In a world which often risks being captured by the past, we need a civic society which can be both fiercely independent in organising itself, and also truly interdependent with all those seeking to build a shared future. In London, this civic society is already around us.
It is represented by the people working tirelessly to serve their communities, by the city’s highly effective activists and organisers, its radical artists and curators, as well as by the individuals and networks exploring new ways of caring for each other and the world around them.
Deeply embedded in communities across the city, this civic society has a unique role to play in bridging us to new and unknown tomorrows.
To support that urgent work, Civic Futures starts by asking how we can build shared wisdom in making the transition to a better future. How do we best bring together some of the amazing people active across London to learn from and support each other in building that future?”
This provocation, developed in partnership with Indy and Joost at Dark Matter Labs, has been at the heart of the Civic Futures programme since it launched in 2019.
By the end of 2024, the programme will have worked with over 100 civic leaders through a project which combines leadership development, personal and collective inquiry, and civic experimentation.
Against a backdrop of Covid-19 and ongoing, interlinked crises, it has been an ambitious attempt to develop collective wisdom in the pursuit of a better future for London and the communities that call it home.
The Story So Far report offers a reflection on the first 3 cohorts of the Civic Futures Fellowship; commissioned by the Community Engagement Team at the Greater London Authority and delivered between 2019-23 in partnership with Koreo, the Young Foundation, and Dark Matter Labs.
From a comprehensive review of programme materials, a survey of all Fellows, and more than a dozen interviews with Fellows from across the 3 cohorts, the report and microsite lay out the shape of the programme and its influence on the Fellows that have taken part, as well as the system(s) they operate within.
You can download the full report as a PDF here, and access an overview version of it as a microsite at www.civicfutures.london, where you will also be able to access a recording of Mama D Ujuaje’s Civic Futures meditation.
