INTRODUCTION

The residents of Barking & Dagenham have proven to be incredibly resilient to change.

In 1921, what was once a quiet farming area suddenly became home to the largest housing estate in the United Kingdom; Beacontree Estate, built to provide social stability for soldiers and the working class, designed with big wide roads, gardens and large open spaces to offer a new and improved quality of life to those who were relocated after World War I.

Ford and other ancillary companies quickly dominated the labour spaces. Ford alone, employed 40,000 workers from Barking & Dagenham in the 1950’s, nearly 30% of the borough’s population.

Over the last two decades the borough has transformed demographically. Combined with a growing population, the borough also faces a large number of socioeconomic challenges including low-incomes and levels of employment, poor education outcomes, high levels of homelessness, teenage pregnancy and domestic violence. In 2001 89% of the population were White British, by 2011 that percentage had more than halved which has continued to drop to present day. The rapid changes make social cohesion a challenge.

The overall population has seen a growth of 13% between 2001 – 2011 and has a predicted growth of 24% for the decade 2016 – 2026. Currently 10,000 new homes are being built in the southern ward of the borough. A new Ecology Centre is almost completed, some estates have been completely demolished and the local council are preparing for the arrival of three of London’s most historic food markets - Smithfield, Billingsgate and New Spitalfields Market. All of which will bring about a new set of challenges, and a new set of opportunities.

THE PROJECT

Time and again it has been observed that even with the best intentions, it can be difficult for local people to sustain their efforts to run or improve neighbourhoods on their own.

Neither can local governments sustain their own efforts to provide for residents. It is through combining the ideas, energies and resources of residents, local government, statutory partners and other local organisations and businesses that long-term sustainability will be achieved.

The Every One Every Day project has been running in Barking & Dagenham for two and a half years, since September 2017, and aims to build the first large scale, fully inclusive, practical Participatory Ecosystem developed over 5 years.

The theory of the initiative is grounded in Participatory City’s nine years of deep engagement with those at the forefront of developing ‘participation culture’ around the world which has informed and helped to develop a new type of collaborative model, to achieve sustainable and scalable projects.

The idea has been built on research aimed at developing an approach to foster new types of inclusive participation projects, seeing a multifaceted approach as a key building block for developing sustainable urban neighbourhoods for the future.

Everyone shares the responsibility of creating thriving connected neighbourhoods, and the Every One Every Day project acts as a new style of public platform designed to support and connect community projects that embody big visions in micro actions.

The full report of the Every One Every Day project to date can be read online. Search: ‘Participatory City - Tools To Act’ or follow this link:

YEAR 3 YEAR 2

YEAR 4

YEAR 5 YEAR 1

PARTICIPATION

The platform aims to create thousands of opportunities for local residents to shape their neighbourhoods and their lives through practical participation.

Practical participation differs from other forms of participation with its emphasis on bringing people together through useful, inclusive projects and activities rather than through meetings, consultations and representative decision-making. It creates agency for people by developing their confidence, plugging them into something bigger, inviting their contributions and making space for their creativity. The opportunities to participate come via three main routes: the Shops, the Collaborative Business Programmes and The Warehouse, which each offer thousands of co-created ways for local people to be involved in practical enjoyable activity in their local neighbourhood.

Scattered across the borough are five Every One Every Day Shops, and one Makerspace called The Warehouse. In the shops you are warmly greeted by a member of the Every One Every Day team, or often greeted by someone who is not part of the team at all.... It’s hard to tell as everyone seems comfortable being friendly.

The shops don’t sell anything and they’re open to everyone. In them, people can share recipes, knitting techniques, share tools, sewing basics, swap books, propagate plants (just to name a few) - some of which happens adhoc and some of which is scheduled as a session to be promoted through the Every One Every Day newspaper. The newspaper is co-curated by residents of Barking & Dagenham and staff every three months and is sent to 60,000 homes and organisations across the borough, reaching people from all walks of life. The sessions in the newspaper are mostly hosted by people that live in the community, who have gone into the shops and simply started a conversation, out of which come ideas big and small. The team assist in making sure the sessions are designed for all ages and abilities, thus creating more and more opportunities for people in the borough to participate.

One element of the Every One Every Day project, is to create opportunities to form collaborative businesses within the borough, working with residents to come up with exciting ideas and form collectives around them.

In 2016, the Final Report from the Independent Growth Commissions found that ‘the new business rate in Barking & Dagenham is high’ indicating that Barking & Dagenham is a borough full of people with entrepreneurial drive.

The Collaborative Business Programmes set out to connect all people, by building ‘people and planet positive’ programmes around the emerging interests of local residents. Presently, these have centred around growing, making, food and shared services, such as childcare or cleaning.

No Selection Process No requirements to be able to join a programme

Starts where you are No prior knowledge required and designed to support personal journeys and needs.

Part-time and flexible

To enable people to work around other commitments

Low to no cost

By working together and in stages, there are lower go-to market costs.

Designed collaboratively Working with others as a team dramatically increases the chance of the collaborative business being successful.

Support from tutors From design and prototyping, to branding and test trading, support is available.

Testing ideas Learn by doing and testing ideas. The programmes help people rapidly get to market.

Access to essentials Access to essential space, and flexible hours to fit different schedules.

Moments from different projects happening all over the borough

An Every One Every Day shop, leather workshop and community beekeeping