Director of Shared Future, Peter Bryant, has contributed to a new evaluation report by The Place-Based Climate Action Network and The Economic and Social Research Council, which was launched in June 2023. Their report chronicles five years of research by…
At the beginning of 2023 Shared Future was involved in designing and facilitating the London Borough of Wandsworth’s Citizen Assembly on Air Quality. The Assembly was the fruition of the new administration’s manifesto pledges to hold a Citizens Assembly, to…
At Shared Future we feel it’s good to push the use of public deliberation into new areas, to solve new challenges. That could be about challenging “institutional power” through mini-publics. Or democratising spaces where only a few people seem to…
In 2022 we embarked on a bold experiment. To train and support a locally run climate themed Citizens’ Jury. This was very different from our normal ‘hands on’ approach, and it felt risky to experiment. But the rewards exceeded our…
We’re really excited to share the recommendations and report of the Blackburn with Darwen People’s Jury on Climate Change, on behalf of Blackburn with Darwen Council. The purpose of the People’s Jury was so that residents could have their say…
Earlier this year, we were asked to facilitate a Citizen’s Panel on how homeowners can make their homes more energy efficient, in order to help the UK reach it’s net zero targets. Ray Plummer, one of our panel members, shares…
At Shared Future we have a vision of thousands of deliberative conversations happening across the country on a regular basis – allowing ordinary citizens to come together to discuss the challenge of climate change and its local impact, to forge…
Change can be hard to prove, especially in Citizens’ Jury processes. It is harder still to measure empowerment, agency and different power structures that can be an important impact of citizens’ jury processes. We had the opportunity to meet with…
In the two previous blogs in this series we looked at theatre, or rather legislative theatre, as a playful way to explore issues of power and to overcome policy blocks. And before that, creative facilitation, which uses model making or…
Our experiments in game-like facilitation shows play can make deliberative and participatory processes more effective and enjoyable. Deliberative and participatory processes remain one of the best ways of building a democracy where everyone’s voice counts. However, these processes can be…