Community Engagement

Arup’s aims influence more than just our day-to-day work – they inspire us to look for greater outcomes from everything we do.

Our community engagement programme is ‘social usefulness’ in action. Whether it is initiatives to combat homelessness, improve sanitation in disaster relief programmes, or disaster recovery after earthquakes, we are always looking for ways to improve the lives of those most in need.

“
Humanitarianism implies a social conscience, a wish to do socially useful work, and to join hands with others fighting for the same values. ”
Sir Ove Arup Founder

The power of partnership

Community Engagement allows us to apply our expertise in new and challenging ways. We work with partners, experts and NGOs to help build communities’ skills in vital priorities like sanitation, building resilient shelter and much more. Every collaboration is a chance to think imaginatively and improve the world around us. Find out more:

Responding to disasters

Innovations that count

Supporting vital infrastructure

Services for the disadvantaged

Helping local communities

Responding to disasters

Since 2016, over 700,000 people have fled the ethnic cleansing in Rakhine province of Myanmar. We’ve worked alongside many local NGOs to help the hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh to improve the quality of their camps and gain new skills. The camps continue to offer vital refuge to the Rohingya, and we are now helping deal with flood risk and structural reviews of the shelters.

Innovations that count

Poor sanitation is one of the first major threats to human health in the aftermath of disasters. In a design collaboration with the British Red Cross, the London School of Tropical Medicine, and Butyl Products, we’ve produced a handwashing system that can work anywhere. Informed by the voices and experiences of displaced Ugandans, the system can help prevent the spread of disease and add dignity to difficult situations.

Supporting vital infrastructure

In remote or improvised communities, intermittent energy supply is a common problem, with people left to rely on diesel powered generators. We’ve provided remote technical support on electricity microgrids that power refugee camps in Ethiopia, improving the lives of over 220,000 people who have escaped drought in Somalia.

Services for the disadvantaged

There are disadvantaged and forgotten communities in wealthy countries too. In Germany, life can be hard for those who live on the streets. One way to help reconnect young homeless people is to provide banking services so they can access basic amenities and care without a bank account. We are working with charity Karuna in Germany to add a ‘digital wallet’ to an app that runs on cheap smartphones, helping the homeless of Berlin.

Helping local communities

In Cork, Ireland, we’ve been helping homelessness charity Simon Community to offer greater residential accommodation for the city’s most vulnerable people. With plans in place, the charity is now considering how to develop the project, having gained a deeper understanding of how to get more value and capacity out of their properties.

Responding to disasters

Innovations that count

Supporting vital infrastructure

Services for the disadvantaged

Helping local communities

The global challenge

The global challenge is an Arup programme that provides seed funding for collaboration with partners and communities who can work with us on shared aims. Together we co-create ideas with impact and the potential to effect systemic change, and turn them from initial concepts into scaleable solutions that can benefit vulnerable and marginalised communities world-wide.

Find out more about the global challenge

Publications