ABSTRACT
Social value is a powerful way to rehumanise people and business. It encourages people to reconnect to the spaces they inhabit and the people and communities they connect with and are part of. It changes the way organisations manage people and the way that businesses relate to each other. It is about participative and collaborative placemaking. It is a way of being and a way of doing. It offers the means for shaping a constructive response to the pressing challenges of our present times: the climate emergency, the Covid-19 pandemic, and increasing inequality in society and in the workplace, to name a few.
In this chapter, we reflect upon the evolution of social value practice. We observe a polarisation of views and note our corresponding concern. Our focus is on discussing the most pressing grand challenges of our time: planet, people, and society and how these can be tackled by connecting social value to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
