Paper short abstract:

A provocation and some reflections on citizen social science is an innovative form of coproduction and participatory research that engages citizens in conducting social research, and potentially flattens hierarchies as knowledge is made together.

Paper long abstract:

I'd like to present the collaborative work with an innovative health partnership and pioneering charity, the Bromley by Bow Centre, and the ActEarly Co-production and Citizen Science theme within ActEarly UKPRP. ActEarly focuses on early life interventions to improve the health and opportunities of children living in two urban areas with high levels of child poverty: Bradford, West Yorkshire and Tower Hamlets, London. In particular this provocation focusses on the work of community and social researchers based at the Bromley by Bow Centre, alongside UCL researchers, to consult with more than 500 local families to identify “What makes the best start in life for children in Tower Hamlets?”. We worked with the local community to create a dream village with over 150 families, spreading tailored bunting through a local estate, filming and podcasting together, building monsters, islands and more to explore the research themes. Creative methods deepened conversations with residents, moving beyond surface level interactions to engage people’s imagination; included those who wouldn’t participate otherwise, in particular whole family groups; and built longer term relationships running through the research process. It is also important to remember that the findings were developed during a pandemic, and ultimately reflect both the unusual context of this research and the timeless role parents play in raising happy and healthy children. As a result, the team’s reflective practice and learning cycles also took on extra importance.

Paper short abstract:

Presenting a common good approach to development theory and practice. Rather than focusing on the outcomes or conditions (capabilities, resources) of development, we concentrate on the quality of development processes, suggesting that a common good dynamic is key to trigger development

Paper long abstract:

We would like to introduce the work resulting from more than three years of research by an international group of over fifty scholars collected in a forthcoming (2022) manuscript which advocates for a modern understanding of the common good—rather than a theological or metaphysical good—in societies by emphasising the social practice of 'commoning' at its core. It suggests that the dynamic equilibrium of common goods in a society should be at the centre of development efforts. For this purpose, it develops a matrix of common good dynamics, accounting for how institutions, social norms and common practices interconnect by identifying five key drivers of human development (agency, governance, justice, stability, humanity). We suggest a possible metric for measuring the quality of these dynamics.

The concept of the common good has recently enjoyed a revival and inspired practitioners keen to look beyond the shortcomings of political and economic liberalism. The main contribution of the book is twofold. First, in contrast to mainstream development approaches that rely on outcome-based aggregate individual data to evaluate social realities, our approach focuses on processes and on the commons of development practice. Therefore, it questions the language of individual rights and freedoms as the sole ethical anchors of development. Second, by proposing a matrix of interconnected dimensions and developing an original survey to capture it, our book goes beyond existing measures of 'procedural' dimensions, which tend to look at each in isolation as detached from the whole web of social goods and the socio structural context.

Paper short abstract:

During my fieldwork in China, I observed two models that have been used by the environmental activists to collect plastics pollution data. I am going to compare the two models and explore the variations and similarities.

Paper long abstract:

1. Nationwide network

Who initiate the project: a NGO locates at Shanghai (one of the tier-1 cities in China).

Participatory type: contributory

Amis:

1) Increase awareness

2) Impact the policy making

3) Define the responsibility of producers

4) Create a database

Challenges:

1) Data ownership.

2) Projects may do not benefit local communities in some regions.

2. Community-based monitoring

Who initiate the project:

The community leader saw the pollution problem. He created a long-term cooperation relationship with a local NGO. They initiated a series of projects in the community, which included the monitoring project. The community was not interested in the data. They did this as a favor to their partner.

Participatory type: contributory

Aims:

1) Support the living of poor households in the community

2) Investigate the situation in the community

3) Impact policy making

4) Solve the problems in the community

Challenges:

1) Sustainability of the projects

2) Motivate the community residents to participate

3. Summary

1) The contribution of professional research institution is not obvious.

2) If the participants are not from local communities, would it undermine the value of the project to local communities?

Paper short abstract:

I examine the citizen-led co-design of an urban garden in a highly diverse yet deprived periphery of Leicester. In it, local NGOs, low-income youth, and a team of young researchers and architects are collectively producing an urban garden to enhance skills, knowledge and employment opportunities.

Paper long abstract:

This intervention will examine the process of citizen-led collective design of a micro-scale public garden in Beaumont Leys, a highly deprived periphery of Leicester, United Kingdom. Beaumont Leys was a sewage farm at the turn of the twentieth century, a contested site for residential development in the 1970s, and is home to a diverse population today. Having largely arrived to the UK from Commonwealth countries (a legacy of the former British Empire), residents are economically disadvantaged, geographically far from the city centre resources, and largely stigmatised, hindering their access to employment.

Seeking to counter these challenges, a network of local non-government organisations led by NGO E2 has initiated the collective transformation of a derelict plot into a space where residents can raise honeybees, harvest rainwater, plant small crops and create an orchard. This initiative targets young residents and intends to not only provide a new green space but also to co-produce knowledge and skills, strengthening mutual connections and enhancing young residents' chances for upward social mobility.

In collaboration with these NGOs, a small group of architecture students, young researchers and I are contributing to the co-design of The Urban Garden by giving detail to their initial layout and preparing a set of information boards on the environmental history of the area. These contributions follow the lead and request made by participants, and will incorporate their feedback through a co-design workshop. The Urban Garden will open next summer, giving material form to this process of citizen-led knowledge and design co-production.