums run every month so please email if you would like to be added to the Forum Mailing List.