Visibility
Close bundles local offers, meeting places, organisations and activities. People can more easily see what is happening near them.
Impact
Connection happens when finding each other becomes easier.
Close makes local offers, meeting places and people in the neighbourhood more visible, lowering the barrier to actually participate. This turns existing social infrastructure into more genuine use, more participation and more belonging.
Community-driven
Ad-free
Privacy-conscious
Social relevance
Loneliness is not a private matter. It is an infrastructure problem.
Social connection shapes health, quality of life and social cohesion. Loneliness and social isolation are associated with increased risks for physical and mental health. At the same time, many forms of social connection do not emerge in the abstract. They emerge through places, offers, recurring encounters and low-threshold occasions nearby.
Many neighbourhoods already have cafés, associations, social organisations, community spaces and engaged people. The problem is often not that nothing exists. The problem is that people don't see what is available, don't feel addressed, or don't take the first step alone.
Approach
Four levers for more connection in the neighbourhood.
Low thresholds
Close makes it possible to join small, spontaneous, everyday occasions: walks, coffee, culture, neighbourhood meetings or volunteering. No membership required.
Repetition
Connection does not emerge from a single encounter. Close supports recurring participation and keeps local activity continuously visible.
Steering
Municipalities, housing providers and local partners can see which offers are used, where gaps emerge and which spaces need more activation.
Research background
What research on social connection shows.
Close is not a research project. But the platform is grounded in a well-documented relationship between local social infrastructure, low-threshold occasions for encounter and wellbeing. The following sources give an overview of the current state of knowledge.
Impact logic
From local infrastructure to social impact.
Input
Local infrastructure
Local offers, places, organisations, residents, neighbourhood management, housing providers and municipality
Activation
Platform
Close bundles offers, makes them hyperlocally visible, lowers barriers and enables both spontaneous and planned participation.
Output
Use
More visible offers, more participation, more recurring contacts, more cooperation between local partners
Outcome
Belonging
More belonging, more neighbourhood contacts, greater use of existing social infrastructure, less social distance in the neighbourhood
Impact
Society
In the long term, more vibrant neighbourhoods, better participation, stronger local networks and more resilient social infrastructure can emerge.
For whom
Impact unfolds on multiple levels.
Residents
Close helps people more quickly see what is happening near them, participate more easily and make new contacts in their own surroundings.
Municipalities
Close helps municipalities not only to promote social participation, but also to better understand it: Which offers reach people? Where are low-threshold formats missing? Which neighbourhoods need more activation?
Housing providers
Close strengthens neighbourhood life, activates community spaces and makes social offers in existing housing stock more visible, making topics like participation, neighbourhood quality and social sustainability more tangible.
Local partners
Close gives cafés, associations, initiatives, social organisations and meeting places more visibility and easier access to people in their immediate surroundings.
Measurement
Understand impact without measuring people.
Good steering requires relevant signals. The following KPI areas help municipalities, housing providers and local partners to better assess activation and impact. All data is aggregated and privacy-friendly.
Reach
- Registered users in the pilot area
- Active users per month
- Returning users
- Reach per neighbourhood
Activation
- Published offers
- Local partner organisations
- Participations in events
- Spontaneous activities per month
- Recurring formats
Social connection
- New contacts through activities
- Repeated participation in local offers
- "I know better what is happening near me."
- "I feel more connected to my neighbourhood."
Steering
- Offer density by neighbourhood
- Topics with high and low demand
- Use of meeting places
- Gaps in target groups or offer formats
Qualitative
- Feedback from residents
- Feedback from local partners
- Examples of successful activation
- Learning points for further development
Next step
Make impact in your own neighbourhood visible.
Close can start as a pilot in a neighbourhood, housing estate, district or network of local partners. Together we define target groups, spaces, offers and the right impact indicators.