Glasgow Community Safety project

Overview:

This was a 1-year participatory research project, exploring whether strengthening intergenerational connections can contribute to community safety. Generations Working Together initiated and facilitated the work, collaborating with four Glasgow communities and involving 138 participants. Yoker Resource Centre worked with The Prince’s Trust Glasgow (now the Kings Trust) to bring older and younger people together through zine-making workshops around the subject of community safety and possible changes to “our’ community, using creative activity and guided dialogue to explore what makes a “good community”, what helps people feel safe, and how different generations view each other.

Across the research, participants described community safety in everyday terms — including feeling unsafe due to young people, drug taking, burning bins, fighting, littering, vandalism/graffiti, intimidation, and disrespectful behaviour. The project responded to a clear need to reduce fear, challenge age-based assumptions, and create safe ways for generations to meet and build trust. Reported differences included people viewing other generations more positively, reduced fear of crime for older participants, reduced isolation/loneliness, and increased confidence to speak to and connect with younger people. Younger participants reported greater social responsibility, increased motivation to avoid risky behaviour, and a better understanding of older people. In the Yoker and Prince’s Trust strand specifically, both older and younger people said they benefited from meeting each other and that they would not have met without this intentional intergenerational relationship-building project.

Purpose/Objectives:

The project set out to test whether strengthening intergenerational relationships could play a meaningful role in community safety and community cohesion. Using a participatory approach, it supported older and younger people to meet, build trust, explore what “community safety” means in their area, challenge age-based assumptions, and create shared outputs (for example, the zine) that expressed their views and experiences. It also aimed to generate learning that communities and partners could use to sustain and develop further intergenerational work focused on safety, connection, and belonging.

The project aimed to: 

For older participants

  • Reduce fear of crime. 
  • Reduce isolation and loneliness through meaningful connection. 
  • Improve perceptions of younger people by breaking down stereotypes. 
  • Increase confidence and ability to make a positive contribution to community life. 
  • Increase satisfaction with home and neighbourhood through stronger community cohesion.

For younger people 

  • Build resilience and motivation to avoid risky behaviour. 
  • Increase participation in positive activities and community life. 
  • Improve perceptions between generations (including improving how older people view younger people).
  • Strengthen social responsibility and understanding of how community safety is experienced by others. 

The participants: Older people connected to Yoker Resource Centre and young adults involved through The Prince’s Trust Glasgow. They came together for intergenerational zine-making workshops focused on community safety and connection between generations.

How many took part: 22 participants took part in the Yoker strand in total.

What were the age ranges: 

  • Older participants: 70–94.
  • Younger participants: 6–22. 

How were they recruited/involved: Participants were engaged through Yoker Resource Centre elderly and disabled project names Time Well Spent and The Prince’s Trust Glasgow, based in Clyde Collage Anisland campus. All participants were supported to take part in an intentional intergenerational process over an 18-week period. The group built relationships through a mix of preparation/learning sessions and action workshops, working with an artist and coming together to talk about what a good community looks like, what helps people feel safe, and how different generations view each other. They produced a shared zine (publication) to express their ideas and feelings about community safety between generations.

Benefits for the participants:

Older participants experienced:

  • Reduced fear of crime and feeling safer in their community. 
  • Reduced isolation and loneliness through meaningful connection. - More positive views of younger people and fewer assumptions/stereotypes. 
  • Increased confidence to speak to younger people and take part in community life. 
  • Greater satisfaction with their neighbourhood and sense of belonging. 

What were the outcomes for the younger people?  Younger participants experienced:

  • Greater resilience and motivation to avoid risky behaviour.
  •  Increased participation in positive activities and community involvement.
  • More positive understanding of older people and what matters to them. 
  • A stronger sense of social responsibility and respect across generations. 

What were the outcomes for the community?

The work strengthened community cohesion by creating safe, structured opportunities for older and younger people to meet as equals, build relationships, and talk honestly about what “feeling safe” means locally. It helped challenge blame-based narratives about young people, supported more respectful day-to-day interactions across generations, and reinforced the importance of shared community spaces where different ages can connect and feel they belong.

Activities:

At Yoker, older participants from Yoker Resource Centre and young adults connected to The Prince’s Trust Glasgow took part in intergenerational zine-making workshops. The work focused on building relationships across generations, talking together about what a “good community” looks like and what helps people feel safe, and exploring/challenging assumptions that older and younger people can hold about each other. With support from an artist, participants created artwork and combined it into a shared zine (publication) that expressed their feelings and ideas about community safety between generations.

How often did they meet?

The Yoker strand ran over an 18-week period. Including all workshops delivered by GWT, but the 2 intergenerational groups meet once a week for 6 weeks.

Evaluation:

We evaluated the project in a few different ways because a single “one size fits all” method wouldn’t have been accessible for everyone in the room. We had participants with different communication needs, including neurodivergent participants and older people living with dementia, so we used a mix of approaches to gather feedback and reflection in ways that felt comfortable, respectful, and realistic. We used informal check-ins, small group and 1:1 conversations, and simple reflection questions repeated over time (e.g., what helped you feel safe today, what surprised you, what has changed in how you see the other generation). We also treated the creative process and the final zine as evidence of what mattered to people, especially where written feedback wasn’t suitable.

What would be done differently in the future?

We would keep the relationship-based approach, but strengthen the structure around it:

  • Build in more protected time for reflection and feedback at set points (so it doesn’t get squeezed by creative activity or time pressures). 
  • Offer more than one feedback route every time (e.g., quiet 1:1 option, small group chat, and a simple “one question” check-out), so people can choose what suits them on the day. 
  • Plan accessibility adjustments from the outset as standard practice (dementia-inclusive, neurodiversity-aware), including avoiding formats that don’t work for some participants and keeping language and prompts clear and grounded. 
  • Create a clearer “what happens next” pathway during the project (not just at the end), so participants can see how connections, youth partnerships, and intergenerational opportunities will continue. 

Funding:

The Young Foundation, UK Research and Innovation, and Generations Working Together.

Sustainability:

The work is continuing, and it’s directly shaping what happens next.

We’re sustaining the intergenerational practice by keeping the partnership with The King’s Trust Glasgow active, while also staying open to connecting with other youth groups who want to take part. Since the project ended, we’ve built new links with Girlguiding and the DRC Youth Project, and we’ve continued to involve young people through volunteering and work experience opportunities. This helps keep intergenerational contact “live” in day-to-day delivery, rather than treating it as a one-off project.

Priorities:

This project fits closely with Yoker Resource Centre’s core priorities around reducing isolation, strengthening wellbeing, and preventing crisis by building steady, relational support and stronger community connection. Our work is rooted in a deprived area where people experience real barriers to feeling safe and included, and where older people (including people living with dementia and long-term conditions) can be at risk of loneliness, fear, and withdrawal from community life. Intergenerational work supports our wider aim of building a community where people feel they belong, feel respected, and can take part.

It also aligns with our priority to challenge stigma and assumptions that can damage community cohesion — including ageism and negative narratives about young people. By creating safe, structured opportunities for older and younger people to meet as equals, learn about each other, and work together creatively, the project strengthens mutual understanding and helps build the conditions for a safer, more connected neighbourhood.

Finally, the approach matches how we work as an organisation: practical, trauma-informed, and accessible. We adapt delivery so people with different needs can take part, including neurodivergent participants and older people living with dementia, and we build learning into our practice so it can inform future intergenerational activity, partnerships, and funding. 

Scottish National Objectives:

This project contributes most strongly to Healthier and Safer and Stronger, and it also supports Smarter and Wealthier and Fairer in practical ways. It supports Healthier by reducing isolation and loneliness, strengthening wellbeing, and helping people feel more connected and confident in their community. It supports Safer and Stronger by improving community cohesion across generations, reducing fear of crime, and creating respectful relationships that challenge stereotypes and blame-based narratives about young people. Bringing generations together to talk about what “feeling safe” means locally also helps strengthen a shared sense of ownership and belonging in community spaces.

It supports Smarter through learning and skills development (for participants and staff/volunteers) — including reflection, communication, and creative practice — and by building understanding across generations. It supports Wealthier and Fairer by increasing inclusion and participation for people who are often excluded from decision-making and community opportunities (older people, people living with dementia, and young people), helping reduce inequality in who gets to be heard and who feels able to take part.

Additional resources:

Video - https://vimeo.com/1011250520

Zine on GWT website

The zine is part of Glasgow's Zine Museum, and this research was presented to the YouthLink Scotland Conference 2024, and a workshop was delivered at the National Interfaith Conference 2024. In 2026 Yoker RC still works with the King's Trust on intergenerational projects in 2026.