Posted on July 2nd, 2010 by Sarah Miller in Archived related news
Tagged as: civic engagement, public services
1 Comment
ShareThisWhat better way to explore civic activism and community action than by creating practical opportunities for people to engage with their neighbours and wider communities? An ambitious programme being led by the RSA in partnership with Peterborough City Council and Arts Council England is putting action research at the heart of its exploration of what it is calling ‘citizen power.’ The project is interested in whether a renewal of civic activism and community action contributes to improved connections between people, more local participation, and innovation in public service design.
Seven projects are being rolled out in Peterborough under the umbrella of Citizen Power Peterborough. Each project has a different focus: climate change, addiction and recovery; the arts; education and local history; social media; the creation of spaces for local debate and activism; and civic health. In different ways, these projects are exploring how people in Peterborough can live more sustainably, be more connected to one another, and more involved in making decisions that affect their city and their lives.
As Programme Head Sam McLean wrote in The Guardian earlier this month, international examples of citizen power and innovation in public service - from legislative theatre in Brazil to pledgebanking in the UK - give reason to be hopeful in times of government cuts to public service spending.
Subscribe to our project updates
Thanks for your post Sarah,
And thanks for saying that the project give us a reason to be hopeful in a time of stark government spending cuts! This, combined with a localist drive seen in part through a Big Society agenda, has meant asking a great deal more from the everyday person - giving them the opportunity (and in some cases making it a necessity) for people to participate and innovate in helping to shape the places in which they live.
Addressing that concern is at the centre of the Citizen Power project - using multi-disciplinary approaches to promote community attachment, participation and innovation; from holding artists’ residencies in communities to embedding the local area in childrens’ curriculum, the project is trying to reinvigorate citizenship in Peterborough as well as highlight the fantastic work that’s already going on in the city.
Although still in their early planning stages, the projects will be kicking off in a few months time, with hopefully some fanatastic results to show in a year or so.
But please check http://www.thersa.org now and again for updates on where we are with the programme.
Best,
Ben