Ways of Welcoming

About this pattern

Ways of welcoming are important for the convivial orientation of newcomers to the culture of a place. Cultural orientation might include community-led governance structures and protocols, commoning practices within the neighbourhood, and specific coolth promoting practices that are already in place. 

This could take the form of a pack with a range of material elements like maps, contact lists, invitations, keys, gifts. It could also take the form of a protocol for a trial ‘live-in’ period, short visits, or stays for visitors and prospective buyers. Learning from ‘screening’ protocols such as those enacted in Poundbury to ascertain value alignment (but without the elitism [Beamish, 2017]), this process enables prospective residents to experience and contribute to the community of commoners who meet regularly to discuss ways of organising events, processes and systems.

Pattern Conditions

Enablers

• The ‘trial live in’ can be streamlined into the handover process when potential buyers are looking to assess the benefits of living in the area. No external policy framework needed to implement this.

Constraints

• Streamlining involves a lengthier hand-over process with greater resource allocation. The Welcome Pack needs to be iteratively updated.

Commoning Concerns

Access: All residents, potential residents.

Use: Community engagement is sustained and introduced as integral component of the settlement.

Benefit: Handover processes are clearer, with goals and objectives for cooling set out at the outset.

Care: Residents’ community, liaison officer.

Responsibility: Partnership between developer and community.

Ownership: A share house and community-centre could be owned and maintained by the developer.