This project aimed to address Leeds City Council’s Area of Research Interest on Community Engagement by examining how Leeds City Council (LCC) could more effectively listen to and include communities more fully in decision-making processes – shifting power to citizens and communities.
Initially, the project team intended to test and evaluate creative methods (using art and theatre) for citizen engagement to determine whether these approaches could support citizens in articulating their voice. However, the project took a different route when early investigations revealed systemic challenges with using existing knowledge.
In response, project activities were realigned to focus on the broader processes and experiences of citizen engagement and how these needed to change. Workshops were conducted to explore the perspectives of LCC officers and neighbourhood and community groups around citizens engagement in urban change. The findings highlighted the need to recognise and value citizen knowledge to ensure it influences planning; enable and connect citizen action and planning to reduce fragmentation; and overcome power imbalances and communication barriers by re-thinking approaches to citizen involvement.
Collaborators included Climate Action Leeds, Little Woodhouse and Garforth Neighbourhood Planning Groups, Voluntary Action Leeds, Hyde Park Source, Oblong, and Woodhouse Community Streets.
This project was funded by the 2023–2024 Policy Support Fund and it responded to Leeds City Council’s 2023 Area of Research Interest (Word document download) ‘Place’, specifically the sub-theme ‘Community engagement’.
Resources
Contacts
Others involved
- Martin Elliot (Leeds City Council)