Here at Southampton Collective, we are passionate about people’s involvement in decision-making with the issues that impact their lives. People know what needs to change in their city and community, and how services and infrastructure can be improved. But often, those most impacted by the issue aren’t asked to input into designing the future and deciding on priorities. Or, if they are asked, it’s in a tokenistic and somewhat patronising way.

We build participatory methods into all of our work. Our Directors are part of the Art of Hosting international community, constantly working hard to improve our practice. Some examples of the ways our projects involve local people as equals are:

• Breathing Spaces project, which was delivered through a series of “Clean Air Cafes” where everyone was welcome to join in and decisions were made jointly based on conversations, including voting on priorities. This led to a real appetite for change, and subsequently more investment in local infrastructure.
• Southampton Climate Action Network, which was launched and developed using participatory methods. This was inspired by Doughnut Economics , which creates a framework for ensuring that environmental and social needs aren’t treated as secondary to economic decision-making. As a result, this is leading to more proactive action around climate change and enthusiasm to develop an economy that is respectful to environmental and social challenges.

• Drawing on the Outside, a public art project co-created with local people using creative means, which has helped demonstrate the power of the arts in tackling loneliness and isolation.
• Take Me to the Sea, a co-created touring exhibition about our connections with the water. Our exhibitions have been developed by community participants. This, in turn, was inspired by the Southampton Pride of Place Project, which The Caravan Gallery brought to Southampton in 2016.

Through other work, our Directors have other experience of participatory work including:

• Clare Diaper is a co-worker involved in the development of October Books. The bookshop team worked closely with its members to decide the shop’s future and what projects it should develop, resulting in a vibrant, community-focused business with considerable social impact. It has put health and wellbeing of the community as a central component of its work, including the provision of community space. It is known as a place to go for mutual support around issues such as climate action. 
• Rebecca Kinge has been a founder member of Southampton Coproduction Corner, a project which has identified how people would like to work better together in the city. This project was initially kickstarted by Southampton Voluntary Services and supported with funding from the University of Southampton. It led to a series of coproduced policy recommendations, which are being shared widely, to try and ensure that the term coproduction is not used without careful understanding of what this means in practice. It also runs a series of events, so that people can come together as a Community of Practice to explore issues. Rebecca, in her role as a member of Southampton Collective, has continued to coordinate this project to take it to the next stage (October 2024 - March 2025), to embed coproduced approaches within the city, with the kind support of the Southampton HDRC project. Anyone is welcome to get involved.

All our work is about building on the collective intelligence of those who have gone before. We are keen to learn from and with others, continuing to develop our coproduction and facilitation skills. We collaborate on projects with others who share these values. As we say, we are keen to be part of a healthy, sustainable city powered by its communities. We don’t feel this can be achieved unless we have conversations together and make decisions in a participatory way.