A new way to design with communities in Hackney
Our primary partner in Hackney is Shoreditch Trust who provide health and wellbeing support across the borough and the physical space for the Hub at 170 Pitfield Street. Some of our past funders have included: National Lottery Community Fund, Paul Hamlyn Foundation, and the Greater London Authority.
Team:
Further Reading and Resources:
Microsite - Civic-hub.com
Videos - Youth design challenges: Workshop 1 and Workshop 2
Article - Eight Ways to Improve Men's Mental Health in the UK - as featured in Vice
Blog - TSIP launches pop-up Civic Innovation Hub in Hackney
Blog - Citizens to Innovators - Youth-Led Design in Hackney
Blog - Co-designing a new health and wellbeing service with young Black men in Hackney
The Civic Hub is a space in Hackney that brings people together to collaborate on local challenges and opportunities by putting communities and lived experiences in the lead. During the COVID-19 pandemic, this space has evolved into an online design approach for local people and organisations, creating new services (e.g. a mental health service for young Black men) and a neighbourhood forum.
The way Hackney has evolved has left people behind. Within the borough, there is a strong community of people who have connections, experience, and the trust and understanding which brings them together and brings to light where things could change for the better. Yet decisions about the area and the services available have historically been made without including this community. Those that have that experience and understanding as to why some of the challenges they faced have come to pass are not yet at the forefront of creating the solutions that matter.
This is even more relevant in the current COVID-19 context – a context that has emphasised existing social issues and increased social and economic inequities within the borough alongside a renewed desire from communities to take control of their opportunities and rebuild a better locality.
The Civic Hub aims to address and support this. It is based on the idea that those who experience social issues, those who have a deep understanding of a place and their community from living in it, should decide. It does so via two key sets of activities whilst supporting collaboration across the public, private and social sectors.
Unconferences
This is an event where the only agenda is what attendees want to discuss. Usually focussed around a theme, it allows the people in the room to decide what matters, and have honest conversations which bring out what practically needs to change. TSIP and Shoreditch Trust piloted this around Men’s Mental Health and most recently ran a digital and in-person unconference with young Black men and women to talk about mental health (see here for the blog).
Design challenges
We piloted an approach that combines design thinking (how you create solutions), inclusive design (who you design them for and for what purpose), and co-design (who you design with). We are now in the process of training young Black men and women in Hoxton to be able to lead their peers through this design challenge approach. The outcome of this work will result in a new mental health service targeted at young Black men and will be owned by them and their peers.
Building collaboration using design
Beyond these activities, the Civic Hub draws on the networks, services and activities of The Shoreditch Trust. It acts as a broker helping people figure out where to go depending on what they need, beyond just having more power in their community to decide what is available. Shoreditch Trust and TSIP also have links to the Council and many of the local charities and community groups. We are currently working with Hackney CVS and 30-40 local groups and charities to co-design a Neighbourhood Forum, one which would help put residents’ priorities to the forefront, and which focuses on joint sustainability, connectivity and shared ownership.
What’s next?
We want to solidify our partnerships, we want to hear from local people and build an advisory group for this work moving forward, as well as build strong links with our Community Researcher work – and mainly, we want to continue testing and improving on these new ways of working. At its core, the Civic Hub can only exist if it is relevant to local people and if it can make change happen. As we pilot this, we can’t do it alone and any advice, any participation in our work, or any challenges are helpful - get in touch using the form below.