Detectorism Insights #1: Summary Notes
Stories, provocations and cultural portraits from an experiment by participatory social lab, CoLab Dudley
As 2017 drew to a close we were quickly learning that documenting the complexity and inter-dependencies manifest in social change experiments is a tricky endeavor. The social nature of our lab work makes it messy, relational and often without clear edges. But these qualities also make it surprising, hopeful and all together wonderfully human.
After a year of ethnographic research by the lab team and doers — a type of curiosity in action we like to call detectorism - we wanted to openly & honestly share our journey. Until this point there had been online lab notes, shared learning sessions and social media conversations, but this was a moment through the stories and voices of doers and encouragers to invite you to a deep dive into what we were experiencing and witnessing.
Detectorism Insights #1 was a chance to curate and critically reflect upon these stories by situating them within a wider body of social thinking, artifacts and experiences.
What patterns were we observing? Why did they matter? How did they relate to each other and a wider system? How would these inform future experiments for social change?
Importantly, Detectorism Insights #1 was also a chance for reflection on the agency of a form of ‘everyday activism’ — manifest in doing, making, learning, and sharing together — and what this means for the emergent collective aspiration to redesign Dudley.
This time last year we were preparing to publish Detectorism Insights #1. We convened a number of conversations in the process of sharing our documentation of doing. During conversations with encouragers from Dudley Council, the NHS and Dudley Police we played audio clips of doers to draw attention to themes which resonate with the work of our local services. Our Chapter Chews bought together people involved in doing and detectorism with people eager to learn about our experiences and experiments. While we certainly haven’t ceased to observe, discuss, collect and analyse all kinds of data, we return to Detectorism Insights #1 frequently to inform our design, our experiments, our thinking and our sense of momentum.
Summary notes / the essential bits
The findings in Detectorism Insights #1 discuss conditions for place based social change in Dudley in terms of animating and re-purposing latent assets. These are both physical (e.g. creative spaces); and human (e.g. skills, connectivity, capabilities).
A striking element throughout these findings is the context of the de-generation of Dudley town centre and how this impacts citizens in terms of their sense of place and their capacity to access unrealised assets and underemployed skills and capabilities.
In exploring how physical and human assets are unlocked, our findings stress a set of values, behaviours and processes. These include openness, freedom, welcome, empathy, equity and collaboration.
Important processes linked to these values and behaviours are manifest in the physicality of gather (the home of our lab) as an anchor/convivial space; and also in the practices of lab members such as creativity, flexibility, authentic invitations, experimentation, action/doing bias, and a shared learning culture.
Space and place
Our discussion of physical capital is framed in terms of dimensions of place as this dominates our findings. This includes consideration of place based attachment, sense of belonging, identities, civic pride, and heritage. The experience of complex societal challenges in Dudley is situated by participants within an urgent aspiration to be part of and witness place based social change.
The findings paint a picture of life experience for some citizens in Dudley as one blighted by physical and socio-economic de-generation. This is closely linked by participants to cultural tensions in the town; feelings of disenfranchisement, and as a space lacking in cultural nourishment.
CoLab Dudley activities and gather have been characterised in the findings in a way Place Lab would describe as ‘bringing heat’ or a ‘pulse’ amongst those spaces operating at low frequency. As an anchor space they offer ‘cultural and spiritual sustenance’, manifest in a creative safe space, animated by an active welcome (via processes of greeting, alignment and affirmation); an authentic invitation to participate; and explicit valuing of creativity and creative thinking. The value participants experience in relation to place is often expressed in terms of civic pride, and a desire to surface and make open to all an array of cultural heritage and knowledge based artifacts for collective benefit. The findings stress the importance of understanding and valuing the historical and cultural distinctiveness of place in processes of Ethical Redevelopment and social innovation.
The agency and need for creative spaces for all is an important theme in these findings in relation to physical capital. Participants identify a place based cultural deficit and explicit barriers to the growth of creative spaces with a subsequent negative impact upon individual and collective sense of wellbeing, identity, and skills.
Creative spaces, and the process of creating spaces, was highlighted as providing the conditions for creative practice in open / semi-public neutral spaces that help break down barriers in relation to different cultures, faiths, and ways of thinking. The findings also tell us that creative thinking spaces are needed in order to incubate the skills, capabilities and connections of change agents like social entrepreneurs. In this respect these creative spaces, open to all, are directly related to the the increased potential of citizen led social change in Dudley.
The development and creation of creative spaces is in part made possible in this work through re-framing and re-purposing spaces. In the findings we discuss gather coffee shop as an example of this re-framing. Re-framing is manifest in the different use and engagement with the space in terms of citizen practices of participation which result in the blurring of boundaries between consumer and (co)producer behaviours. This shift in behaviours is explained in part by the cultural and physical accessibility of the space that prioritises inclusivity across multiple dimensions of difference. The shift in citizen practices — and subsequently the new relations forged here — is also explained by what we describe as ‘open practice norms’ which includes: encouraging a co-producer/ maker based relationship with time; and enabling zones of interaction and connection enhanced by the multi-functionality and active co-curation of gather spaces.
Bonds, bridges and connectivity
The findings show clear evidence of the building of social capital (bonding and bridging). They offer valuable insight into what that connectivity and network development secures in terms of increased wellbeing and resilience.
Limited, or shallow citizen social networks were observed to be developed and deepened. The latent energy released through connectivity resulted in positive impacts upon experiences of isolation, loneliness, and personal and collective resilience. Chief amongst our observations has been the agency of the practice of doing together not just being together. The repetition of multiple low threshold opportunities for participation created favourable conditions for connection and co-operation.
The findings show the potency of intentional strategic design of spaces and projects that encourage norms of sharing and doing together that are explicitly open to all. In the full discussion on page 59 we outline the role within this design of: welcome, invitation, doing together, respect, and purposeful connection and interaction.
Nurturing and re-purposing latent skills / capabilities
In the discussion around the development of human capital the findings are framed in terms of nurturing and re-purposing latent skills, capabilities and collective resourcefulness. Specifically, the value generated by CoLab Dudley activities in terms of participant labour (time), skills, knowledge, capabilities and improved health and wellbeing. We explore the evidence in terms of improved self efficacy and self confidence which in turn completely changed participant perceptions of what is possible for them individually and for their community.
Through collective participation (doing together for shared purpose), often triggered by inspiration and demonstration, citizens reveal old and new skills that had in some cases been effectively de-commissioned, or under valued owing to their life circumstances.
Place Lab describe this as re-purposing skills and capabilities and so unlocking latent human energy and assets. Importantly, this isn’t just practical skills or new knowledge, this is also about practicing and testing out capabilities and behaviours such as empathy, reciprocity, or creativity. A judgment-free and open creative space, coupled with the sharing/ pooling of materials, helped people to embrace the development of their own and others potential to ‘make things happen’.
Platform/ lab processes and ingredients
In the final chapter of Detectorism Insights #1 we outline what the findings have revealed in terms of platform and social lab processes, practices and ingredients. Of course, the lab and platform have not emerged in a vacuum, and the findings indicate how the existing policy and practice landscape help or hinder this evolution.
The challenge for traditional institutional infrastructure is in embracing and supporting new ways of thinking that present alternative approaches to risk, measurement, organisational cultures, and planning. As a platform and social lab, CoLab Dudley displays an approach and way of thinking that embraces experimentation, flexibility and an action bias. These are animated by a constellation of team and participant skills and experiences that use the experimentation and a culture of shared learning (detectorism), to inform strategic design and further prototyping.
These processes and the team that activate them are bound by a shared purpose to use social innovation to seed positive social change grounded in social justice and collective action. These platform processes and values are importantly manifest in experiences reliably accessed and curated in a hub space (gather) that generates a neighbourhood consciousness.
gather, has evolved into a civic asset, as a space where positive regenerative relationships and connections are prioritised over capital return. Place Lab (2016) eloquently describe the fostering of such relations:
“Cultivate and build upon neighbourliness as a way of relating — an informal relationship, a cultural practice of reciprocity and interdependence. Engender intimacy by the familiar nature of programming: discussions, performances, interactions, and shared experiences”.
Drawing on recent research around Ethical Redevelopment and impact movements the findings point to the role of gather as both an Anchor Space and Convivial Place.
Anchor Space: “To be an anchoring space in a city, people have to be willing to spend time there. Hot, hip spots come and go. Trendy locations fall short of connecting “need” with “space.” Need changes over time and, as a result, space has to change over time. Spaces have to be flexible and nimble… Participants come to rely on anchor spaces as consistent resources of cultural and spiritual sustenance.” (from Ethical Redevelopment)
Convivial Place: “Visible, open and legitimate spaces that enable active participation… places to convene change agents, citizens, non-profits” and other organisations; places that extend a quality invitation to take part, that are inclusive to all and authentic (from the Compendium for the Civic Economy).
In this key social change capacity gather, (in both its physicality, and the practices normalised within it by team members and visitors) has been integral to the social lab work of engaging in experimentation, prototyping participatory projects, and iterating around a set of processes that encourage open collaboration, sharing, creativity and connectivity. The research findings show that with the creative space and time to experiment — afforded by the social lab model and anchor/ convivial place of gather — an organic, citizen-led response to complex needs around the de-generation of Dudley is developing.
This citizen-led response is emerging from a culture and space of doing, making, learning and sharing together. But also it is about everyday activism (making change happen in small and gentle ways) that is unlocking agency and latent assets, taking collective action, and helping reanimate a civic pulse in Dudley through creative practice and spaces.
This aspiration for change is rooted in a desire for social justice, collective agency and a reanimated sense of place & belonging. In practice this response is driven by processes of sharing, connectivity, creativity, and democratising doing, making and (re)designing the spaces around us. This work seeks to make change possible, real and open to all by encouraging the reimagining and re-purposing latent assets, capabilities and relationships.
While analysing our findings we have lent on and drawn critical insights from a range of concepts including: urban commons, commoning enabled through peer to peer relations, participatory practices, and ultimately, through inclusive strategic design for social innovation.
Drawing on these foundations, the findings tell a story of the impact of CoLab Dudley evidenced through:
- an increase in community access to resources and collective agency for co-designing of civic assets;
- the recognition of identities (cultural, place based and creative);
- a broad based re-purposing and building of skill-sets;
- the re-deploying and surfacing of local knowledge and cultural heritage;
- the nurturing of co-operative and collective action capabilities informed by social purpose;
- the marked growth of social capital and connectivity.
We know these signifiers of social change and innovation are complex, messy and not easily quantifiable. We do not apologise for that. Instead we invite you take the time to read an intimate and place specific story of social change in Dudley.
Working out loud
These findings raise as many difficult questions for this work going forward as they offer potent illustrations of the impact of enriching experiences and new relationships forged. Some of the questions we are currently working with are introduced here:
The findings urge us to challenge our work to build upon and amplify the hub site impact knowing that one building alone does not change the direction of a neighbourhood. How might we further develop the platform to create new social, economic and cultural possibilities in different sites in this small corner of Dudley town centre? How do we leverage the ‘heat’ brought by the anchor space and create a network of connected spaces where local citizens commune, converse and create new futures for themselves and their neighbourhoods?
Alive to the gentrification risks of urban regeneration policy in relation to creativity, we know we must find a way to protect the social purpose of CoLab Dudley work and the accountability of the platform. How do we go about protecting this DNA of social justice and critical reflection? How might this work disrupt existing socio-spatial inequalities through our engagement with more ‘Ethical Redevelopment’ and #RedesignDudley? Also in re-deploying heritage, story-telling and creative practice to this place based social change how are we holding spaces for critical questioning and deeper conversations that help acknowledge the roots of these inequalities?
We know social norms are dynamic and need repetition and practice to become more embedded. Given the gentle initial engagement through this work with commons thinking and doing, how might these ways of sharing, re-purposing and collective responsibility be normalised locally through repetition and practice? What creative invitations (day-to-day and event-based) might we employ to inspire others to engage in this practice?
We know that shared learning via detectorism will be valuable in informing all these questions. So how do we make this learning and researching even more accessible and meaningful for action focused projects? How do we create a wider range of access points to animate and energise our learning culture?
Curious for more? Dive into Detectorism Insights #1
