PROCOL UK
Prosperity Co-Lab (PROCOL) UK is an innovative initiative to develop transformational thinking and action on shared prosperity for the UK
The goal of PROCOL UK is to achieve a sustained shift in public debate, policymaking, investment and community action for shared prosperity.
It brings together citizen-led research, cutting-edge academic research, and collaborative, multi-stakeholder partnerships with communities, government, business and researchers, to develop new forms of knowledge and new ways of working that bring transformational change.
PROCOL UK’s work addresses the question “What are the pathways to shared prosperity in the UK?” in the context of pressing challenges facing British society: climate emergency, rising social and financial inequalities, Brexit, austerity and public services, and the changing nature of work in the era of AI and robotics.
Our projects
The London Prosperity Board is an innovative cross-sector partnership established by the Institute for Global Prosperity (IGP) to rethink what prosperity means with and for communities in east London. The goal of the London Prosperity Board is to develop new ways of thinking, generate new forms of evidence and test new ways of working that make sustainable and inclusive prosperity a reality for people living and working in London.
Working with citizen social scientists, the London Prosperity Board launched the UK’s first citizen-led prosperity metrics in 2019 and in 2021 will launch the UK’s first longitudinal study of household prosperity.
The London Prosperity Board brings citizens, community organisations, local authorities, public agencies and businesses together. Our partners include Community Links, Hackney Quest, Hackney CVS, Compost CIC, the Borough Councils of Newham, Hackney, Tower Hamlets, Barking and Dagenham, and Waltham Forest, the Greater London Authority and the London Legacy Development Corporation. The LPB is chaired by the Director of the IGP, Professor Henrietta Moore, and is managed by Saffron Woodcraft.
Prosperity is usually defined in economic terms but increased economic wealth does not necessarily lead to better lives for people. The work of the IGP redefines prosperity in terms that communities understand it. Its Prosperity Index is designed to encapsulate meaningful data at a level that makes sense to communities, and which can be relayed back to government for policy-making.
Read more on the London Prosperity Board website
Rebuilding Macroeconomics – Developing an Economy of Belonging
Rebuilding Macroeconomics (RM) is a research initiative funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), ten years after the start of the financial crisis that economists failed to predict. It is run out of the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) at its offices in Westminster. RM aims to transform macroeconomics back into a useful and policy-relevant social science.
Within the RM initiative, the Developing an Economy of Belonging project explores the relationship between the effects of globalisation, economic development, livelihoods security and social wellbeing in the UK. The project examines how to develop new macroeconomic thinking based on more local level knowledge and rework the relationship between macroeconomics and policy. The aim of the project is to identify the infrastructures and mechanisms necessary to enhance the development of people’s capacities and capabilities to participate fully and meaningfully in society, and improve their quality of life.
Principal Investigator: Professor Henrietta L. Moore
Co-Investigator: Andrew Percy
Researcher Fellows: Juan M. Moreno, Dr George Melios
For more information about the project, visit: https://www.rebuildingmacroeconomics.ac.uk/developing-economy
Rise Up Skyroom
Skyroom is an award-winning urban development company founded by the Institute for Global Prosperity's (IGP) Entrepreneur-in-Residence, Arthur Kay. It provides high-quality, eco-friendly homes. These are let to key urban workers (police, fire, nurses, doctors and teachers) at a significantly reduced price. The aim of the company is to enhance the social and cultural prosperity of the city, by housing the people that make it run well in an efficient and innovative way.
The homes are prefabricated. They are installed on rooftops that have been modified to allow utility connection and access. Green roofs are also installed, providing insulation and amenity space for the houses' inhabitants and the rest of the block.
Building on rooftops protects the Green Belt and reduces the negative effects of commuting. Centring homes in the city increases the council tax, New Homes Bonus, and Community Infrastructure Levy receipts of local councils, and improves the quality of key public services for all, by housing the people that staff them safely, securely, and in a comfortable and environmentally sustainable way. They pay a significantly reduced rent, meaning they are happier and more able to enjoy their leisure time.
The IGP is committed to supporting and influencing public debate around new ideas, sustainable investment in social infrastructure, and public policy aimed at improving the quality of people's lives. We are launching this white paper with Skyroom as we are searching for innovative solutions to future-proof our cities. We try to combine academic research with a multi-disciplinary approach in order to create solutions that benefit the whole of society. We are delighted to have published this project and are looking forward to seeing what the company can achieve in the coming months.
To read the paper, and find out more about our research, please visit riseup.skyroom.london
Financing Prosperity in London
The Institute for Global Prosperity has been working with a number of organisations in East London, including Money Advice and Education (Money A+E), Optimistic Productions/Bank Job Pictures and Research for Action to explore critical alternatives to existing modes and practices of finance. This research examines how community-based forms of financial advice create pathways to prosperity for disadvantaged economic communities, how art can be a form of critical financial education, and evaluates how Covid 19 has impacted the livelihoods of black, asian and minority ethnic communities.
Universal Basic Services
Expanding universal access to basic services is the most effective way to bolster the public goods on which both society and the economy depend. The benefits such investment in social infrastructure brings are much greater than those targeted at individuals. What is clear is this: We can have a modern welfare state fit for the 21st century, and we can afford to pay for it. What remains now is a public debate about the validity and potential of the ideas we have on the table, so that we refine them, implement them, and generate the next set of ideas to fit the changing circumstances of sustainable prosperity for the UK today and for future generations.
Good Life Euston
The Institute for Global Prosperity, Camden Council and Lendlease are working together to understand the experiences of local communities most affected by major regeneration projects in the Euston area, and to develop a new prosperity and wellbeing index for Euston.
Research to develop the index has started with Euston Young Voices, a project being delivered in partnership with Camden Giving and led by young people from Euston which focusses on their experiences and aspirations.
The 18-month collaborative research project, ‘Good Life Euston’, will develop a set of indicators to measure wellbeing in Euston and across the whole of Camden, and identify opportunities for local people to prosper while regeneration is underway.
The project is part of our shared commitment to a strong and inclusive borough where everyone can make their contribution and lead a healthy independent life. Our aspiration is for local communities to shape the transformation of Euston and benefit from regeneration.
Euston Young Voices
Work on the Index began in August 2020 with a new citizen social science project led by young people from Euston. Twelve young people have been recruited by Camden Giving to undertake a research programme with local people living in neighbourhoods in and around Euston Station. They will work with a team from the IGP, funded by Lendlease, to undertake research about local communities living in the Euston area. They will use their findings to create a Euston prosperity and wellbeing index which reflects the priorities and experiences of local people and can be used to monitor the social and economic changes linked to regeneration at Euston.
The Euston prosperity and wellbeing index measures the impacts of regeneration on local communities over the long-term to support decision making and investment based on resident-led priorities that benefit local communities. It is also an important first step in building a borough-wide index in Camden.
IGP Project Lead: Saffron Woodcraft
Fuse - Youth Prosperity in East London
Fuse is a co-design project led by youth design agency The Plug, Hackney Quest youth charity and the Institute for Global Prosperity at UCL. Fuse responds to the complex challenges young people growing up in east London face to achieve their aspirations in a context of widening inequalities and COVID-19 economic failure.
Fuse follows a 4-step research and design process: Discover, Develop, Design, Deliver. The team – including six young designers trained and employed on the project – will address the following questions:
1. What does it take for young people in east London to live prosperous lives?
2. How can local businesses & organisations, both individually & collaboratively, facilitate and support young people’s prosperity?
The team is working collaboratively with the London Legacy Development Corporation’s Legacy Youth Voice team and Good Growth Hub. This innovative partnership will support the implementation of research findings and design solutions; ensuring that Fuse’s work has an impact for years to come.
Fuse will also deliver a second iteration of the Youth Prosperity model: a visual representation of what prosperity means for young people who live in east London. It develops previous work in Hackney, Tower Hamlets and Camden, which you can read about in the Rethinking prosperity: Perspectives of young people living in East London working paper.
Fuse is funded by UCL, the London Legacy Development Corporation and the Wick Award
Fast Forward 2030 UK
Launched by Professor Henrietta L. Moore, Founder and Director of the Institute for Global Prosperity, and Arthur Kay, Chief Executive of bio-bean, Fast Forward 2O3O promotes speculative models for enterprise and behaviours that will help deliver the Sustainable Development Goals.
Comprising a handful of young UK-based innovators, Fast Forward 2O3O reaches out to the next generation of leaders who by 2030 will be the shapers of institutions, directors of businesses, producers of knowledge and inventors of technology.
Through an online platform and a curated programme of events, Fast Forward 2O3O debates and promotes positive proposals and provocative ideas for how a swarm of small actions can effect global change.
Find out more on the Fast Forward 2030 website
Prosperity in east London 2021-2031 Longitudinal Study
Prosperity in east London 2021-2031 is a 10-year study examining the prosperity of over 4,000 households in 15 areas of east London where large-scale and long-term urban regeneration is driving rapid physical, economic, and social changes in local communities.
It is the first longitudinal study in the UK to use the Citizen Prosperity Index: a new way of measuring prosperity that reports on what matters to local communities. The Citizen Prosperity Index was co-designed with a team of citizen scientists based on in-depth qualitative research about lived experiences and local determinants of Prosperity in east London. The Citizen Prosperity Index has five domains: Foundations of Prosperity; Opportunities and Aspirations; Power, Voice, and Influence; Health and Healthy Environments; and Belonging, Identities and Culture.
Prosperity in east London 2021-2031 is a mixed methods study that combines data from the Citizen Prosperity Index household survey and Obstacles to Prosperity qualitative research, which is undertaken by citizen scientists – local residents employed and trained by UCL’s Citizen Science Academy to work as social scientists in their neighbourhoods. Data will be collected in three waves between 2021 and 2031.
Read about:
UCL Citizen Science Academy
The Citizen Science Academy is an innovative new initiative that delivers community-based, practice-led learning to equip people with the knowledge and practical skills to take part in research to shape place-based policy-making and social action. UCL’s Citizen Science Academy is an ambitious new initiative to deliver community-based, practice-led research training to empower communities to lead change through social action and shaping policies that impact their livelihood.
The Citizen Science Academy has been designed to make participation in research inclusive and accessible to people from all kinds of backgrounds. Rigorous, high-quality education and training programmes are ‘applied’, meaning they are linked to active research projects, and are delivered in non-academic, community-based settings. Academy researchers do not need any prior experience of research, work or study in further or higher education.
Led by the Institute for Global Prosperity, the Citizen Science Academy is run in partnership with the UCL Office for Open Science and Scholarship and UCL’s new cross-faculty Citizen Science Working Group. The Academy launch is a major step forward for UCL's citizen science initiatives and commitment to principles of civic education.
The Academy team have developed a Citizen Science Certificate - a non-academic award that will recognise research, collaboration, and public impact competencies. The Certificate launches in 2023.
Find out more about the Citizen Science Academy
Using administrative data to understand community well-being
This project will explore whether administrative data about behaviour, already gathered by local authorities, can be ethically used as a means of gaining additional insight into community well-being.
This project will explore whether the administrative data about behaviour, already gathered by local authorities, can be ethically used to provide insights into community well-being and to inform policy. A behavioural data algorithm will be developed using simulated data to test its efficacy as a measurement tool and to evaluate the effectiveness of administrative data to predict well-being.
Find out more about this project on the Nuffield Foundation website
Contact us
If you'd like to know more about our work or you're interested in collaborating with us or in funding our research, please get in touch with our team at procol.uk@ucl.ac.uk.