Photo credit: Mouse About Town

● How We Work

We work in ways that are relational, adaptive and rooted in place.

We don’t arrive with fixed programmes or predefined solutions.

Instead, we start by paying attention, to what is already happening, who is already here, and what is trying to emerge.

From there, we shape the work with others, responding to each place as it is, rather than applying a model from the outside.

● Our methods

Our work is underpinned by innovative methodologies we’re constantly testing:

  • Our work focuses on growing the conditions that allow places to organise, collaborate and shape their own future.

    Over time, these conditions form what we call living infrastructure — the relational, cultural and systemic foundations that make long-term, community-led change possible.

    Living infrastructure includes:

    • Relational infrastructure: Trust, relationships and collaboration between people, organisations and the living world.

    • Cultural infrastructure: Shared stories, identity, creativity and imagination that shape how people see their place and what they believe is possible.

    • Systemic infrastructure: The skills, knowledge, resources and structures that allow communities to organise, steward assets and influence the systems that affect their lives.

    Across our work, we intentionally focus on strengthening the conditions that help this infrastructure grow, including:

    • local leadership

    • strong relationships and trust

    • shared identity and stories

    • a sense of agency and participation

    • connection to land and place

    • community spaces and assets

    • practical skills and capacity

    • collective imagination

    • joy, culture and celebration

    By growing these conditions, places become more able to organise, respond to change and shape their own future.

  • We support Living Places through four interconnected strands of work.

    • Living Spaces & Places: Supporting towns and villages to come together and shape their local future.

    • Living Systems & Flows: Helping communities understand and reshape how land, money, power and resources move through their place.

    • Living Culture & Narratives: Strengthening identity, belonging and imagination through storytelling, creativity and shared skills.

    • Living Networks & Movements: Connecting communities, organisers and institutions so learning and support can move between places.

    Together these strands help communities organise, collaborate and act.

  • The challenges communities face today are deeply interconnected.

    Climate change, economic inequality and social disconnection cannot be solved in isolation.

    We believe a different future is possible.

    A future where:

    • communities have the power to shape their own future

    • local economies work for the people who live there

    • ecosystems are cared for and restored

    • culture, creativity and belonging are part of everyday life

    • Restoring social justice and equity and lively, hopeful local conversations.

    By helping Living Places grow and connect, we hope to contribute to a wider movement of communities shaping regenerative and equitable futures together.

● Our Values

Our work is as practical as it is big picture thinking; rooted in lived realities, making, doing, and creating together.

Purposefully practical

We counteract bigness and scale by weaving small, place-based systems of care; rooted in long-term relationships.

Relationally rooted

We believe tomorrow’s thriving communities rely on today’s brave experiments and bold ideas.

Creatively pioneering

We unlock resilience, mutualism, togetherness and transformative potential through deep connection, trust and collaborative action .

Radically collaborative

We take bold steps to address deep inequities present today to bring into reality post-capitalist futures, rooted in justice, care, compassion and liberation.

Boldy liberatory