The Work Shop Report #01 by Tessy Britton

Report #01 February 2013

â&#x20AC;&#x153;A painful but, at the same time, inspiring paradigm shift towards lesshierarchical, more collaborative, ways of managing systems and producing services is on its way. People are tired of being merely spectators. They want to become participants and creators of their own lives and environments. What this trend demands of all organizations in our society, is the ability to offer more participation opportunities at all the various decision-making levers, together with clever support structures. The need for a more participatory democracy is great. The decision-making structures feel stale, and especially public governance appears to be increasingly unresponsive or bureaucratic for the needs of citizens.â&#x20AC;? Pirjo Tulikukka - Helsingin kaupunginosayhdistykset ry Helka, Helsinki

Contents The Work Shop Project

Evaluation

Introduction! ! ! ! ! ! ! Background! ! ! ! ! ! ! Design principles ! ! ! ! ! ! Research approach ! ! ! ! ! ! Participatory action research! ! ! Theory of Change! ! ! ! ! Using a physical space as a collaboration platform! ! Academic research into collocation! ! ! Learning from successful citizen-led projects! ! Influential innovative community spaces! !

! ! ! ! ! !

4 5 6 8 8 9 10 10 11 11

This report evaluates The Work Shop Project in 2 ways. !

1 Inspiring local projects exhibition ! ! ! ! 2 Programme ! ! ! ! ! ! ! 3 Data gathered for testing the design assumptions ! ! 4 True colours ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !

37 37 37

Evaluation 1 The shop as first stage in a design process Aims of the shop ! ! ! ! Pre-conditions of moving to Phase 2! Key Findings ! ! ! !

! ! !

Evaluation 2

Shop Design ! ! ! ! ! ! !

! ! ! ! ! ! !

! ! ! ! ! !

12 12 13 16 18 19 20

Contributions from local residents ! ! !

! ! !

22 26 33

The shop from a knowledge transfer perspective ! The shop from a social design perspective ! ! Engagement comparison ! ! ! ! ! The shop from a trust perspective ! ! ! The shop from a context perspective ! ! ! Co-producing a programme - if and when? ! ! The shop from a staff experience perspective ! ! The shop from a Comms perspective ! ! !

! ! ! ! ! ! ! !

39 42 43 44 45 46 51 52

Laura Billings ! Toby Blume Tessy Britton Julian Ellerby Dorian Gray Sophia Looney Sumathi Pathmanaban

The shop from a mapping perspective ! ! Testing our assumptions ! ! ! !

! !

54 55

Published February 2013

! !

56 62 73 78

Project strategy and design team

The shop as Object 1 to be replicated elsewhere

Introduction! ! ! ! ! Rapid prototyping ! ! ! ! Shop description ! ! ! ! Activities and interactive installations ! Digital engagement !! ! ! Shop visitor numbers! ! ! Team !! ! ! ! !

Mapping existing activity ! ! Ideas and suggestions! ! Collaboration activity ! !

Appendices

Report Tessy Britton

Lambeth Council 3

The Work Shop Project is the Cooperative Council - with a focus on Introduction Lambeth collaboration and empowerment. This means developing new systems, activities and behaviours so that we can work together as equals. In September 2012 it was decided to start The Work Shop Project to work more closely with local residents to explore how existing pathways might possibly be reshaped over time to develop new social and organisational infrastructures throughout the system. It was determined very early that the process needed to carefully and systematically produce strong evidence at each stage that new collaborative infrastructures could be effective. Many governments worldwide are attempting to find innovative ways of increasing citizen participation - to improve how the system works overall and to increase democratic accountability. These experiments are having varying degrees of success, but there is a high level of interest in this complex task. Although the idea of citizens and government working more collaboratively can be viewed as an idealistic ambition from certain perspectives, The Work Shop Project has been driven by a need to convert ideals into concrete practicalities. Accordingly it was decided to adopt a very toughminded and transparent approach to the project overall. This approach would be demonstrated by working innovatively to counteract the limitations of small-scale qualitative research through: comprehensive documentation; collaborative analysis wherever possible; encouraging a high degree of honesty and self-criticism; and transparent sharing.

The Work Shop Project Background

The Work Shop Project emerged from the No Rules Zone Project. The No Rules Zone project intends to disaggregate budgets from the Lambeth First Partnership and find new ways of collaboratively investing this money with residents in a local community. The Lambeth First Partnership includes local businesses, community and voluntary groups, NHS, Police, Lambeth Living, Job Centre Plus and Lambeth Council.

Challenges

Feedback from partners and other research around this issue during the scoping part of the project suggested that the idea was complex and challenging, particularly in the current context, and that some initial systems work would be needed in order for The No Rules Zone Project to proceed successfully.

3. There appears to be credibility gaps, often a result of cautious and responsible thinking, about the practicalities involved in increasing the level of collaboration between professionals and citizens. These gaps include: knowledge, motivation, effectiveness and accountability. It was determined that there is an need for a more nuanced and sophisticated framework to be developed in order to understand the wider opportunities that citizen and professional collaboration presents. The No Rules Zone project is attempting to break new ground and it was decided that a gradual process and systemic change be designed prior to revisiting budget disaggregation on a larger scale.

1. Budget cuts and restructuring pressures took priority during 2012, leaving less time for partners or the community to focus on testing new approaches to commissioning and participation at local level. 2. Current systems around consultation and decisionmaking, even where they attempt to be more collaborative or innovative, are linear and rigid and continue to cause great frustration to both citizens and local government. When viewing the landscape from a high level it is hard to envisage how to design significant breakthroughs to these firmly established dynamics and systems.

The Work Shop Project Core Design Principles

Recognition of the collective ingenuity of citizens and government

Local residents and government staff have tacit and explicit knowledge, ingenuity, ideas and talents - with restricted opportunities to surface and share them. These assets largely lie dormant in communities.

Whole system fragmentation is not a good context for effective collaboration

Fragmentation and competition are not a good context for the level of collaboration needed to blend knowledge between diverse stakeholders.

Increasing desire for citizens to participate strategically

There is increasing evidence that citizens want to participate more creatively in shaping their environments and their lives. They want their efforts to have impact.

A process is needed to surface and build new collaborative and context specific social/ org infrastructures

An innovative, strategic and long term process is required - this needs to be co-designed iteratively. New infrastructures will be context specific, needing to be co-designed in different places with different people.

Fragmented and competitive local groups and organisations

Over time, in response to top down initiatives and accountability requirements, local social and organisational infrastructures have become fragmented and competitive for both funding and local support.

At microsocial levels project designs integrate and bridge producing multiple strategic outcomes

Innovative local projects are demonstrating the strength of networked effects on achieving multiple strategic outcomes. These project designs rely on integration of ideas and activities

Government is increasingly specialised and unconnected

Despite serious efforts by all parties, over time, and in response to specific and often urgent needs, council and partner activities have become increasingly specialised and less connected.

New infrastructures need to be built on trusting relationships between individuals

Effective collaboration requires freeflowing knowledge-sharing, present only when genuine dialogue is achieved. This requires trust between individuals (rather than organisations) who are working towards shared goals.

Integrating knowledge is a complex task but has potential to be transformative

Blending local resident and government knowledge offers great potential for transformation at local level. It is essential that new, more interrelated, networked and less linear integration methods are developed.

A process needs to overcome existing 10 credibility gaps between citizens and government Credibility gaps exist around multistakeholder collaboration. Questions often stem from responsible thinking by both residents and government. A new design process is required to bridge gaps that include: motivation, knowledge, impact and fairness.

Research approach Participatory action research

Participatory action research (PAR) seeks to understand the world by trying to change it, collaboratively and reflectively. Cohen and Manion define action research as ʻa small-scale intervention in the functioning of the real world and a close examination of the effects of such an intervention.ʼ Cohen and Manion 1994 “PAR makes a concerted effort to integrate participation (life in society and democracy), action (engagement with experience and history) and research (soundness in thought and the growth of knowledge).” Chevalier and Buckles, 2013 Action research is a systematic approach to investigation that enables people to find effective solutions to problems they confront in their everyday lives. Unlike traditional experimental/scientific research that looks for generalisable explanations that might be applied to all context, action research focuses on specific situation and localised solutions. Community-based action research seeks to change the social and personal dynamics of the research situation so that the research process enhances the lives of all those who participate. It is a collaborative approach to enquiry that seeks to build positive working relationships and a productive communication style. Its intent is to provide a climate that enables disparate groups of people to work harmoniously and productively to achieve a set of goals. It is fundamentally a consensual approach to inquiry and

works from the assumption that cooperation and consensus should be the primary orientation of research activity. Not only do research participants acquire the individual capacity to engage in systematic research that they can apply to other issues in other contexts, but they also build a supportive network of collaborative relationships that provides them with an ongoing resource. Solutions that emerge from the research process therefore become much more sustainable, enabling people to maintain the momentum of their activity over extended periods of time.

Action research routine

Basic routine The basic action research routine provides a simple but powerful framework – look, think, act – that enables people to commence their inquiries in a straightforward manner and build greater detail into procedures as the complexity of issues increases. Look Gather relevant information (Gather data) Build a pictures: Describe the situation (Define and describe) Think Explore and analyse: What is happening here? (Analyse) Interpret and explain: How/why are things as they are? (Theorise) Act Plan (Report) Implement Evaluate Stringer, 2007

Act

Look

Think

Research approach Theory of change

The Work Shop Project makes use of Theory of Change thinking for designing the strategy and for evaluating the emergent results. Theory of change is an outcome-led method of planning, which breaks down a change process into mini-steps. These mini-steps are worked backwards from the outcome or outcomes, anticipating the detailed preconditions that would be required for each stage to be successful. These preconditions incorporate underlying factors that may be overlooked in other types of planning. “A theory of change can be a helpful tool for developing solutions to complex social problems. At its most basic, a theory of change explains how a group of early and intermediate accomplishments sets the stage for producing long-range results. A more complete theory of change articulates the assumptions about the process through which change will occur, and specifies the ways in which all of the required early and intermediate outcomes related to achieving the desired long-term change will be brought about and documented as they occur.” Aspen Institute

Alternative planning methods are successful on projects where there is a high degree of predictability. Theory of Change planning methodologyʼs real strength is as a project design tool and was developed in response to difficulties in designing and evaluating change programmes operating in dynamic social contexts.

Challenges identified with regular project design Evaluation at the end of the programme - often too late. - Theory of change builds in intermediate evaluation so that the process can build on emergent results step by step. Lack of critical thinking on the assumptions implicit in all projects - not clearly assessing which ones are correct in a particular context. - Theory of Change planning requires that assumptions be explicitly articulated and critically examined for accuracy. Not recognising that success at different stages often requires a set of factors to be in place - often placing too much emphasis in single factors or milestones. - Theory of Change thinking details these sets of factors and in so doing requires that these elements are assessed – in effect building in the question ʻare we ready to move to the next stage?ʼ. Working in this vigilant way allows for a more emergent design process to occur with the intention that changes be made through the process in response to emergent data and more accurate improvements be made on replication.

The Work Shop Project Theory of Change Possible next stage design phases

The Work Shop Phase 1: Talking Collaboration

Phase 2: Practicing Collaboration

Phase 3: Strategic Collaboration

Surfacing/mapping/connecting ideas, people and resources

Building relationships, co-producing projects

Measuring, evaluating, co-designing whole system strategies

Initiating first conversations between local residents and council and partner staff. Surfacing people and ideas on which to build further collaborations.

Using the ideas and relationships surfaced in Phase 1 to develop projects that bring together many people and groups in the community, with multiple council departments - as a way of practicing collaboration on concrete activities.

Using the relationships - and new methods and processes designed through Phase 2 - to work collaboratively to co-design and co-produce strategies and activities which deliver positive outcomes to the local community though both direct pathways, and secondary social capital effects.

Project 1 Collaborative strategy

Project 2

184 ideas 540 local residents 76 facilitators Programme of talks

The Work Shop 1 Mapping & talking

130 contacts Relationships Local insights

Interactive mapping

Measurable outcomes

Project 3 Co-designing Projects

Project 4 Project 5 Project 6

Outputs + outcomes

Emergent collaborations Scope of opportunities Integrating spaces & strategies

Co-design & co-produce strategies and activities

Innovative collaborative infrastructures to attract new types of support and investment

Opportunities Inspiring project ideas

Project 7 Project 8

The Work Shop Project Using a physical space as a collaboration platform Academic research into collocation

A number of research studies in recent years has highlighted that people working in close proximity are more likely to collaborate. “Researchers who occupy the same building are 33 percent more likely to form new collaborations than researchers who occupy different buildings, and scientists who occupy the same floor are 57 percent more likely to form new collaborations than investigators who occupy different buildings.” A Tale of Two Buildings: Socio-spatial significance in innovation” Owen-Smith et al 2012 Another study in 2010 concluded, “Despite the positive impact of emerging communication technologies on scientific research, our results provide striking evidence for the role of physical proximity as a predictor of the impact of collaborations.” Does Collocation inform the impact of collaboration? Kyungjoon et al, 2010 (1) These, and other studies show that distance does not promote collaboration. Within the local community there are many groups and organisations, but they are distributed around the area. Equally the council and partners are spread out widely throughout Lambeth with few opportunities for informal contact and relationship building. 1. Lee K, Brownstein JS, Mills RG, Kohane IS (2010) Does Collocation Inform the Impact of Collaboration? PLoS ONE 5(12): e14279. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0014279

“It makes me feel excited just being in here” Local resident

The Work Shop Project Using a physical space as a collaboration platform Learning from successful citizen-led projects

Understanding how innovative local communities are using space as collaboration platforms that encourage emergent citizen activity inspired and informed the concept of The Work Shop. Innovative spaces are strategically encouraging connection and then stimulating activity to emerge. By creating these new types of physical, communal contexts, citizens have successfully stimulated local residents to take part in their communities in very different ways. These ways are more creative - connecting things in novel ways - and collaborative -they canʼt be done without a high degree of co-design and co-production.

Influential innovative community spaces

The Living Room – Rotterdam - Netherlands The Living Room is a community run space in a former shop. Residents joined together to redecorate and now offer £2 a month to keep it running. People from the neighbourhood share meals, hold events and look after their children together, in a shared and open living room.

Menʼs Sheds – Australia Menʼs Sheds are community owned and run workshops – permanently resourced with tools and materials for building and making. They offer a space for men to gather and talk, get involved in their community and retain a sense of dignity and self-worth through practical projects.

PieLab – Alabama US Ideas + design = social change. PieLab was an experiment by a group of friends in Alabama who decided to offer free pie as a way for more neighbours to meet and chat. From these small beginnings, PieLab now occupies a space on the high street. But it is still more than your average café –with bike repairs, apprenticeships and community space.

Singeldingen – Rotterdam - Netherlands Three mothers in Rotterdam wanted their local park to be a cleaner and safer. With a small scale intervention – a summer kiosk and a programme of activities that is run by local residents – they have transformed the park. Over 3 months each summer, there is tai chi, skateboarding, food prepared by different streets, football, camping and more. Singeldingen provides a platform for local residents to make their own personal contribution.

Shop Design 12

Shop design Introduction

The Work Shop is a project designed so we can test new ways of talking more directly about how residents, the council, and its partners might work together more collaboratively. In the first phase, over three weeks in November and December 2012 many people were invited into the shop, both local residents, councillors, partners and council staff to join interesting conversations about West Norwood, and about how new and existing opportunities can be used most effectively by working more closely together. We had over 540 small-scale conversations which led to some fresh ideas about how we overcome the challenges of collaboration and how to make West Norwood a better place to live. The Work Shop was in a vacant shop in West Norwood. Being based on the high street, it was accessible within people始s daily activities. The space and the activities were designed to help create new conversations; and offer many different ways to take part.

Rapid prototyping Borrowing thinking from product design and applying it to a social environment The Work Shop was conceived as a rapid prototype of The Coop Council, and testing this collection of ideas with local residents in the real world. Using what was known from many areas of research, and estimating at others, a shop was designed to capture 驶coop thinking始 in a physical space, and see how local residents would respond. Essentially this came down to a simple proposition: The Coop Council and partners would like to work more closely with local residents. What do we need to change to make collaboration easier and better?

Shop design The design

One of the key reasons for designing The Work Shop in a high street shop was a recognition that it is notoriously difficult to get people to workshops and talks on council topics. Workshops by their nature usually require residents to give up time, often 2-3 hours, and generally speaking attract people who are already highly involved in civic topics. Combined with timing and priorities, only a portion of those already civically engaged attend workshops. The intention was to see how people would respond to the idea of having conversations about local civic ideas on their terms. They could pop in whenever the shop was open, look around the exhibition projects, contribute to the interactive installations, have a cup of tea and a chat or attend one of the programmed talks and hosted conversations. The Work Shop premises were on a highly visible corner position on Knightʼs Hill, almost directly opposite St Lukeʼs Church and its landmark presence on West Norwood. The shop benefited from large windows on two sides, which were covered in large vinyls to draw attention to the project and give The Work Shop a very bold identity, while attempting to communicate the key focus on increasing collaboration between citizens and council. This was done by putting definitions of Collaboration, Co-design and Coproduction on the windows. The inside of the shop was bright and inviting, intended to surprise visitors and shift expectations of what a ʻcouncilʼ environment should look and feel like. The interactive installations were carefully designed to create multiple entry points into the topic of ʻcitizen and council collaborationʼ.

Shop design

“The language for The Work Shop on collaboration is exciting, innovative and hopefully facilitates a more pro-active community.” Local resident

“Some people *loved* that we were doing something different - doesnʼt feel like council!” Council facilitator

Shop design Activities and interactive installations

Conversation + cup of tea

Exhibition

Mapping existing activity

Sharing ideas

Verbal

Visual + verbal

Visual + written

Written + visual

5 - 60 minutes

5 - 20 minutes

10 mins

540 visitors

36 inspiring local projects

62 contributions

184 ideas

All visitors we offered a cup of tea when they arrived.

An exhibition of inspiring projects from different parts of the world was displayed.

This installation was designed to encourage visitors to think about how their existing activities already contributed to the 6 specified shared goals as individuals (for themselves or family), as an organisation, or as a council or partner staff member. Embedded in the question is the acknowledgement that much of society is already co-produced. By surfacing and promoting the amount of existing activity in the neighbourhood this installation was intended to inspire other local residents and council and partner staff about the potential of West Norwood that could be built upon

Full list of projects and description in Appendix 1.

A full list of activity can be found on pages 22- 25.

An idea board on one wall invited visitors to add their ideas and suggestion for changes and new initiatives in West Norwood and surrounding area. A full list of ideas and suggestions can be found on pages 26- 32.

Shop design Activities and interactive installations

Joining the contact list

Mapping spaces & orgs

Mapping collaboration

Programme of talks

Written

Visual + verbal

Written

5 minutes

5 - 20 minutes

15 mins

60 - 120 minutes

184 ideas

68 attendants

150 emails registered All visitors were invited to add their names to a contact list to be kept informed of project developments.

As well as mapping existing activity, ideas and opportunities, the intention was to also do mapping of groups, organisations and spaces.

Visitors were invited to complete detailed sheets which asked them to plot on a scale, across various activities where they think the responsibility lies:

[Digital mapping failed - see evaluation]

- local residents could do together - local residents could do together with government and professionals - Government and professionals should do

A programme of 28 talks, hosted conversations and workshops were scheduled 3 days per week These scheduled sessions were designed to be smallscale, informal conversations, predominantly 1 hour long, a few workshops were 2 hours. A full list of session is in Appendix 2.

Results from these forms are on page 34.

Shop design Digital engagement

Micro-site

A mico-site was set up for the duration of the workshop. The site set out details of the progamme, opening hours and feedback. To date the site has received 2,200 visits - 45% returning visitors. http://theworkshop.so/

Twitter

Eventbrite

The Work Shop had an operating twitter account which was used to encourage visitors and gather interest for the project more widely.

Eventbrite was used to promote the events and to encourage people to register for the scheduled events.

@TheWorkShop01

http://theworkshop01.eventbrite.co.uk/

Shop numbers Total visitors per week 300 225 150 75 0

246 181 117 Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

Visitors attending talk 300 225 150 75 0

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

Programmed vs Work days 50 37.5 25 12.5 0

Total visitors FEAST day

43 20%

17 Programmed

Work

Visitors attending a talk

Programmed vs Work days.

Number of attendants at talks correlated with the number of weekly visitors.

Programmed days experienced more than twice as many visitors as Work days.

80%

The FEAST effect The FEAST day on 5 December provided evidence of 驶ideal conditions始. The increased footfall meant that The Work Shop enjoyed 114 visitors on a single day. The day was cold but sunny and West Norwood was filled with local residents and families who came out for enjoyment. This gave the opportunity of many interesting and relaxed conversations.

The Work ShopTeam

“The Work Shop is good at getting council officers to think/act in a different way” Council facilitator

Local Projects

Councillors

Assemble & Join Tom Tobia

Cllr Jennifer Brathwaite Cllr Lorna Campbell Cllr Jack Hopkins Cllr Ann Kingsbury Cllr Jackie Meldrum Cllr Jane Pickard Cllr Mike Smith

Brixton Pound Jamey Fisher Community Loverʼs Guide to Lambeth Lucy Langdon FEAST Kirsty Edwards John Price Helen Ward Teresa Donoghue Friends of West Norwood Cemetery Colin Fenn Friends of West Norwood Library Paul Brewer Diane Miller Jan Ware Makerhood Kristina Glushkova Kim Winter Norwood Forum Noshir Patel The Edible Bus Stop Makaela Gilchrist Will Sandy

Partners Community Policing Aiveen McManus JobCentrePlus Denise Donovan Helen Grimes Lambeth Living Joanne Hall

Friends FutureGov Matthew Skinner NEF Laura Stoll Participle Obie Campbell Niall Smith

The Work ShopTeam

â&#x20AC;&#x153;I enjoy having really honest conversations with residents that changes both yours and their perceptionsâ&#x20AC;? Council facilitator

Coop Council Adult and Community Services Sarah Coyte Adult Social Care Services David Minahan Children and Young People Helen Sharp Ashaki Bailey Kelly Renzullo Communications Roshan Bilimoria Farah Butt Lawrence Conway Joe Derrett Claire Melia Paul Morris James Savours Andrea Stewart Kate Vogelsang Gill York Green Community Champions Sue Sheehan (PEP) Community Hubs Project Olivia Spencer Employment and Enterprise Gail Rowe Chris Norris

Community Freshview Jason Prentis Richard Easthope Neighbourhood Regeneration Kerine De Freitas Adam Platts Anna Quigley Sandra Roebuck Policy (PEP) The Work Shop Strategy & Design Team Laura Billings Toby Blume Tessy Britton Julian Ellerby (Communications) Dorian Gray Sophia Looney Sumathi Pathmanaban Rohini Anand-Pal John Bennett Sharleene Bibbings Evette Crichlow Rebecca Eligon Nick Hillard Tom Hoy Hannah Jameson Rob May Mark Picksley Nathan Pierce Anna Randle Georges Sen Gupta Salome Simoes

Existing activity From local residents 22

Mapping existing activity From local residents

I volunteer at I teach Tai Chi class.

I am in a folk choir and play the Bodhran (Irish Drum)

I encourage kids to play in the street outside my house. It means they have some supervision and their families are safe.

As a psychotherapist I run a clinic in West Norwood. I help to improve people始s mental and physical health.

I am trained in security management. I would be happy to train other people on my estate how to make it safe.

I volunteer at FEAST. It encourages networking and neighbourliness. It shows that volunteers I have a passion in caring and assisting individuals in need. Also love meeting people and giving support.

I try to know all my neighbours - I take action if someone is in need.

I teach a parent and child programme.

I buy local produce and avoid supermarkets .

I am an osteopath based in West Dulwich helping people with painful conditions and improving their health and wellbeing.

I have an allotment where I grow veg and flowers - we also have social events.

I run fitness class every Wednesday at the snooker club.

I help run the seniors clubs at the library.

I teach massage in a school programme.

I am volunteering at the Food Bank at St Luke始s Church.

My partner is a chef and is cooking meals for over 100 older residents in St Luke始s Church.

Mapping existing activity From local residents

Mentoring young people, particularly disabled people to fulfill their potential.

I am a librarian working with 16-19 year olds - I would be willing to give ideas on attracting that age group to the library.

I love teaching and I help people with French, German and Italian ... could even help with activities with kids.

I help provide food etc for those in need at the Norwood Food Bank.

I help to organise street parties in my road.

I support the local library and would be ready to put in volunteer time.

I help to teach English to Portuguese

As a mother of 2 little girls I love to read with them at home! So I do some parents reading help at school every Tuesdays in Kingswood

I teach rock climbing and skiing to children and adults.

I volunteer at a toddler group at the Salvation Army.

I have many musical instruments (70-80) and am a dance capoeira teacher. I would like to share these skills but I need space and parents on board.

I support the friends and parents association at school with fundraising and

I help at Centre 70 Advice Centre giving free advice on debt, welfare benefits and housing. I am a member of Friends of Tivoli Park.

Our street set up a neighbourhood watch group which has been invaluable in terms of people getting to know each other and encourage community safety and crime

I am a volunteer and an early years practitioner, storyteller and workshop leader.

Mapping existing activity From local residents

I am helping to develop schemes to help people in fuel poverty.

Emmaus Helping the homeless and selling 2nd hand goods.

I volunteer at the West Norwood Pensioners Group.

Community Kitchen Cafe working with local food producers to spread knowledge of nutrition, food safety and recipe ideas.

I organised a book swap at the local primary school for World Book

I volunteer at FEAST - It gets people talking to each other and it is good for the local

We help with IT training for unemployed at All Nation Christian Centre.

I volunteer at Norwood and Brixton Food Bank. Helping to feed people in Lambeth who are facing crisis and food poverty.

I help to install draught proofing.

I help with youth mentoring activities.

Sustainability Forum has developed a 驶vision始 of sustainable

I am a member of an estate management committee - run by volunteers for less money and more attention. It help to give us a safe and secure community.

I help run Green Community Champions growing, saving energy and upcycling.

I help at the Food bank and help at the All Nations Centre.

Ideas and suggestions From local residents 26

Ideas and suggestions From local residents

Community Caribbean cultural events in Summer.

Sessions with food bank clients - invite them to The Work Shop.

Music e.g. Organ concerts.

Farmers markets Community events

We need above all more more people who are philanthropic as this would enable local groups to fund their work. Lambeth have no funds.

Pot Luck in the Library - on Saturday evening.

More community spaces.

Guerilla acts of kindness, unofficial action where we go out of a day and actively help people in an casual way.

Community Kitchen cafe.

Get the Afro Caribbean community more involved. We must work as a community to put a stop to food waste. We should have a platform where we can bring food before its expired or wasted - we can involve the local bakeries and local stores. More social opportunities for people to get to know each other. Group meet us - go to the theatre.

Exchange programme with other global communities. Outreach with communities - get on the street and talk to people.

Free advertising for community groups. Camps for primary school kids going to secondary school.

Smile days. Activities for CYP in Norwood. Disability cafe - a place to meet for vulnerable / disabled people to get out and communicate together.

A space for community meetings.

A Community Cafe - Workshops, papers, apprenticeships, local food growing books, great food, creche/playgroups..

Get information board from the closed library to the old library so groups can advertise + move fridge and freezer. An outdoor piano (like Herne Hill Station). Up to date social information pinboard outside in the centre.

Note: Residents ideas and suggestions have not been edited.

Ideas and suggestions From local residents

High Street Type of shops - you canʼt buy locally because the variety isnʼt there - or competitive prices.

Restaurants - not enough choice of places to sit and have a meal.

Mobile phone shop in the high street - closest one is Brixton.

Want Natwest back.

Fast food on high street - too much.

Family friendly gastro bar restaurant.

Can council use business rate reduction to encourage more independent shops on the high street?

Need a good local pub - somewhere for families, would help people spend money here.

Need a cinema in West Norwood. We need more affordable premises for people starting a business - bring the success of Brixton Market to Norwood.

Stop using prime retail space for storage. Workerʼs run cafe or pub. We all need a cinema!

Use empty shop spaces as pop-up - restaurants, supper clubs and shops.

Use or extend the use of the local currency to stimulate new start up businesses.

A shop space (empty) can be used for art groups / childrenʼs groups. Community shops to replace centres. No payday loan shops.

Pop up art spaces in disused spaces or abandoned retail units.

Shops to stay open longer in West Norwood.

Meanwhile use of parking spaces at the old laundrette for xmas trade.

An initiative to promote and support shops and businesses within the community.

Use unused shop spaces for local ʻcooperativeʼ food exchange.

More shops.

A cinema.

A Christmas family fair.

Pay day loans shop to go.

Save Les Antiques at the end of Perran Road.

More green on the high street - trailing window boxes, street planters, tubs etc

Stop pay day loan shops.

More bins outside take-away shops especially up Knights Hill.

Too many takeaways.

Note: Residents ideas and suggestions have not been edited.

Ideas and suggestions From local residents

Skills and learning

FEAST

Council and partners

People learning from each other - especially the skills and experience of our older residents shared with our young people.

Use FEAST and Libraries group to communicate better. In particular regarding promised improvement and regeneration.

Financial transparency on all council spend, councillor始s interest and campaign finance.

More repairs on our estate for double glazing windows.

High rents.

Tenant Association meeting to get back on track with a 6 people start up plan.

Would like a skills exchange.

More events like FEAST - get positive energy back into West Norwood. Inexpensive ones!

College venue for adult learning. Invite Dive Shop in Chapel Road to run PADI course in the new pool. Individual and ordinary people having opportunities to run and facilitate workshops in the borough.

FEAST is evidence of our great community!! More projects of a similar nature. The council should invite businesses and potential retailers to West Norwood on a FEAST day to show case the opportunities in the area. Have FEAST more often.

Please show residents how council money is spent in each town centre - people in Norwood feel they don始t get as much. When Lambeth looks into changes (any) to the local area, please please knock on our doors instead of just cold canvassing on the high street. We live here, so we can tell you where the best sites that could be considered!! More volunteer opportunities within the council use the opportunities to lead to employment with the council. Secure our area on the Hamtrope Estate.

Keep Hamtrope estate safe. Transparent budgets - share budgets/costs of services with citizens. Council use it始s powers to make sure owners make better use of empty boarded up housing - bring back into use for homeless. There is a great need for an information centre where residents can find out how to get help with service problems.

Note: Residents ideas and suggestions have not been edited.

Ideas and suggestions From local residents

Transport

Environment

Number 415 and 2 bus services are packed.

Sustainable and pleasant environment.

More adventure playgrounds.

Better public transport - more frequent 417 service - trains on Sundays.

Free wifi in the area - or town centre. Would help businesses and community generally.

Water park in swimming pools.

315 bus takes a very long time. Would appreciated it it becomes a bit quicker.

Area could be cleaner. How can we encourage people to take responsibility for their mess?

Trains to LB or Victoria are being cut from West Norwood. Any new transport schemes seems to exclude West Norwood.

Pop up skate park!!

Buses are getting worse.

Tivoli Park Friends - Improving the park for everyone. Too many uneven pavements in the borough.

Alternative permitted parking on Norwood Road west side in the evening - east side in the morning to reduce rush hour congestion.

Build a skate park in West Norwood - donʼt want to go to Stockwell and Clapham.

More 20 m.p.h zones.

How can we stop people spitting everywhere? It is disgusting and unhygienic!

Library Big Norwood Library re-open. Temporary one doesnʼt have all of the facilities of the old one.

Clean up our street day/thing - together - Council provides skips.

If this was Dulwich or other prosperous area I donʼt think the Library would sit there empty for years until everything was perfect.

Ned a big park for younger kids.

Want W. Norwood library back.

Maintain and develop open spaces for community interaction (playgrounds, parks, local squares etc).

Make the new library/cinema inspirational eco development that teaches us all to use resources more efficiently.

Educate people not to put food remnants in recycling sacks.

Very important to create a community hub at the library - involving people of all ages.

Dogs Norwood Park - too many dogs. Need a parkie or similar.

Norwood library - will there be space for group and community activities? This needs to happen.

ʻDog poo policeʼ + bins. Auckland Hill is really bad. Canʼt we fund a patrol?

The idea of the library and separate cinema is fantastic.

Ideas and suggestions From local residents

Employment Green Man Skills Zone. Support childcare costs of parents wanting to go back to work full-time in the local area. Invest in people and local job start-up.

Flexible working spaces for freelancer at affordable prices e.g. Hotdesking. Jobs are important to everyone. Networks for women in business to support each other.

Co-working spaces - with creches!

Have a local job shop as job centre too far away Bromley and Streatham. Free base for start up businesses to use with IT, office space etc.

More jobs in the area. Employment services and support. Youth work provision. I would like a business mentor to help me starting a business, getting a job and mentoring others.

Elderly

Easter egg hunt for children.

Befriending services - particularly elderly.

More innovative activities for young people in parks (11 - 13 year olds).

Communication Project strengthening relationships between young and elderly. Whoʼs lonely?

Collaborative spaces for young people. Allow children to play on their street!

Jobs supported by the community. IT and internet lessons.

Young

Business rate to be suspended for approx 3 years for new start ups. A work space for individuals which is affordable and local.

A facility for listening to young people and then responding to their ideas and needs. There is so much energy and creativity that needs an outlet!!! A big hall for children to go to do different kinds of sports, because we parents are always asking the same question “where do we take our children to discover their hobbies and their dreams?

Looking after elderly i.e. Support with gardening, IT training, outings and activities during winter months. Adopt a grandparent scheme, that is facilitated by a professional organisation so older people are safe and young people are mentored. Activity for older people during the day that are suitable for the ʻphysicalʼ capability - like table tennis.

Facilities for parents/carers and toddlers at reasonable rates. Support groups for parent with special needs and adolescents.

Note: Residents ideas and suggestions have not been edited.

Ideas and suggestions From local residents

Clubs wanted

Offers to help Helping people with business management. Portuguese and English languages. I can translate and be interpreter making a bridge between teachers and parents at school. To introduce professional hair, beauty and complimentary therapy at The Work Shop. Organise community trips to museum and galleries making it fun for children.

Looking after elderly i.e. Support with gardening, IT training, outings and activities during winter months. I am psychotherapist - I would be happy to run session if I can be given a space. I want to teach young people in West Norwood to play African drums to start a group - need some space and support.

Creative expression group.

Clubs with teenagers running it.

Book Club.

Old neighbourhood office for youth club space.

Workshops/classes within Dance/drama/music for all ages and abilities.

Youth Club for older kids. Clubs like cooking, knitting and boxing.

Book borrowing. A homework club a the library. Knitting and crochet. Bread making Jam making. Working with artists to get art into people始s lives.

Would love to volunteer. Gym. Mentoring others. Art. How can volunteer get involved in delivering the coop message? Eleanor始s garden required inspiring use (sitting, growing etc)

Pottery. Clothes making. Writers group.

Note: Residents ideas and suggestions have not been edited.

Areas of Collaboration From local residents 33

TESSY BRITTON

Collaboration activity

Collaborate

Phase 1 of The Work Shop was co-produced in collaboration with local residents, councillors, council partners and Lambeth Council departments. In total, 75 people facilitated conversations or hosted workshops and talks over the 17 days the shop was open.

Potential areas of collaboration with local residents

What can citizens do together with professionals and government?

What can citizens do together?

What should professionals & government do?

Organise community vegetable growing or fruit harvesting.

Invest in community approaches to care for older people.

Organise work experience & job shadowing initiatives.

Neighbourhood Watch or community policing initiatives.

Shop on the high street supporting local business & food.

Share resources with neighbours e.g. gardening equipment. or tools

Plan green spaces, road layouts and town centres.

Stimulate & support community-led ideas & activities.

Peer to peer mentoring for parents with young children.

Find new spaces for young people to run & manage.

Supply local funds to support community initiatives.

Intergenerational skill sharing.

Develop locally produced renewable energy.

Develop and share open data.

Design & build spaces for leisure & exercise.

Hold communal meals or street parties.

Ensure regulations around gender or race equality.

Restore an empty or underused space for public use.

Simplify systems to encourage community initiatives.

Highest score Close scores

Evaluation 35

Evaluation This report evaluates The Work Shop Project in 2 ways

Evaluation 1 - As design process

Evaluation 2 - As replication Object 1

The shop as Phase 1 in a longer multi-stepped design process of change towards our goal of designing new type of collaborative social and organisational infrastructure between local residents in West Norwood and Lambeth Council and governmental partners.

The shop as Object 1 to be replicated elsewhere â&#x20AC;&#x201C; in improved form using the experience and learning from West Norwood â&#x20AC;&#x201C; as part of a longer change process towards a more collaborative infrastructure as described as above.

This evaluation will examine if the results and outputs from this first phase meet the pre-conditions we believe are critical to move to the next stage of process development.

This evaluation will examine the detail of how the first phase was designed and implemented and where possible draw learning to improve results and outputs should The Work Shop process be started in another area in Lambeth or elsewhere by a local authority. This evaluation will draw on the collective evaluation process that was conducted with 15 of the staff facilitators at the end of the 3 week process.

Evaluation Method: Theory of Change

Evaluation Method: Action research / live prototype Theory of Change

Evaluation 1 - Design process Aims of the shop

The activities of the first phase of The Work Shop were designed to: 1. Introduce the idea of Coop Council and gauge response to collaborating with council. 2. Test idea of communicating bigger concept in smaller, tangible pieces through case studies, installations, talks and questions. 3. Research and understand the make up of the social networks and activities in the area. 4. Research and understand the council and partners activity, projects and approach in the area. 5. Surface and map new ideas, make connections and foster relationships between individuals and community, council and partners. In order to move from phase 1 ʻtalking collaborationʼ to phase 2 ʻpracticing collaborationʼ (see page 8 & 9 for theory of change) a number of outputs and preconditions need to be met.

Preconditions of moving to next phases

1. Support within local residents and council staff for a vision of change working towards a new collaborative social and organisational infrastructure. 2. Trusting working relationships with a core group of people wanting to be involved in co-designing the strategy. 3. A small number of good project ideas that could be developed collaboratively – to begin the process of ʻpracticing collaborationʼ. 4. A good number of local residents who have an interest in the progress of the project and would like to get more involved. 5. Local councillors and key council and partner staff working in the West Norwood, including the police, NHS, Job Centre Plus, Lambeth Living etc, are thoroughly briefed on the results of Phase one and brought further into the projectʼs co-design process.

Key Findings

Emergent relationships and activity from the first 3 weeks of The Work Shop have fully inspired and informed the design of possible further phases and it is determined that all the pre-conditions have been met sufficiently - and in some cases exceeded expectations. Should further phases be planned, these could be initiated with confidence. The analysis describing the local infrastructure as fragmented and competitive, and a need to co-design a new type of collaborative infrastructure has been enthusiastically received by key people working in the local community, including a number of councillors and community group leaders working at strategic levels. The idea of drawing together the brain power and networks of local people to work initially on a number of projects in with council and partner staff has been fully supported by those people who attended evaluation meetings to date.

Evaluation 1 - Design process

“Great to hear about new ways of making things happen. Lovely interacting and sharing interesting ideas”

“This method will let people feel valued and part of the changes in the community” Local resident

Local resident

Evaluation 2 - For replication Understanding the shop from a knowledge transfer perspective

One of the key design principles for the project was that collaboration between citizens and government would require blending and integrating knowledge (see page 6). This is universally recognised as a complex task and a challenging one that effects researching and building knowledge; learning and teaching; and all forms of collaboration. Dialogue n The free flowing of meaning between two or more people. At the core of every successful conversation lies the free flowing of relevant information. People openly and honestly express their opinions, share their feelings and articulate their theories. They willingly and capably share their views, even when their ideas are controversial or unpopular. (Patterson et al 2002) Reaching a point of dialogue can be made more difficult when individuals or groups come to the conversation from particularly different starting points, including their situation, their roles, their knowledge bases or their world views. Proper dialogue - the kind that builds potential collaborative relationships - requires conversation, and can only be partially achieved through other secondhand mediums such as websites or print.

Knowledge transfer barriers

Individual

Structural

Political-cultural

Emotional - motivational activation Individuality & attachment to the past Capacities of perceptions, processing, and learning Wrong knowledge

Role constraints Rules of participation & differences in point of view Belief in specific causal relationships Fixed 驶World View始

Defensive routines Conflicts of cooperation Specialisation

Inhibition due to myths, tradition and 驶groupthink始

Collective

Transfer Barriers (adapted from Bruno della Chiesa, Vanessa Christoph, and Christina Hinton 2009, adapted from Schuppel, 1996) Studies into knowledge transfer and collaboration have discovered a number of barriers which are highlighted in above chart.

Evaluation 2 - For replication Understanding Shop dynamics residents visited the shop for a large range of the shop from Local reasons: curiosity; to find out how they could get a knowledge involved; to make suggestions; or to seek help. transfer Residents entered into conversations with C - Confirmed perspective expectations of how the council should respond based IQ - In question on their previous experiences and established social

IE - Insufficient norms. evidence W - Wrong

Remembering that civic collaboration is new to council staff as well as local residents, consider training facilitation staff, rather than briefing, on both the innovate case studies and the overall aims of the project, so that they are better equipped with these tools to introduce more joint problem solving and inspiration from other communities into the conversation.

The 35 staff who facilitated generally in the shop also entered into conversations with different attitudes, experiences and knowledge bases. Each of the 540 conversations that took place in the shop will have been based on countless combinations of starting points, insights and world views that cannot fully be captured in this report.

Additionally the council fully recognises that it is not being as effective as it could be at incorporating valuable knowledge and insight from citizens. As described in the design principles the job of Resident as blending and integrating knowledge, especially from a collaborator diverse groups of stakeholders is famously complex but the potential to transform places, and society in general, is enormous if this can be achieved more successfully. The Work Shop is attempting to change the conversation from ʻwhat should the council do to solve a problem?” towards ʻwhat could we do together to solve the problem?. Resident in need of help

Council as helper

Resident as collaborator

Council as collaborator

When we collectively tested the assumptions we had made it was confirmed that very few visitors had heard of the collaboration ideas around Coop Council. When and how to talk about collaborating more with depended on the visitorʼs starting point, but many facilitators reported finding it difficult to stay on the topic of collaboration or to steer the conversation in that direction.

Council as the council collaborator

Consider: Focus on assets, respond to critical needs The council has responsibilities on areas where it delivers particular services to people who need them. Facilitators recognised the aim was to focus on assets but also felt the responsibilities keenly when people presented serious problems.

Moving from consultation to collaboration one conversation at a time Due to the intrinsic dynamics of consultation methods they frequently leave residents feeling as though they are not genuine exercises, and fail to incorporate their knowledge and opinions. Consultation encourages an expectation of reaching a consensus, which is seldom achieved, especially on contentious issues. Invariably there are many people who take part in consultations who feel that there input was ignored or that they wasted time taking part.

540 different conversations 40

Evaluation 2 - For replication Understanding the shop from a knowledge transfer perspective

Visitor Council

Key reasons why people visited The Work Shop

Crisis issues

Personal issues

Civic consultation

Civic collaboration

A place to get immediate help e.g. housing repairs.

A place to get advice and assistance on personal issues of concern e.g. finding work

A consultation where residents could advise the council on what they would like the council to do or change.

A place to discuss longer term civic concerns and ways the council can support ideas and plans.

Although they represented a very small portion of visitors many facilitators reported frustration at not being able to give visitors immediate help on critical concerns. Although facilitators ʻownedʼ an issue, there was no method to help a person in crisis on the spot.

Council staff were able to sign post to departments to get particular help, but steered away wherever possible from being a ʻone stop shopʼ that some councils run.

Moving the conversation from ʻwhat should the council do to solve a problem?” towards ʻwhat could we do together to solve the problem?ʼ proved difficult in some cases. As we had expected the idea of collaborating with the council was a novel one to many residents. Collaborating with councils on civic issues is not widespread and few people have been exposed to projects and thinking that are collaborating successfully in inspiring new ways. The exhibition of projects proved a useful tool to help to describe new ways that other communities were working to solve local problems in more participatory ways.

The purpose of The Work Shop was to talk to residents about how the system could be changed to make these types of civic concerns and plans more collaborative.

Consider the value of having temporary pop up shops, or particular days, which are aimed solely at particular areas e.g work, health etc

Planning a co-design workshop in Phase 1 with several local projects and organisations, for implementation in Phase 2, to devise a list of system changes that could be tested to make it easier.

In any context, the council has serious responsibilities to deliver important services and help to people who have needs. Although the project is asset focused it is felt that the council should also be highly responsive to needs as they arise.

Consider

Having a fully trained person on site or on call to deal immediately with crisis situations.

This is already being done by the enterprise team, for example through the Starting you own food business workshops.

The project overall is designed to progress these ideas.

Evaluation 2 - For replication The shop from a social design perspective

The term Ęťsocial designĘź is used differently in different contexts. For our purposes the term means Ęťstrategic design intended to change or improve the way individuals or groups interact. The Work Shop was an experiment in changing the structure of how council staff interact with local residents.

Shop was successful in bringing about an experience of a different way of communicating for the 540 local residents and the 60 staff and partners. One significant observation of the interactions in The Works Shop was that the space acted as an equaliser, or flattener, of interpersonal power dynamics. These included the reduction of the visible or invisible hierarchies usually present.

When in the shop no job roles or positions were asserted by staff members, and local residents interacted with council staff and each other without asserting any status linked with groups or organisations within the community. This dynamic enabled many conversations to reach a point of genuine dialogue, a requirement for collaboration, much more quickly and easily.

It is too early in the project to assess what impact this change of interaction will have long term, but The Work

Local government and partners

Consult

Service co-design

Service delivery

Organisational hierarchy

Local government and partners

Political Information engagement Marketing

The Work Shop 1 Networked exchanges Place-based

Linear exchange Topic & need based

Emergent collaborative strategies

500+ Seek assistance

Lodge a Influence complaint or decisions suggestion

Give or gain information

Citizens

Individuals or organisational structures

Citizens

42 Local government and partners

Evaluation 2 - For replication Engagement comparison

Below is a very broad-brush table of how The Work Shop might compare to other engagement methods. Note: These include many generalisations which won始t apply in all contexts.

Average number of people attending

Interaction

Number of opportunities to interact

Targeted demographic

Welcomes/ Calls

Attracts

Format

Format encourages participation

Action

Formality

Power dynamic

Conversations

Knowledge produced

The Work Shop Phase 1

540 30-50 per day over 3 weeks

1-2-1 Group

Multiple

All

Unengaged +

Unstructured Structured

By all

Self-engaging Pull

Informal

Reduced or flattened

Networked

Distributed Semibounded Shared

Door knocking

Unlimited

1-2-1

Single + multiple

Yes/no

Systematic targeting

n/a

Semistructured

By all

Push/Pull

Informal

Intrusive/ personal

Networked

Bounded by individuals

Open call community workshop

5 - 20 per session

Group

Single

All

Pre-engaged

Structured

By confident

Self-engaging Pull

Semi-formal

Unchanged

Linear

Bounded by individuals Shared

Targeted workshop

5 - 20 per session

Group

Single

Yes/no

Systematic targeting

Pre-engaged

Semistructured

By confident

Push/Pull

Semi-formal

Unchanged

Linear

Bounded by individuals Shared

Questionnaire

Unlimited

Written

Single + mulitiple

Yes/no

All + Systematic targeting

Unengaged +

Structured

By all

Push/Pull

Formal

Unchanged

Linear

Focused Shared

Consultation events

Varies

1-2-1 Group

Single + mulitiple

Yes/no

All

Pre-engaged

Semi-formal

By all Confident

Push/Pull

Semi-formal

Re-enforced

Linear

Focused Shared

Public meeting

20 -200

Group

Single

All

Pre-engaged

Structured

By confident

Push/Pull

Formal

Re-enforced

Linear

Distributed Shared

Events e.g. Country Fair

Varies

1-2-1 Group

Single

All

Unengaged +

Informal

By all

Self-engaging Pull

Informal

Flattened

Networked

Distributed Shared

Evaluation 2 - For replication The shop from a trust perspective

The shop opened its doors in a community alive with people, relationships and history. West Norwood, as with all communities, is not a neutral context in which to start a project. The relationship between individual residents and the local authority and partners varies greatly and is largely dependant on personal experiences.

Successful collaborate depends on mutual trust between individuals and its importance cannot be overstated in this context. The chart details some of the many ways The Work Shop Project has consciously tried to demonstrate, and be, trustworthy, with some estimates of how well this has been achieved so far in Phase 1.

Achievement estimates

Competence

The first agenda of the shop was to talk about collaboration with local residents and to ask what needed to change to make this work better.

70% - 80%



The staff that were in the shop had an opportunity to demonstrate high trust attitudes and behaviours when talking to local residents.

90% - 100%



Aim

Transparency

Honesty

90%

Costs were posted on the website - as ʻextreme transparencyʼ

80%



Partners briefed prior to the shop opening

90%



Complaints were logged and responded to

100% ongoing



Councillors, departments and partners to be fully briefed on evaluation report for phase 1

100% ongoing



 



Respect & care



100%

Visitors leaving their contact details were invited to a collaborative evaluation meeting

Responsiveness



The shop and the staff were in a single place for 3 weeks giving people the opportunity to interact on their own terms. Feedback was posted on the website

Reliability

  

Evaluation 2 - For replication The shop from a context perspective

West Norwood as ideal context for The Work Shop Project Through the discovery Phase 1 of The Work Shop we found that West Norwood could be viewed as an ideal context for a project looking to work collaboratively with local residents. Many creative civic-focused residents who want to shape the community in serious and strategic ways. The Work Shop has surfaced many wonderful people who are doing inspiring work in the community. We surfaced ideas, generosity, kindness, ingenuity, creativity, insight, determination and lots of dedicated work. Additionally there are several groups and individuals who are making strategic contributions and expanding their original remits .e.g FEAST are launching an initiative to help local young people get work experience, Friends of West Norwood Cemetery are seeking funding for a large new visitor centre. Substantial investment in the local area in progress. There are a large range of new initiatives and investments, such as the leisure centre at Norwood Hall and the Outer London Fund investment in regenerating the high street. These represent a lot of potential for transforming the area in collaboration with the local community. In addition they also give us allimportant concrete examples around which we could innovate with different council departments and partners, many of whom have been very supportive of The Work Shop aims and methods to date.

Enthusiastic, innovative and effective local councillors. Councillors have been very effective locally in terms of attracting resources to the area and appear to be very open to innovative approaches. A difficult history of collaboration locally Historically there have been a number of incidences, some of them going back as long as 17 years, where council /citizen collaboration has not been smooth running. This makes the context suitably challenging to test some new approaches.

Coop Council as ideal context for The Work Shop Project Through the discovery Phase 1 of The Work Shop we found that Coop Council could be viewed an ideal context for a project looking to work collaboratively with local residents. Determination to innovate to meet a changing society - across all departments A continuous process of exploration and innovation is underway at Lambeth Council. This has led to a very open, creative and dynamic culture within many council departments, including the Policy Department. For example, The Work Shop project was only 6 weeks from concept to opening of the shop door.

An internal and external focus over the last 2 years on collaboration. After two years of working on the concept of the Cooperative Council many individuals (both in and out of the council) understand the ideas well and are believed to be open to experimenting with some of the practical changes necessary to bring the concepts to life in more concrete ways. An increasingly deep appreciation of both the opportunities and difficulties of co-production. Lambeth Councilʼs focus on outcome-led commissioning gives great scope for activity generated by local residents in collaboration with the council and partners, to be measured and valued in ʻwhole systemʼ ways which are likely to be more realistic.

Consider: In Theory of Change terms the context of the local community and the Coop Council has proved to provide a context that is exceptionally ʻreadyʼ for a deep change project like The Work Shop. If a replication of The Work Shop is planned elsewhere, consider evaluating the context carefully to consider what pre-work might be necessary. For example, a lowactivity community might need earlier initiatives, or a local authority less focused on innovation might require specific political or structural support prior to suggesting a Work Shop type project.

Evaluation 2 - For replication programme of 28 talks, hosted conversations and Co-producing Aworkshops were scheduled 3 days per week a programme - (please see appendix 2 for the full list). if and when? The other 3 days were ʻworkʼ days were members of the Coop Policy and Coop Communications teams worked from the shop. These scheduled sessions were designed to be small-scale, informal conversations, predominantly 1 hour long, a few workshops were 2 hours. The programme was listed on the micro-site and posted in the shop window, but no other advertising was done for these scheduled talks. Across these nine programmed ʻidea testingʼ days 68 people attended a scheduled session. This is a low number and below what had been estimated, with some sessions with no participants at all. Despite the fact that The Work Shop had not been tried before in this particular format, it was thought that the talks might attract between 3 – 8 people each, a possible 84 – 224 people in total. Overall attendance at scheduled talks is considered to be low. If we were to replicate The Work Shop in another area would we run such a programme again, and if so how and when?

Evaluation 2 - For replication Co-producing a programme - if and when? Key benefits of running a programme in The Work Shop

Concrete invitation to co-producing the programme

Describing the Coop Council concept in more tangible ways

Demonstrating honesty to build trust

Core team gathered valuable insight and built working relationships

Having a programme doubled the number of daily visitors

It created a concrete and valuable way that many local projects, partners, councillors and council departments could be invited into the space. The programme was given some importance in the design, and people were asked to think about particular challenges relating to their work and how we collaborated more widely across the council.

The programme gave us a further opportunity to break down the larger, more complex aspects of the concept of the Cooperative Council into small pieces or perspectives, allowing the introduction of some practical applications of policy thinking into an informal community setting.

By describing the sessions as we did, i.e. detailing what we hoped to learn; and why we thought these questions were important, the programme gave a valuable opportunity to demonstrate our honest intentions regarding the project.

Low turnout gave the core team an opportunity to meet and talk to many of the sessions hosts in much more depth than would otherwise have been possible.

Although low numbers of people attended the talks, the number of visitors to the shop were twice as many on the days when a programme was running, compared to 驶work始 days when the shop was open, but without any scheduled sessions.

Seventy six people volunteered to take on a facilitating role in The Work Shop across local residents and government professionals across the 17 days it was open. The programme accordingly enabled a large co-production effort that would have been difficult to encourage by other means in this context. An invitation to visit or drop in is not a sufficiently strong proposition when people have busy lives and work commitments.

These sessions were deliberately described in a way, which highlighted the council始s intention to surface real problems relating to how the systems were set up and how the council might operate in different or innovative ways to support working with local residents better. With a view to creating trusting working relationships through the project, this approach was intended to go some way to bridge, or counteract, any existing poor perceptions local residents might have had of local authorities, in general, under-performing and over-broadcasting.

These relationships and accompanying understanding of projects and work current and planned in West Norwood, has been invaluable from the research perspective Additionally the questions raised regarding difficulties progressing ideas and projects through the council were discussed more thoroughly and opening with local groups and projects than might have been the case in a talk or workshop.

Evaluation 2 - For replication Co-producing a The effects of low turnout on its own, low turnout can be programme - if Taken demoralising and when? Low turnout can be demoralising, and will undoubtedly have disappointed some people who came to host a session. This could potentially effect peopleʼs willingness to take part in future and will impact on peopleʼs perception of the ʻsuccessʼ of the project. This is an important point, as enlisting peopleʼs enthusiasm, inviting them into the shop, was intended to enliven the project, and everyone involved, rather than disappoint. However, as mentioned, the core team had fruitful and interesting conversations on those occasions. The co-design process with local residents was started with lower numbers than expected The sessions were intended to start to co-design some solutions, and these were done with a smaller number of local residents than expected. However, good progress was made with the core team to start a process of co-designing projects for Phase 2.

Why low attendance? Were the topic not sufficiently interesting? Programme topics: 1. 11 had a local focus e.g. the library or high street. 2. 8 had a personal focuse.g. job seeking, starting a business. 3. 11 were hosted by local organisations or projects, eg FEAST, Makerhood, Norwood Forum. 4. 7 related to council topics directly, Coop project, Lambeth website, which hoped to engage more local residents in conversation around co-design. 5. A handful also could be described as ʻnicheʼ areas of interest that only a few people in the whole area might be interested e.g. open data. 6. A significant number could be described as having a ʻcivicʼ focus, requiring an existing interest in local involvement, regeneration and social improvement. Topics matched residents ideas and concerns Many of the sessions related directly to the ideas and suggestions that local residents added to the ideas board, where large numbers of suggestions related to the community, the high street, employment, young people and the library, among others.

Residents often seemed to choose a one-to-one conversation over a talk There were several people who seemed to visit the shop in response to reading the programme in the window and then came into the shop and engaged in lengthy one-to-one conversations on one of the topics. Some even said they would return for the talk or workshop, but didnʼt. These observations suggest that given the opportunity some residents find it more appealing to talk about their ideas and concerns one-to-one or in the time of their choosing rather than a scheduled time. Time of day, day of the week The programme days attempted to run at times that might suit working residents, parents etc. They were on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and either a Saturday or Sunday. Some days were open early at 8am and others open late until 8pm. However there was no real difference between low turnout early in the morning or in the evening. Time of the year The closeness to Christmas and the sudden drop in temperatures to minus 5 in the third week will have had an impact on both programme attendance and shop visits. In fact both visit and programme attendance dipped together that week and it is hard to determine if this was due to exhausting the number of people interested in the first two weeks or the time of year when people had more pressing priorities.

Evaluation 2 - For replication Co-producing a Ways of lifting attendance programme - if numbers and when? Promotion

The most obvious way would be to promote the project more widely before and during the programme. We chose not to do this because we wanted to see the impact of the shop just appearing in a visible location and how many visitors would drop in without the extra promotional spending. In many ways the shop itself was intended as a physical, tangible alternative to a brochure or newsletter, so there was some calculated wish to see how visitor numbers would go before looking at printed and other promotion. Consider: Location and footfall If you opened a shop in a location with very high footfall e.g. a station shop or in Brixton High Street, based on the West Norwood experience, there is a good chance you would get enough attendance at the talks in the programme without more promotion. Based on the number of passers by and the percentage of people we know are more interested in civic concerns it is likely that you would meet the modest expectations for small-scale conversations. If you opened in a location with comparable or lower anticipated footfall to West Norwood, consider door drops and posters - well in advance.

Monitor the effects of this carefully. The Work Shop had an element of surprise built into it on this occasion, appearing overnight in an unexpected form. We believe this will have had significant impact on the high number of visitors (540) the shop had in this first phase. Consider: Experimenting with more pre-planning and targeted invitations. The more personal the invitation, the more likely people will attend. Research around topic interest, build a mailing list and invite people to particular sessions. This does need to be balanced however, as the Theory of Change for the The Work Shop project overall intends to strategically surface the interest as a first step in a less traditional way?

Consider: Timings and number of scheduled sessions Experiment with a programme with fewer events â&#x20AC;&#x201C; perhaps scheduled only at specific times of day e.g. lunch time and early evening.

Programme content and topics Consider: Different formats Experiment with asset and photo walks, film sessions, meals etc Consider: Testing the topics Experiment with session topics that local residents suggest - planned for Phase 2.

Timing and sequencing Consider: The weather If you opened a shop in spring or summer you would possibly be able to extend the activity into the street or leave the door open wider. People go out for leisure more often when the weather is good. Consider: Sequence and patience Consider opening the shop for the first 3 weeks with no programme, expect lower visitor numbers initially, but introduce a programme for the following weeks. Consider opening the shop on longer basis e.g. 6 weeks in phase 1 mode instead of 3 weeks - if necessary.

Evaluation 2 - For replication Co-producing a :Recommendations on running a programme - if programme and when?

Taking all these points into account, we donĘźt have sufficient evidence to draw strong conclusions that could be applied in other contexts in a generalised way. If you were to open another Work Shop elsewhere you would need to consider the options carefully in a new context.

1 Run programme - but experiment with ways of lifting attendance On balance the programme offers too many benefits to the concept overall that it should be considered how best to raise attendance before deciding not to run a programme.

2 There are very important benefits to running the programme: + Offering a concrete invitation to many key people, local residents, councillors and council staff and partners. + Using the programme to describe the aims and the councilĘźs honest intentions for the project. + Gaining in-depth insights and building relationships. + Creating overall interest in the project, clearly increasing visitor numbers significantly. The recommendation is to run a programme, but if it is decided not to run a programme then alternative ways of gaining the benefits outlined above should be sought through other means.

Inform session hosts of the fuller benefits Make the fuller value of the programme and their participation in co-producing it clear to the people you invite â&#x20AC;&#x201C; particularly now that this is better understood. Reduce the expectation of people attending and increase the level of understanding around the other more important value the the programme brings to the project.

3 Monitor experiments closely In social design terms be aware that changes that made in one area of the design of the shop will have an impact on how other aspects perform. Close monitoring of further experiments should prove invaluable in terms of developing an increasingly sophisticated understanding of how the concept might work in a variety of different contexts.

Evaluation 2 - For replication The shop from a staff experience perspective

Fifty eight Lambeth Council or partner staff members spent time facilitating conversations in The Work Shop in this first phase.Their dedication and enthusiasm, and of the Coop Policy department and the Coop Communications teams in particular, made an enormous contribution to making the project so successful. As well as finding the experience useful in terms of giving them a fresh perspective on their current projects, staff members also reported enjoying the experience. Spending time in the shop provided an experiential learning experience, in some cases immersive, to a large number of people working at the council and partners, many of who have contributed to this evaluation and whoʼs first-hand understanding of the social and structural dynamics of the project will continue to make a contribution over the course of the project.

Feedback from staff facilitators when asked what they enjoyed or found most useful about facilitating in The Work Shop. “Meeting people with skills and enthusiasm and helping them connect to other projects and people in the area.” “Testing ourselves through the challenge of trying to present our priorities and ideas to a wider audience. Itʼs always a useful reminder about the language and processes we use.” “Getting a priority check – very helpful to listen to resident priorities and their perceptions of the council – it helps put our thinking in perspective.”

“The learning aspect – gaining an understanding of how to use different techniques to communicate with people.” “Getting a very real appreciation of the assets that are there in the community, and learning that more council resources may be far better deployed connecting those assets together, rather than trying to plug need gaps through council services.” “Talking to residents in new ways that is very different from traditional consultation and allows more community-led conversations.” “Meeting people with skills and enthusiasm and helping them connect to other projects and people in the area.” 51

Evaluation 2 - For replication The shop from a Comms perspective

The changing role of Communications in local government

What we can learn from Social Norms Marketing

:Recommendations

Communications are changing. Media are no longer working in the same way as they used to. Habits are changing and local authorities are adjusting to new ways of reaching local residents to inform them, consult them, engage them or improve perceptions of the Local Authority.

Social Norms Marketing refers to an area of research which has shown that people often behave in response to their perceptions of what they believe to be normal. Much of this work in the US has focused on the drinking habits of young people at college. When researchers have studied the real drinking habits of groups of students, and promoted these more accurate figures, the drinking averages went down in response to changed, and reduced, perceptions of what other people were drinking.

The Work Shop has surfaced some amazing people who are doing inspiring work in the community. We surfaced ideas, generosity, kindness, ingenuity, creativity, insight, determination, a sense of fun and lots of dedicated work.

The Work Shop experimented with Communications in a number of ways: • It adopted a very low advertising profile to test the impact of the shop itself. • It largely replaced print and advertising with one-toone conversations. • It tried to use Plain English wherever possible, without over simplifying or creating a wrong impression of what we were trying to do or communicate. Although there was no marketing agenda, feedback has been that many people who visited the shop left with a very good impression of the council. We believe that 30-40 people would already be interested in working with the council on local collaborative projects.

People respond to perceptions of their surroundings also. • In November NatWest Bank closed in West Norwood High Street - the press reported that this was due to the violence their staff had experienced. Is this an accurate reflection of West Norwood? • There were quite a number of complaints about dog fouling - their owners not picking up after them. Could these behaviours relate to perceptions of the area?

Promoting community achievements

Should further phases be designed we would like to find ways of sharing some of these inspiring ideas and activities with local residents of West Norwood. This has the potential to go much deeper than the ʻI loveʼ local campaigns - particularly if it based on real activities and participation opportunities.

Revisit the language In light of the experience consider if more direct propositions can be developed - without diluting or misleading the primary ideas. Test more of the language directly with citizens.

Evaluation 2 - For replication The shop from a Comms perspective Surfacing the good stuff and then showing it to everyone. Example projects:

Rotterdam de Zuiderlingen

I went to MoMa and ...

I am Stirchley

http://www.degroepsportretten.nl/home.html

http://www.moma.org/

http://www.jane-baker.com/

In 2008, 155 portraits with between 4,000 and 5,000 residents of Southern Rotterdam were shown through a book and an (outside) exhibition. They also mapped all the groups.

The Museum of Modern Art in New York invites visitors to write and draw about their visit on cards. These are them blown up to A0 size poster and used to promote the activities in the gallery through street boards.

In Stirchley in Birmingham local shop keepers where photographed doing their work and then displayed in a local community cafe.

The portraits were published a large format book and displayed in a street exhibition.

Evaluation 2 - For replication The shop from a mapping perspective

As well as mapping existing activity, ideas and opportunities, the intention was to also do mapping of groups, organisations and spaces. It was decided on this occasion to try doing this mapping digitally through a computer in the shop. The reasons for doing this were: • Digital seemed efficient - there would not be a need to transfer written information into digital form. • The map and accompanying information could be embedded onto the micro-site so that people could follow progress of the mapping online. • Envisaged originally as an engaging large screen, it was thought that the digital mapping would be engaging. In Phase 1, the evaluation is that digital mapping failed. Suggested reasons for digital mapping failure: Timing and logistics Early issues setting up the wifi in the shop and on getting the laptop online, meant that the system was only operational from the middle of the second week. By that time facilitators had developed a pattern of engaging with visitors that did not include the digital mapping and the focus had shifted at that point to looking for opportunities to collaborate on projects in Phase 2.

Small computer screens are not engaging An early decision not to spend extra money on a larger screen or more interactive system meant that a smaller monitor screen was used - fully functional - but not at all visually engaging. Digital mapping needs facilitation Additionally digital mapping does require some encouragement and facilitation in the shop. This would have taken a determined effort, especially as the dynamics of the shop unfolded - where peopleʼs preference was to talk.

:Recommendations Physical map If repeating Phase 1, use a large physical map and stickers. This is far more engaging visually, offers more interaction and will not require so much facilitation. It also becomes an exhibition piece. Multitouch table Alternatively invest in a large screen or borrow a multitouch table. Extend the engagement Use the mapping exercise in Phase 2 to directly invite the many groups, voluntary organisations that havenʼt visited the shop yet to participate. Consider: The value of mapping at different stages The priority in Phase 1 was to build relationships and understand the community. In order to move to Phase 2 there needed to be ʻenoughʼ mapping across all the activities. Consider what mapping is priority and to what level of detail is required at different stages - using mapping strategically rather than systematically producing a definitive map. Consider: The value of mapping as collaborative tool for local residents to understand and use as much as the council. Consider the value of mapping as something to do together on specific issues and projects as part of project design.

Testing the design assumptions Why test our assumptions?

Pooling information - collaborative analysis In any project designed and implemented, different members of the group have different roles, make different observations and often come to different conclusions. We are constantly trying to make sense of our experiences and learn form them. What can happen is that we come to conclusions based on small sets of information. In trying to get a broader picture to evaluate what happened, what worked etc, we often rely on interviews and a single person analysing and reporting the results. The shortcomings of these methods is that it relies on one person to reveal insights. A common problem in qualitative research is that we all have our own knowledge bases and experiences through which we interpret our observations. This can lead to criticisms of bias - but more importantly it doesn't capitalise on the collective knowledge bases that could be drawn together to reveal unusual, and perhaps more accurate, insights and learning.

Method At the end of Phase 1, 15 of the facilitators and visitors met over two afternoons to go through the design assumptions. Experiences and observations were gathered against each assumption before an assessment on the collective information was conducted as a group. Based on the experiences of The Work Shop Project in the first 3 weeks, it was decided if the assumption: - Could be confirmed as correct - Was in question - Had insufficient evidence to judge its accuracy - Was wrong A list of the 19 assumptions that were examined, with accompanying collective assessments are in Appendix 3.

Knowledge needs to be more collaboratively built, more digestible and more accurate if it is going to help us make better decisions when designing change.

Appendix 1

Inspiring projects exhibition From around the world

Open Air Library

Menʼs Sheds

The Living Room

PieLab

i am here

Trade School

Book borrowing on trust

Making, fixing, building

Communal, neighbourhood space

Pie + ideas = conversation

Revealing community creativity + resilience

Barter for knowledge

Magdeburg, Germany

Australia, worldwide

Rotterdam, Netherlands

Alabama, USA

Hackney, London

New York, worldwide

This library in an abandoned district in East Germany is built from recycled beer crates and wood from an old warehouse. Residents were involved in the design, books were donated to fill the shelves, volunteers ran the cafe, and people took part in poetry slam events and book readings. The library is open 24/7 and book borrowing and returning is managed entirely on trust.

Men and sheds have always been a winning combination. Menʼs Sheds are community owned and run workshops – permanently resourced with tools and materials for building and making. They offer a space for men to gather and talk, get involved in their community and retain a sense of dignity and self-worth through practical projects.

The Living Room is a community run space in a former shop. Residents joined together to redecorate and now offer £2 a month to keep it running. People from the neighbourhood share meals, hold events and look after their children together, in a shared and open living room. Professionals also know they are welcome to stop by including council officers or neighbourhood police. It is a place where everyone can do what they are best at and feel comfortable.

Ideas + design = social change. PieLab was an experiment by a group of friends in Alabama who decided to offer free pie as a way for more neighbours to meet and chat. From these small beginnings, PieLab now occupies a space on the highstreet. But it is still more than your average café –with bike repairs, catering apprenticeships and an open community space.

Over twenty years ago, residents of the Haggerston estate were told their homes were due to be pulled down. Many flats were boarded up with bright orange hoardings, until two residents decided to replace them with pictures of the people inside, showcasing the wealth of resources among people on the estate – ingenuity, creativity, resilience, humour and unruliness. Activities have mushroomed from this project, neighbours know each other by name and there are now communal barbeques and film nights.

Trade School is an alternative learning space, where anyone can teach. No money changes hands, instead teachers say what theyʼd like in exchange for giving their class, and pupils sign up by agreeing to bring a barter item. Experience, practical skills and big ideas are all valued equally. Swap food, advice or materials for a class in how to bake bread, fix your bike, play dominoes, make a film, stand on your head, build a website, become an editor, build a wormery, weave, cast concrete...Is there anything you can teach?

Appendix 1

Inspiring projects exhibition From around the world

Stagehuis

Learning Dreams

People's Kitchen

The Uni Project

Fallen Fruit

Granny's Finest

Communal, neighbourhood space

Networked learning has impact

Sharing meals & reducing waste

Portable reading room

Fruit, trees, jam and community

Produced by the best

The Hague, Netherlands

Minnesota, USA

Hackney + Brixton, London

New York, USA

California, USA

Amsterdam, Netherlands

Willem and Noel are retired urban planners, who wanted to do something positive in their community. They rented a house that was half way between the church and mosque, and they sat in the window drinking tea... and waited until people were curious enough to come forward. Now Stagehuis is full of people running activities – sports clubs, learning, crafts... And around 50 people have keys to the building. Rather than try very hard to engage people in a specific activity, Stagehuis offers a platform for peopleʼs ideas, and the support to make them happen.

Is there anything youʼve ever wanted to learn? What if someone were there to encourage you, introduce someone to show you how, find a suitable class, give you a lift, loan you the materials? Learning Dreams works by connecting a neighbourhood around learning – asking what someone wants to learn and then finding a way for them to do so. Re-inspiring parents around learning also creates positive role models for children, whose school work and attendance then improves as well.

The Peopleʼs Kitchen creatively combats food waste, and brings people together around meals. Focusing on the communal rather than the commercial, and using unwanted food from local shops that is prepared and cooked by a group of volunteers, and shared by everyone for a donation. The weekly meals in Hackney have fed over 5000 people and saved 10 tonnes of food waste since 2010. And there is now a monthly Peopleʼs Kitchen in Brixton too. It shows that many of the things we want and need in life are there around us, and donʼt have to cost the world.

The Uni is a portable reading room in New York. Sharing books, showcasing the act of learning, and improving public space. It all starts with a cube... Many cubes hold books. Some hold activities like origami, flash fiction, and chess. Some are in Spanish, and some are in Chinese. Some special cubes are curated by others (institutions, educators, and individuals) who have a passion and depth of knowledge on a specific topic. The Uni Librarians mix and match the cubes depending on where they go.

Three friends decided to wear hardhats and boilersuits and push a shopping trolley round on night walks to gather unpicked fruit. Over 100 people joined them on night fruit forages, neighbours invited them in to pick fruit in the backyard, and groups of residents gathered to make public fruit jam. Public Fruit Jam invites everyone to come with homegrown or streetpicked fruit and make jam together. People who have never met before sit down to make experimental jam combinations. Working without recipes, so every jam is a negotiation among its makers.

Grannyʼs Finest creates knitwear fashion accessories by pairing young design talent, with older experienced knitters. This offers socially isolated older people opportunities and purpose to use their skills together, and up and coming fashion designers gain experience.

Appendix 1

Inspiring projects exhibition From around the world

Sunday Soup

Singeldingen

FARM:shop

S M Surgeries

Postcode Honey

The Remakery

Community meals & micro-grants

A place for meeting

Growing food in a shop

Helping groups use social media

Mapping meets beekeeping

Skills for repairing & making

Chicago, worldwide

Rotterdam, Netherlands

Hackney, London

Birmingham, worldwide

Netherlands exhibition

Brixton London

Sunday Soups are a grassroots model for funding small to medium sized projects through community meals. Groups host a meal and invite neighbours to enjoy a social event, and everyone decides together how to spend the money left over from ticket sales, helping to generate independent funding.

Three mothers in Rotterdam wanted their local park to be a cleaner and safer. With a small scale intervention – a summer kiosk and a programme of activities that is run by local residents – they have transformed the park. Over 3 months each summer, there is tai chi, skateboarding, food prepared by different streets, football, camping and more. Singeldingen provides a platform for local residents to make their own personal contribution and shows the power of neighbourhoods working together.

FARM:shop in Dalston, is a shop front with a difference. Inspired by the question ʻhow much food can we grow in a shop?ʼ there are chickens on the roof, mushrooms in the basement, a backyard polytunnel, and floating salad beds in the front room. Built and organised by a passionate group of volunteers, and now combining co-working space, café, and events for financial sustainability. It is somewhere you can experiment and learn – and a place to grow.

Social Media Surgeries are an informal gathering of people from community and voluntary organisations, and ʻsurgeonsʼ – folk with social media skills. Knowledge about blogging, or using the internet to collaborate is shared for free in a friendly way. With wifi, electric sockets, seats, tea and coffee – people are soon learning and laughing and getting themselves online.

The taste of honey is affected by the placing of beehives – because it depends on the flowers that are growing in the landscape. Imagine a place that had so many beehives, that each area of the city could produce its own flavour honey. A local flavour defined by the types of flowers growing in gardens, civic planters, or parks.

The Remakery is a shared work and learning space in Brixton. It houses and supports local enterprises and projects based on the re-use, repair and upcycling of resources that would otherwise go to waste.

Appendix 1

Inspiring projects exhibition From around the world

Pot Luck

Good Gym

Park Libraries

Abundance

Makerhood

Hackney Pirates

Food in common

Fit for purpose

Places in parks for books

Community fruit harvesting

Local making meets the web

Unusual learning environments

UK, worldwide

London, worldwide

Bogota, Colombia

Sheffield, UK

Lambeth, London

Hackney, London

A Pot Luck is a communal meal, where everyone brings something to share. People join in by bringing something requested by the host, for example an ingredient, a cooked dish, cutlery or help with setting up. It only works if everyone helps out - and with everyone bringing a little bit each, it soon grows into an amazing feast! Pot Luck uses a neat website to do this easily - you provide the idea and the space.

GoodGym gives people a reason to exercise by taking exercise out of the gym and making it useful. Runners are paired up with older, less mobile or more isolated residents, who they then visit regularly on their route. Perhaps dropping in with a newspaper, or milk. Or picking up a prescription on the way. Or runners gather in groups and run to a park or community organisation and then work together on a physical activity such as bulb planting or book clearing.

There are over 100 PPP's in neighbourhoods across the country, staffed by volunteers, often at weekends. The kiosks offer people the opportunity to read and borrow books, children can get help with their homework and various activities including book reading and music events bring people together around literacy.

Sheffield Abundance helps harvests both private and public fruit, and redistributes the excess amongst the community on a nonprofit basis. For example, fruit for meals with homeless people at the Sunday Centre; or shared allotment meals.

Makerhood offers online stalls for local makers to promote their goods; and hosts workshops and activities to help people develop new skills and connections, and support local makers in setting up and running their businesses. The inspiration was a traditional town marketplace: a space that is open to all and supports community life, where sellers and buyers have a relationship which goes beyond their immediate transactions.

Hackney Pirates is an after-school homework project where young people have one-to-one attention from volunteers from the local community. By tapping into the creativity and resources in the neighbourhood, young people are supported in their learning through creative writing and making 'real world' products such as websites, clothing and books.

Appendix 1

Inspiring projects exhibition From around the world

Library Lab

FEAST

NAC Foundation

Assemble & Join

Mess Hall

Repair Cafe

Shared experimental space

Volunteer powered street market

Collaborative community housing restoriation

Community micromanufacturing workshop

Experimental cultural centre

Free meeting places all about repairing things

Brent, London

West Norwood, London

Rotterdam, Netherlands

Waterloo, London

Chicago, USA

Southwark, London

Libraries can also be spaces that develop and grow local businesses, support artists and cultural activities or trial other new ways of doing things. Library Lab offers free workshops, lectures, a pop-up co-working space and creche aimed at accelerating local entrepreneurship in the Brent community.

FEAST is a monthly street market a platform on which conversations can be had, friendships have been made, and skills can be shared. With the skills, passion and resources present in the community, the group aims to make West Norwood a better place to live by encouraging the development of the town centre.

In a former slum area of Rotterdam, a group of artists collaborated with the housing association, and took over the renovation and care of 200 houses over the course of a decade. Alongside flats, there are collective spaces for events, exhibitions and meals that the community use and share together. The NAC Foundation encourages cultural activities in the area by finding, managing and offering affordable studio space to visual artists. It uses creative ideas as a principle for urban development.

Assemble and Join has free workshops with a precision wood cutting machine and design software. Local residents, school children, shopkeepers, market traders and community groups come together to research, design and build items for shared public spaces. Including bird boxes, street signs, seating or market stalls.

Mess Hall is a place where visual culture, creative urbanism, sustainable ecology, food democracy, radical politics and other things intersect and inform each other. It hosts exhibitions, discussions, film screenings, brunchlucks (brunch + potluck), workshops, concerts, a library, campaigns, meetings and more. Mess Hall runs on the generosity of those who use it. This allows them to provide everything for free â&#x20AC;&#x201C; from food and drinks to workshops and events.

Repair Cafes have tools and materials, and repair specialists to help you make any repairs you need. On clothes, furniture, electrical appliances, bicycles, crockery or toys. Visitors bring their broken items from home. Together with the specialists they start making their repairs in the Repair CafĂŠ.

Appendix 1

Inspiring projects exhibition From around the world

Edible Bus Stop

Loaf

Modestraat

Chatsworth Rd

Brixton Pound

Pendrecht Uni

Urban community gardening

Community bakery & school

Incubator - transforming neighbourhoods together

Community led market and neighbourhood plan

Money that sticks to Brixton

Residents teaching professionals

Brixton, London

Birmingham, UK

Amsterdam, Netherlands

Hackney, London

Brixton, London

Rotterdam, Netherlands

The Edible Busstop started as a guerilla garden project adjacent to a bus stop in South London, transforming a neglected site along a London bus route into a community growing space. There are now two edible busstops and plans to create a garden network across the city, offering community ownership and responsiblity for beautiful green shared spaces.

Modestraat is in North Amsterdam, where entire streets are transformed into places where artists and residents come together to creatively improve their neighbourhood. Located in a former shop on the ground floor of a residential block, the space now contains a fashion studio, a jewellery exhibition, clothing and furniture. There are practical workshops and discussions and the space is now an informal community centre as residents come and go.

Residents and traders worked together to reopen the street market in Chatsworth Road - and then embarked on creating a neighbourhood plan and projects to continue to transform the community. Including a loyalty card, security scheme between shop owners, local growing and composting, pop-up music and arts venues. Activities are constantly growing and changing as the community take ownership of their environment.

The Brixton Pound is a complimentary currency that can only be spent locally. It is designed to help build a strong local economy – by encouraging people to shop in independent businesses on the high street, more of the money spent in Brixton, stays in Brixton. It was started in 2009 and was the first urban centre to have a local currency. Now in 2012 there are over 200 shops accepting £B and you can also pay on your phone using text messages.

In the Pendrecht area of South Rotterdam, the roles have been reversed. It isnʼt civil servants, social workers or corporate employees who explain how things are. Instead they go to learn from the residents. The local community centre, run by and for local residents, where meeting exchange and support for local people takes place, is combined with informing professionals. They now call themselves a ʻlearning neighbourhoodʼ.

Appendix 2

Programme Hosted conversations Borough Wide Web

Seeking employment

Doing and producing

Hosted by Tom Hoy, Lambeth Council.

Hosted by Helen Grimes and Denise Donovan, JobCentrePlus.

Hosted by Hannah Jameson and Rebecca Eligon, Coop Policy Team, Lambeth Council.

Knowing what you might want to do as a job isn't always easy to figure out. Is there anything you've always wanted to learn how to do? Streatham Job Centre Plus works to support people in West Norwood to find jobs. We would like to understand how can we work together better to create more opportunities for employment? Are there other partnerships and organisations you think we should work with? Or are there any particular problems finding jobs for people around Knights Hill that we could tackle together?

Most of us share the same hopes for Lambeth. We want attractive and safe places to live; good education and healthcare; job opportunities and enjoyable things to do in our spare time. There are many different ways that Lambeth Council. residents, community groups and partner organisations such as the NHS or Police are working on this.

Who would like to attend Anyone interested in ways that residents, community groups, local businesses and JobCentrePlus could work together to help more people find or create jobs. People who are having difficulty finding work and have ideas for different ways they could be supported, or people who own businesses who have vacancies, apprenticeships or other opportunities. What we hope to learn Are there new activities or partnerships that JCP could create or support? Are there problems caused by the current system we could change? Why it's important People's chances of getting a job increase with the more people that they know.

Who would like to attend Anyone interested in understanding the potential of collaborating with Lambeth and partners to achieving shared goals. What we hope to learn What bridges do we need to create between local residents to develop a shared understanding of what great things both residents and council already achieve? What knowledge do we need to develop collectively and how do we spread this knowledge? Why it始s important We are certain that we can achieve much more if we work together. This can be difficult, especially when we are sharing and blending knowledge, making collective decisions on spending money, and trying to join these up with democratic accountability. If we can start to surface new ideas of how this can be done together we will start to achieve the best possible outcomes for society. 62

www.lambeth.coop A new website is being developed by a group of Lambeth-based tech experts and the Lambeth Council communications team. It is not a website for just council information. It is designed to be a website for the whole borough. It will be in 'permenent beta', which means it is always developing and improving according to how people want to use it. Who would like to attend Anyone interested in how they might get involved in supporting the innovative way of building the new website, or who has particular interest in local content, technology and communication. What we hope to learn What are all the different ways that residents might like to be involved so that we can design easy ways for people to make the site and benefit from the information? Why it始s important Local residents are at the heart of how this website is being developed. This means that it is essential that this design matches the ideas and ambitions for collaborative working and for everyone concerned with transforming communities.

How can we design a system that makes the best of the opportunity for a wide variety of activities and leaders?

Appendix 2

Programme Hosted conversations West Norwood Working

Food banks

High Street Success

Hosted by Chris Norris, Employment and Enterprise Officer, Lambeth Council.

Hosted by David Minahan, Adult and Social Care Services, Lambeth Council.

Hosted by Sandra Roebuck, Neighbourhood Regeneration, Lambeth Council.

A food bank is a not-for-profit organisation that disdributes food to people who might have trouble buying enough food to avoid being hungry.

West Norwod FEAST is a volunteer powered street market on the first Sunday of each month, encouraging enterprise and helping bring lots of people to the area.

Are they a brilliant model for community support and generosity? Or are they a sign that our systems are failing? Conversation hosted by David Minahan, Adult and Social Care Services, Lambeth Council.

How can FEAST and shop keepers on Norwood Road work together to make the most of the opportunity for regeneration?

www.lambeth.coop Brixton Market is a not-for-profit community enterprise run by local traders. They organise markets to help new or small businesses to set up and promote themselves. Learning from the development of this collaborative project between council, residents and businesses - how can we create employment opportunies in West Norwood? What are the opportunities and challenges for projects like these? Who would like to attend Anyone interested in employment in West Norwood and surrounding areas, and how local residents and businesses can together boost regeneration investment and opportunties. What we hope to learn How does regeneration and planning invigorate employment opportunities? How do local behaviours and shopping habits effect employment? Can projects which build social capital have unexpected effects on employability and exposure us to fresh ideas and knowledge? Ways in which council, business and residents can work together effectively to support local trade and enterprise. Why it始s important We have gathered a great deal of experience and knowledge that we might not be sharing and connecting as well as we could. The economic climate is placing demands on us all to find smarter solutions to economic resilience and collaborative working.

Who would like to attend Anyone interested in equality, charity, food, sustainability or system change. What we hope to learn? What things we need to change in the system to prevent poverty and hunger ... Are models of charity sustainable from a human point of view? Do food banks provide a good mechanism for avoiding food waste and could their role change over time? Is the model robust and transferable? Why it始s important There are many new models of community involvement and support. By gathering interesting opinion first hand from local people, we hope to build up a critical understanding of how we design models for the future.

Who would like to attend Anyone interested in FEAST, markets, regeneration and volunteer project models. What we hope to learn What is FEAST and how does it work? How has the idea has developed since it started, what have been the challenges, what plans does it have for the future? How can we grow and support FEAST as local residents and businesses or council and partners? Why it's important FEAST is a wonderful project that has brought new life to West Norwood. It has surfaced and engaged with many people locally to create something beautiful and valuable, while attracting many visitors. Learning from projects such as FEAST gives us a good idea of how we can together support, protect, grow and make FEAST sustainable for the future in West Norwood and potentially in other areas as well.

Appendix 2

Programme Hosted conversations Honest Broker

The 21C Library

Equality, fairness & mutual respect

Hosted by Noshir Patel, chair Norwood Forum.

Hosted by Paul Brewer, Jan Ware and Diane Miller of The Friends of West Norwood Library.

Hosted by Councillor Lorna Campbell, Equalities and Communities, Lambeth.

The Nettlefold Centre looks set for a major transformation to include a cinema for West Norwood. What do we want from libraries in the digital age? What new or existing key elements should be included West Norwood Library when it reopens? How can we incorporate more people's skills and time into being part of the library in the future?

How can we make more links between people in Lambeth? Make new friends and see the similarities between us all? Everyone has abilities and skills to play a full part in their communities. How can we build mutual respect and equality for everyone?

www.lambeth.coop Cooperative Council is about working together, and empowering everyone to feel a valued part of the Lambeth community. This means developing new systems so that we can work together as equals. All of us have a different mix of skills and knowledge, and a need for support or advice. And we often think different things are important. If we are making decisions together, how can we balance different opinions and interests? Do we need a new system? Who can be an honest broker to support fair decisions? Who would like to attend Anyone living in the wider Norwood area with an interest in having their views and ideas being represented to the council and partners. What we hope to learn What are the difficulties of representing a wide range of opinion on controversial issues? Are there ways that controversial plans can be avoided by ongoing dialogue and co-designing? Why itʼs important Democracy is the backbone of our society. We rely on it to provide us with checks and balances, and conflict can ensure we make robust decisions. Sometimes our representative processes can lead to unnecessary conflict that can prevent new and important knowledge from being incorporated into decision making, and lead to many people being turned off to local involvement. Talking openly about how we improve this situation is important from everyoneʼs perspective.

Who would like to attend Anyone interested in learning, access to knowledge, skills sharing, the changing role of libraries and the new Nettlefold Centre. What we hope to learn Does the current system of library service have a good way to include the skills, knowledge and experience of Norwood residents? What does Friends of West Norwood Library do and how can you take part? Why itʼs important The role of libraries is changing - with trends such as a huge amount of information available online; and a decline in visitor numbers. But libraries remain an important and highly valued free public space - one of the last remaining in our communities. The Nettlefold Centre could be a new model for libraries as community hubs and there are opportunities and risks to balance.

Lorna's work covers a wide range of topics including race, disability, religion and belief, immigration and asylum. And she is Secretary to the National Black Members Committee and Secretary to the National Disability Rights Committee. Who would like to attend Anyone concerned with equality and social justice and would like to offer ideas for new initiativeʼs. What we hope to learn What is currently being done to ensure equality in Lambeth and West Norwood through local organisations, community groups and the council and partners? What opportunities are there for local residents to get involved in co-designing new projects? What ideas can we generate for how we work together more closely to find and address gaps? Why itʼs important The economic climate is making it more important than ever to consider what can be done to ensure that we work together to ensure that safety nets are in place and working effectively, as well as considering ways that we co-design strategies that aim for full and balanced equality long term.

Appendix 2

Programme Hosted conversations Young People Need More

The Future of Libraries - community

Hosted by Helen Sharp, Children and Young People, Lambeth Council.

Hosted by Olivia Spencer, Community Hubs Project, Lambeth Council.

Young people have aspirations to make their communities better. Are the adults around young people giving them enough responsibility and opportunities to develop and make change? Who would like to attend Young people who want to make change, anyone working with young people. What we hope to learn What do young people really need and want? Are young people frustrated with the way that adults engage with them? Are we making too many generalisations and assumptions about young peopleʼs ideals and desires? Why itʼs important Young people are full of energy and talent, as are older people. But we havenʼt created enough pathways and opportunities for young people to learn about making significant change in their communities. We need to honest and critical of what we are currently doing to co-design and develop new ways of helping young people shape the future. Conversations that consider these challenges and surface insights and ideas can help us to adjust how we act to support or risk our local communities.

Libraries are valued public spaces - with open access to information, knowledge and activities at their core. What if West Norwood libraries became community hubs, owned and run like a cooperative by a shared group of people, not just the Council? It could have co-working space, a creche, books and wifi, space to make yourself a cup of tea. Perhaps classes lead by residents in bike fixing, cookery or business skills. A maker space with 3D printer, or mobile mini libraries that roam the streets. Libraries as community hubs? What activities could you do in the space? Who would like to attend Anyone interested in libraries and the potential for making local libraries hubs of community activity, learning and sharing. What we hope to learn The recent history of libraries in West Norwood and current plans for the future? What ideas residents might have for spaces and uses and what opportunities there are for developing these ideas collaboratively? Why itʼs important Libraries are very important to people. They are symbols of egalitarian access to knowledge and information and are some of the remaining ʻcommon spacesʼ where local residents can spend time together. They have even more potential to be places where people do enjoyable and productive activities.

Appendix 2

Programme Talks Makerhood - local making

Destination Catacomb

Start your own food business

Talk by Kim Winter, Makerhood.

Talk by Colin Fenn, vice-chair Friends of West Norwood Cemetery.

Conversation hosted by Gail Rowe, Employment and Enterprise, Lambeth Council.

www.lambeth.coop

Makerhood is a social enterprise supporting local making and skills in Brixton, Camberwell, Herne Hill, Stockwell and Clapham. And soon... West Norwood.

West Norwood Cemetery is one of the 'Magnificent Seven' cemeteries of London, and is a site of major historical, architectural and ecological interest. There are exciting plans to make the cemetery more visitable alongside much-needed repairs, supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund. As a must-see site for cultural tourists to London, we hope this will boost the reputation of the area and bring in new visitors to the town, whilst maintaining a dignified space for cremations and burials.

Makerhood run online and real-world activities to promote local goods, help people acquire new skills, encourage greater links within the community, and support local makers in setting up and running their businesses. Who would like to attend Local makers interested in Makerhood West Norwood, anyone interested in starting their own local project, network geeks … anyone interested in creative collaboration. What we hope to learn How has Makerhood developed, how it has grown and what it has achieved both economically and socially? What useful experiences can Makerhood share about the joys and difficulties of navigating council processes to get their idea off the ground? Why itʼs important People with first-hand experience have invaluable knowledge to share with residents and council staff alike... and learning from successful and interesting projects should be at the forefront of how the council and partners work.

Who would like to attend Anyone interested in West Norwood, its beautiful spaces and fascinating history… or interested in getting involved in supporting the work of the Friends of West Norwood Cemetery. What we hope to learn Some of the history of the WN Cemetery and the many exciting plans the Friends have for the future? We hope to learn how we can help and support the existing ideas and any ideas that come out of the conversation. Why itʼs important The Friends of the West Norwood Cemetery have worked tirelessly to develop and care for the cemetery for many years. Their new ideas have potential to connect with the many wonderful projects around West Norwood, and together they could transform the area for local residents.

Want to know what opportunities there are for new start up businesses in West Norwood? Do you have questions about premises, planning and food safety before you get started? Join us earlier in the day for a walking tour of the high street, (stopping in at The Work Shop at 11.30) talk to Feast food stall holders and local shop keepers, find out what vacant shops are available, or potential pop up/temporary spaces. Who would like to attend Anyone interested in starting their own food business, or supporting a start-up, or curious about local enterprise opportunities. What we hope to learn How have existing food businesses made a success of their trade? Have local conditions, social value or community support played a part? Why it's important New businesses help create employment opportunities and economic benefits. But around 1/3 new business fail and the economic climate is tough. We need to understand how social, financial and local conditions can work together to encourage and support new business.

Appendix 2

Programme Talks FEAST! - building a town centre

The People's Budget

Promoting Wellbeing

Conversation hosted by Kirsty Edwards, West Norwood Feast.

Hosted by Toby Blume, Coop Policy Team, Lambeth Council.

Hosted by Laura Stoll, Wellbeing Team, NEF.

The volunteers who run West Norwood Feast want the monthly market to be a place for conversation, friendship and sharing skills. And to support the town centre economically and socially. What has happened so far since it started in Jan 2011? How can we work together to make the best of these opportunities?

'Participatory budgeting' means finding a way that more people can use their local experience and knowledge to agree how public money is spent. What systems do we need so that we can fairly decide together what is important, and how to make plans for the money we should spend?

There are many things that contribute to our wellbeing. The condition of our environment, our psychological resources, skills, who we know, and positive and negative emotions all play a part. How do these many things work together? What activities can we do, or support to keep everyone healthy?

Who would like to attend Anyone interested in how community organised street markets work and what difference they can make to an area. What do we hope to learn How has FEAST grown and developed over the years? Is there a sustainable model we can learn from? Have the town centre and residents benefited from the increase in activity? Why it's important With changes in shopping habits, including the internet, large multinationals and out of town stores, It is becoming increasingly difficult to sustain high street business. Town centres need to offer something different to thrive. Street markets and public events are one potential route and we need to understand the benefits and difficulties more fully.

Who would like to attend Anyone who is interested in models and methods for sharing decisionmaking around where and how money is spent locally. What we hope to learn Where Participatory Budgeting originated, how it works and what experiments are currently being tried around the UK? The strengths and weaknesses of various models of participatory budgeting? How far can they go? Where are the boundaries? Are popular decisions to support projects generally good decisions when it comes to local projects? Why it始s important So we can understand and create new ways to make financial decisions taking a wider range of knowledge and experience into account. Understanding what others have tried helps us to try new methods.

Who would like to attend Anyone who is interested in health and well being and how personal and environmental conditions affect this. What we hope to learn What types of activities impact our well-being either positively or negatively? How can we build systems that take into account this broader picture? Why it始s important Well-being has a big impact on our quality of life. Currently a lot of our systems and services focus on addressing ill health, rather than supporting and promoting well being. We need to find a different way to value and evaluate the impact of well-being and find new ways to build it into our current systems.

http://westnorwoodfeast.com/

Appendix 2

Programme Talks Norwood Hall

The value of knowing more people

The Edible Bus Stop

Hosted by Kerine De Freitas and Anna Quigley, Neighbourhood Regeneration, Lambeth Council.

Hosted by Laura Billings, Social Spaces and Coop Policy Team, Lambeth Council.

Talk hosted by Makaela Gilchrist and Will Sandy, The Edible Bus Stop.

'Social capital' means the value and benefits we each have depending on who else we know and are connected to. Research shows that knowing more people can have a positive influence in big, important issues such as our health and wellbeing, employment opportunities, crime rates and education. Join us for a chat about the positive effects of networks and cooperation - and projects and activities that are connecting up more people in new ways.

When was the last time you picked a carrot while waiting for the 322 bus? Or planted some seeds on the way home from work? The Edible Bus Stop project transforms unloved patches across London始s bus network into beautiful community growing spaces. Including nearby West Norwood Fire Station Bus Stop H, Route 322, Norwood Road. Want to know more about the community and activities growing up around bus stops?

Who would like to attend Anyone interested in how things work or want to be well informed about the strategic ways that everyone can be part of improving society. What we hope to learn What does the research tell us about the importance of relationships and friendship and the effects of connection on complex and difficult issues. What sort of local projects have been developed that build social capital. How can it be measured and promoted. Why it始s important The research shows that our smallest behaviors make a big difference. We need to find ways we can work together to use that knowledge to support the design of imaginative projects that increase connection, and make them a regular and enjoyable part of our everyday life.

Who would like to attend Anyone interested in food, sustainability, creative collaborative projects, using existing opportunities and resources to design change. What we hope to learn Where the idea for the Edible Bus Stop project came from, how it developed and what are its plans for the future. How did the project navigate council systems, and what insights can they offer about how to make it easier to collaborate on projects like these. Why its important Ideas are inspiring! They help us all to imagine how we might all get involved in making positive change. But they can easily dissolve in the face of complex processes. Learning from projects that have successfully worked with the system can provide valuable insights about how we might, together, create a climate of excitement and creativity and make it easier to get things done.

http://westnorwoodfeast.com/ Norwood Hall is a new leisure and health building on Knights Hill. It will include a swimming pool and fitness centres, plus doctors and dentists and resource centre. And shared public green spaces. How can we use this new resource together? What activities could take place? And do we need an imaginative new way of making the most of our shared public spaces? Who would like to attend Anyone who lives in West Norwood and would like like to be part of the new Norwood Hall centre. What we hope to learn What new facilities will be available at Norwood Hall when it completed? What spaces both indoors and outdoors will be available for community and business use? Are there traditional models for sharing and managing these spaces or do we need to consider new ways of governing, sharing and stimulating use? Why it's important There is a very large investment being made into the area through this new facility. Everyone would like to see the spaces and opportunity used as as effectively as possibly to support local residents for their health and wellbeing and sense of community.

Appendix 2

Programme Talks Green Community Champions

Money Matters - Brixton Pound

Trading Spaces - radical collaboration

Hosted by Sue Sheehan, Community Green Champions, Lambeth Council

Talk hosted by Jamey Fisher, Brixton Pound.

Hosted by Tessy Britton and Laura Billings from Social Spaces and Coop Policy Team, Lambeth

There are over 500 green champions in Lambeth! And more than 60 community groups. Do you want to save energy, cut your water, gas and electricity bills, reduce waste, grow your own food, use green travel, measure your carbon footprint and meet more folk nearby? Come and meet Sue and find out more.

The Brixton Pound (B£) is a local currency you can spend in over 200 independent local businesses. It is designed to encourage local trade and production. The Brixton Pound local currency is a shared effort between businesses, shoppers, the council and other organisations. It only works with everyone involved.

Who would like to attend Anyone wanting to be involved in Green Community Champions or with ideas for new growing or greening projects. What we hope to learn What are Green Community Champions? How do they work and how can people get involved? How did the project idea develop and what has been learned about successfully coproducing projects in collaboration with local communities? Why itʼs important Sustainable solutions have to be designed and produced together. Ideally it needs to draw on all the available imagination, skills and resources from local residents and council and partners to be effective long term.

How can local currencies support local business? How can you spend Brixton Pounds? And how can we develop a local currency for West Norwood?

Some high street businesses are finding it harder to attract customers and earn a good living. Find out about innovative and successful mixed enterprise models from around the world - and how radical collaboration between business and community projects can build a loyal network of customers. How can we innovate business models, start collective projects, integrate more social benefit, and grow local loyalty and connectedness?

http://westnorwoodfeast.com/

Who would like to attend Anyone interested in Brixton Pound and the role of local currency in boosting the economic resilience of communities and businesses. What we hope to learn How did Brixton Pound start and how has grown and developed? What have been the results and outcomes? What are the challenges and opportunities? Would West Norwood benefit from itʼs own local currency and what would that involve? Why itʼs important Local high streets and businesses are vitally important for communities to thrive. We need to learn how fundamentally changing economic mechanisms works, how people respond to them and do they provide long term sustainability.

Who would like to attend Anyone interested in how the high street and community can use more integrating strategies to build mutual dependency through collaboration rather than competition. What we hope to learn What models from around the world can inform our thinking and spark new ideas? What difference is there between bolting together ideas and integrating them fully? How could we apply some of the models from elsewhere into the local context in West Norwood? Why itʼs important High streets are finding the economic climate tough going … and the cuts have made it difficult for many voluntary organisations to continue their important activities. Working out how they might work together to support one another economically and build vital social capital is an important conversation to have with people who want a role in making and shaping where they live for the better.

Appendix 2

Programme Talks Assemble & Join

The Community Lover's Guide

Community Fresh View

Talk by Tom Tobia, co-founder Assemble & Join.

Talk by Lucy Langdon, editor Community Lover's Guide to Lambeth

Talk hosted by Jason Prentis Richard Easthope, Lambeth Council

The Community Lover's Guide is an international book series. Over 60 volunteer editors are creating local editions. Each book has examples of inspiring community activities which are resourceful, creative and collaborative. Together they create a different type of relationship to the places we live and the people around us.

Is there a green space on your street that could do with a bit of love? Would you like a hand to plant, paint, tidy and brighten up a nearby patch? Community Fresh View is a project where residents and the council work together to make Lambeth streets attractive and communal. Offering equipment, resources, support and a spare pair of hands - find out more about how you and your neighbours could create a little oasis on your street.

http://westnorwoodfeast.com/ Assemble & Join is a community micro-manufacturing workshop in North Lambeth. It is based in an old cafe, and now has making equipment including a CNC wood cutting machine. Local residents, school children, shopkeepers, market traders and community groups are working together to research, design and build changes to nearby public spaces. Including direction signs, flat-pack market stalls and new seating. Interesting in manufacturing on the high street? Want to find out how new digital machinery is being put to good use in Lambeth? Who would like to attend Anyone interested in making, fixing, prototyping and designing new things or anyone looking to start experimental pilot projects. What we hope to learn Where did the idea come from and how was Assemble & Join worked with Lambeth Council to take their first important steps to testing their concept? What can we learn from their experience so far? Why it始s important Innovative concepts and prototypes for enterprises are essential. We need to work out the most effective ways of the council to stimulate and support these innovative ideas.

Who would like to attend Anyone interested in hearing about new activities that are transforming communities. What we hope to learn What is is that makes these projects successful? How can we inspire people by what's possible and create systems that make it easier to join in? Why its important Personal stories, lives, hopes and actions are often overlooked by complex and large scale system, rigid roles or target driven agendas. But it's these shared experiences that create connections, build trust and bring us together. We need to recognise this and act in a way that makes it a reality.

Who would like to attend Anyone interested in getting involved in making West Norwood more beautiful. What we hope to learn What is Community Fresh View... how does it work and how can people get involved? How did the project develop, what have been its successes and failures? How is the project working collaboratively and what can other projects learn from their approach? Why its important Beautiful neighbourhoods are important, they increase our wellbeing, attract new residents, encourage residents not to move, attract new businesses and investment. Important can also be fun.

Appendix 2

Programme Workshops How to Change the World

Backr

Borough Wide Web

Hosted by Laura Billings and Tessy Britton from Social Spaces and Coop Policy Team, Lambeth Council.

Conversation hosted by Niall Smith, Backr.

Hosted by Kate Vogelsang and Tom Hoy, Coop Communications Team, Lambeth Council.

http://communityloversguide.org/

http://www.backr.net/

www.lambeth.coop

Ever wanted to start a community project? Or perhaps part of a local group that is looking for some new inspiration? Join us for a whirlwind tour of new ideas from community practice around the world and interesting new methods of planning projects.

Most people find out about jobs and opportunities through their social networks. Can online tools build social networks to help progress a career?

A borough-wide Lambeth website would not be a website for just council information. It is designed to be a website for the whole borough. It will be in 'permanent beta', which means it is always developing and improving according to how people want to use it. What should be in the website? And how could we all use it? Come along to a creative session (techies and non-techies welcome!). We'd like to build it together.

Who would like to attend Anyone interested in improving West Norwood - perhaps those already involved in projects - or people who have never been involved in developing projects locally and would like inspiration from innovative projects from around the world. What we hope to learn Are there ways that local residents could start new things? If people wanted to collaborate with the council to develop these ideas, how could the ideas, skills and resources come together better? What roles could local residents do better than professionals, and what could professionals and residents do better when working together? Why it始s important Lambeth council wants to support the creativity and insight of local residents. Sometimes council processes are too complicated or lengthy. To make the systems simple and stronger we think that practical and open conversations with residents who have developed projects or would like to, will help build some in-depth understanding about what needs to change to make it easier and more exciting to transform communities.

Backr is a new project that connects people looking to find a job, or change jobs with people who do what they want to do, who can help create a plan, or who have interesting projects and opportunities. Who would like to attend Anyone interested in how social networks and online tools can help improve employability.

Conversation http://madeinlambeth.co.uk/ www.lambeth.coop

What do we hope to learn Why does knowing more people increase your chances of employment? Can online tools increase your social networks in a way that is useful for your career?

Who would like to attend Anyone interested in how they might get involved in supporting the innovative way of building the new website, or who has particular interest in local content, technology and communication.

Why it's important Research shows that social capital is important for employment - the more different people you know the better. But the opportunities to meet and form relationship with different people aren't always obvious, or equally easy for everyone to access. We need to find new ways to increase connections and networks to support employment opportunities.

What we hope to learn What are all the different ways that residents might like to be involved so that we can design easy was for people to make the site and benefit from the information? Why it始s important Local residents are at the heart of how this website is being developed. This means that it is vital that this design matches the ideas and

Appendix 2

Programme Workshops Numbers, Numbers Everywhere

Collaborating with the Police

Hosted by Georges Sen Gupta and Mark Picksley, Coop Policy Team, Lambeth Council.

Hosted by Aiveen McManus, Community Policing, Lambeth.

http://communityloversguide.org/ 'Open data' is the idea that certain data should be freely available for everyone to use and share. There are lots of interesting, visual, interactive ways that numbers and information collected by the Council could be used. Hear about some of the inspiring open data projects around the world, and find out more about what types of data are available. What information does Lambeth Council have? How easy or complicated is it to make longs lists of numbers useful and understandable? Who would like to attend Anyone with an interest in statistics and data and how they might be used to stimulate and support new businesses or projects locally. What we hope to learn What data is useful? Who do we make this data interesting and accessible? Why it始s important We are generating a lot more data than ever before. Learning how we can collate, synthesize and apply knowledge to understand our local communities, look for enterprise opportunities is important. We need to co-design pathways to make it easier to share this knowledge.

With large police stations closing due to lack of use and financial restrictions, policing has changed. The neighbourhood police are working at a grass-roots local level, and spending more time out and about in communities. And safer neighbourhoods need collaboration between police, residents and neighbourhood groups. How and where could you get to know your local police officer? How can police and communities work more closely together? Who would like to attend Anyone interested is safe communities. What we hope to learn What changes there have been to policing in recent years? How have the police moved away from police stations to neighbourhood policing and how does this make the police more accessible for local residents? How can residents work together with the police and council to make neighbourhoods safer and more pleasant places to live? Why it始s important Safe neighborhoods are very important to people. Changes have been quite recent and rapid in policing practice so it is important for local residents to understand these. The potential for residents to work together with police to make our neighbourhoods safer goes far beyond reporting crime and among many ideas, we need to have conversations about how activities that help residents get to know one another have an important impact.

Appendix 3

Testing the design assumptions

C - Confirmed IQ - In question

Gathering Evidence

IE - Insufficient evidence W - Wrong

Assumption

#01

#02

#03

#04

Coop Council and collaborating with the council is a novel idea to the average local resident. A shop front would be perceived by the public to be a more accessible way of interacting with the council. People need smaller, more practical and tangible ways of interacting with the idea of the Coop Council.

People didnʼt know about Coop Council. This is the feedback from residents.

People did welcome the idea of collaboration and did say this should happen. It wanʼt how they was the council acting now.

It is a novel idea for residents but not always in a good way. Some residents were skeptical about Coop Council ʻjust a theory...ʼ

The shop then gave me an opportunity to talk about coop and what it would be mean for the area which was positive.

People who came to the shop did feel it was different - not normal. Not sure what extend this may effect their future behaviour.

C IQ

13 1

Great location and a great space that people wanted to come in to.

Many people were intrigued by the space and came into the the shop out of curiosity.

They liked the fact that it was a bit different and was a welcoming space.

Most people thought shop was a great idea - felt council was more accessible - even just to express an opinion on an issue important to them.

The most common reason people gave for calling in was “I saw you when passing and wondered what it was all about.”

People liked specific things to talk about, especially interested in how what they do now contributed to bigger goals

People need to think their voices and concerns can be met and that they can be involved in big ideas and contribute.

Time is precious to lots of people, but that doesnʼt mean they donʼt care or wish to support good ideas.

People wanted to chat one to one about their issues and wanted to spend time talking to them.

Several people I spoke to decided they wanted to talk informally rather than come to a talk - more on their terms and time.

People seemed to enjoy the informality and friendliness made it easy to share ideas and concerns.

C IQ IE W

W C IQ

9 2

C People would like smaller conversations. IQ IE W

12 3

Without even knowing what we were doing people instinctively understood it was different and were intrigued and clearly engaged.

Appendix33 Appendix

Testing the the design design assumptions assumptions Testing

C -- Confirmed Confirmed C IQ -- In In question question IQ

GatheringEvidence Evidence Gathering

IE -- Insufficient Insufficient evidence evidence IE W -- Wrong Wrong W

Assumption

#05

In conversation it would sometimes be difficult to keep on the ʻcollaborationʼ topic.

13 2

Although many people were happy to talk about collaboration a few had very specific issues.

The higher number of people filling in idea cards show that more people took part in quicker activities.

C IQ

13 2

15*

C IQ IE

At one workshop 2 people came with a very clear things to talk about. We were able to go off the agenda - but would not work in larger group.

The language for The Work Shop on collaboration is exciting, innovative and hopefully facilitates a more pro-active community.

Collaboration is a fairly new buzz word. Maybe have the discussion what is collaboration? What is effective collaboration? What does it look like?

Different people prefer different stimuli and types of engaging picture, talking and writing - this was borne out be observing people at the shop.

Some one came in and said “just being in this spaces makes me excited”.

Being able to talk through case studies helped more conversations talking through activities made projects more tangible.

People seemed attracted to different forms of communication. 20% of visitors only chose to talk, while others completed several written activities.

Low turn out at talks could reflect the fact that the agenda wasnʼt sufficiently cocreated with community?

Good idea to get lots of people in the space - but difficult to ensure attendance and good quality contributions

Programme brings people to the space - but connections are built mainly with the core team rather than across departments.

* Only co-creation on one level. Question if we had enough evidence to support doing describing it this way

Assumption

#06

More people would engage in activities requiring less time.

C IQ IE W

Assumption

#07

#08

Settings matter - an environment can encourage informal chats. Some conversations benefit from visuals or props. Co-creating a programme would bring community members, departments and partners into one space.

C IQ IE W

It is quite a big shift in attitude from ʻwhat must the council do?ʼ to ʻwhat can I do with the council?ʼ, but once in discussion people really liked the idea.

Appendix 3

Testing the design assumptions

C - Confirmed IQ - In question

Gathering Evidence

IE - Insufficient evidence W - Wrong

Assumption

#09

There would be limited time available to support the tone and content of the talks.

C IQ

IE W

Assumption

#10

Assumption

Not all programme topics would be interesting to members of the public - many niche interests Cwould not be universally IQ relevant. IE

People would visit the W There would#11 be a mixture Assumption shop through: C Passing by of ideas and complaints. IQ Networks People came into the shop IE Twitter

from different starting There would be a positions. Assumption #12 mixture of ideas and W C

complaints. People IE would come from different startingW points.

C IQ

IE W C IQ

People would glance or look the window and need to be invited into to have a chat. This led to many unplanned visits.

People came in from the street spontaneously.

Someone came to a session from the other side of London after hearing about it online through twitter and the website.

The ideas wall was sometimes used a list of things the council should fix or replace, as well as a wish list.

Two mums came in to complain about dog fouling but when asked what we might do about it together we started to have a very different conversation.

Several conversations began in a complaints/ confrontational dynamics before moving onto the idea of collaboration.

IE W

The turnout was low overall but some talks reflected the ideas and suggestion topics that the community contributed to the installations.

IE C IQ

Agree - core project team didn始t have time to fully brief partners on the the concept behind the shop. Same applies to PEP facilitators and Comms.

Some people *loved* that we were doing something different - doesn始t feel like council!

Appendix 3

Testing the design assumptions

C - Confirmed IQ - In question

Gathering Evidence

IE - Insufficient evidence W - Wrong

Assumption

#13

If used local residents would find new project case studies inspiring.

C IQ

Case studies sometimes challenged people - outcomes - correlations - social network thinking

The Living Room struck a cord in particular - a descritpion of different ways to live and meet.

The projects excited people many of whome had never been exposed to different ideas of how people are directly shaping their communities.

The next phase of the shop will involve being a connector of ideas more.

People had ideas but didn始t know where to go with them.

Many people I spoke with contributed to the ideas wall and this can help to connect people and build collaboration.

I met a resident with specialist knowledge about libraries and passed her details to the Friends of the the Library group.

I met someone who had a skill to share but needed some local resources people might have locally - shop could facilitate that connection.

Time is precious to lots of people, but that doesn始t mean they don始t care or wish to support good ideas.

9 6

One community group said that the shop should be continued and maybe shared with a community group.

The shop is a neutral space to meet - unlike some other buildings with negative feelings attached.

If we could share the cost among many of the partners and local groups it would useful and sustainable.

IE W

Assumption

#14

The shop would be a platform and connector for ideas.

C IQ

Assumption

#15

The shop would encourage new relationships.

C IQ IE W

Assumption

#16

The shop would not be C sustainable beyond its IQ direct purpose on the project design IE process. W

The core team made a lot of connections over the 3 weeks - to build on for Phase 2.

Several residents didn始t like the idea of the shop being empty in the high street again.

The florist suggested using an empty space as a pop up car park for Xmas trade. The ideas was going to be discussed at the Business Club.

Would we have ever found out about the idea and played a facilitating and enabling role if needed?

Appendix 3

Testing the design assumptions

C - Confirmed IQ - In question

Gathering Evidence

IE - Insufficient evidence W - Wrong

Assumption

#17

Citizens would want to collaborate with the council and partners.

C IQ

4 1

Case studies sometimes challenged people - outcomes - correlations - social network thinking

The Living Room struck a cord in particular - a descritpion of different ways to live and meet.

The projects excited people many of whome had never been exposed to different ideas of how people are directly shaping their communities.

Even in my role which includes consultation I rarely get the opportunity to interact with residents in such an unstructured way - not our agenda.

How can I as an officer add value? Connecting people together can release and create value - often more that the council could deploying its resources.

Many people I spoke with contributed to the ideas wall and this can help to connect people and build collaboration.

It felt as though a lot of the conversation we had weren始t captured if people didn始t complete and ideas card it wasn始t easy to remember them.

Relatively small numbers of people took part in the formal mapping.

Proved hard to engage people in detailed information activity - time pressed.

Assumption

#18

The shop would stimulate staff and give a useful experience.

C IQ

IE W

Assumption

#19

C Information and ideas can be surfaced and IQ mapped in useful ways. IE W

15 15

The core team made a lot of connections over the 3 weeks - to build on for Phase 2.

Appendix 4

True colours