Colorful benches, one red and one yellow, facing each other along a pathway outside of a modern brick and wood apartment building.

Our Connected

Neighbourhoods

We have partnered with the University of Stirling, people affected by dementia and others to develop, design and deliver change to the way we make our neighbourhoods dementia inclusive, through physical design, digital and social and creative interventions. Our Neighbourhood Compass tools are free and available online.

A garden with a large tree with mostly brown and some green leaves, surrounded by a well-maintained grassy area and trees in the background. There are empty wooden planting beds in the foreground with fallen leaves on the ground.
A smiling couple taking a selfie outdoors on a sunny day. The man is wearing a gray cap and a light gray t-shirt, while the woman is wearing glasses and a sleeveless athletic top. They are standing on a dirt path surrounded by green bushes and trees. There is a rock climbing wall with holds on a concrete platform on the ground to their left.
A young woman with glasses and a pink sweater stands next to an elderly woman in a brown coat sitting at a white piano. The elderly woman is using a walker. The scene is inside a building with large windows showing tall grass outside. There is a police officer statue sitting on a post near the window.
ADA accessible bathroom with grab bars, toilet with blue lid, white walls, piping, and a toilet paper dispenser.

About OCN

Our Connected Neighbourhoods is an ongoing community outreach project, which started in September 2017, in the Stirling area funded by the Life Changes Trust and based at the University of Stirling.

We are focused on creating dementia inclusive communities by identifying the strengths of neighbourhoods and connecting these together for greater capacity and sustainability. Through research and community engagement, we have developed and tested a toolkit to support neighbourhoods along their journey to becoming dementia-inclusive. OCN is built around core themes; these are a starting point to develop more inclusive communities, led by people living with dementia and their unpaid carers, using an exciting range of community conversation and design tools.

The Neighbourhood Compass is a four-stage toolkit developed to support communities plan their own dementia enabling journey. By using the Compass, you will better understand what to prioritise for your own neighbourhood as well as selecting the best approach for the process.

The toolkit is flexible, allowing you to create a bespoke solution that suits your area's needs. The content can be accessed online, with supporting resources that can be downloaded and printed.

Illustration of a neighbourhood compass for planning dementia-friendly communities showing four steps: 1. SNAP - forming a neighbourhood group, attending OCN workshop, making a statement of intent; 2. MAP - mapping neighbourhood, assessing the place, defining priorities; 3. NAP - neighbourhood-based work foundations, selecting approach, drafting an action plan; 4. ADAPT - conducting activities, evaluating impact, reflecting. The steps are in a circular flow with icons and colored-bordered sections.
Visit the OUR CONNECTED NEIGHBOURHOODS SITE