EQUIPPING
Place Review
What is a Place Review?
A Place Review is a study of a City or Town which uses various methods of research and analysis to arrive at two outcomes:
- Firstly, this is helping local leaders and churches better understand their place in their local context and region, and therefore allowing them to become more effective in their mission and civic engagement.
- Secondly, as more Place Reviews are conducted, we are building up an overall picture of the cities and towns in our nation.
Places have diverse and unique characteristics, so the Place Review will reveal different things for each place. No town or city is a self-contained island but exists within a broader local, regional and national setting. For that reason, the Place Review looks at three areas of context – History, Geography and Relationships.
- History – The identity of a city or town is shaped by its history, which may be religious, industrial, political and cultural. A place review uncovers key historical points that are crucial for understanding how the place functions and views itself today.
- Geography – How a place has grown and developed is often based on its geographical context, even the kinds of industries which have thrived and the stories of people who live there are affected by geography.
- Relationships – The local, regional and national setting of a place is key to how a place sees itself and how people live their lives and relate to one another within and beyond the city or town they reside in.
Why is it helpful or important?
A Place Review helps give a “helicopter view” of the City or Town you’re serving. Sometimes churches and unity groups can be doing fantastic work, but it’s not joined up or strategic. This study provides a deeper and more holistic understanding of the context in which you are working. It creates a better understanding of why a town or city is the way it is and highlights the issues, challenges and opportunities. This can open our eyes to how to pray and where to serve together, and it can also spark great conversations and connections with your local leaders and civic authorities.
How Does it Happen?
The first step is to approach Gather Movement and tell us you’re interested in working on a Place Review for your town or city.
The next step is to assemble a small team of people willing to engage in the research process, along with the Gather Movement Team. A Place Review generally takes about 9 months to complete, which includes a couple of visits by the Gather Movement team, some training for the local Place Review team, interviews with city, community, and faith representatives, and researching local history, place data, and regional data.
Finally, the analysis and report are produced and shared with consultation with the Unity Group.
This is a fairly in-depth process that complements the Movement for Recovery Mapping work well. We aim to expand our capacity in this area, enabling more cities and towns to complete a Place Review.
We are also exploring the theology of place, to better connect a Biblical perspective with the practical application of ‘understanding place’.
Our lead expert for Place Review is Paul Hildreth. Paul has spent much of his career focusing on ‘understanding place’. His career has crossed local government in London, central government’s policy on core cities, regional policy, and city regions, as well as academic and policy contributions in the UK and abroad. He co-authored publications on city relationships and has published journal papers and book chapters on place-making, local governance, regional policy, and place-based policymaking. He holds a PhD from the Bartlett School of Planning at UCL.