● What We Do
We build the conditions for community-led change to happen.
This Living Place is a community-led organisation rooted in Somerset and Dorset.
We build the conditions for community-led change to happen, creating the space, relationships and infrastructure that allow local people to turn care, ideas and energy into real projects.
We are not outside the work, supporting communities from a distance. We are part of the community doing the work, building what is needed alongside our neighbours, partners and wider networks.
At the same time, we connect beyond our place, learning with and contributing to other communities across the UK who are also shaping change from the ground up.
In a time where it has become normal for change to be designed and delivered from afar, we believe that model is broken. Change needs to be rooted in place, shaped by the people who live there, and built together.
That is what we do.
Mission
We design and nurture the conditions for deep systemic and relational change; weaving care, connection and agency into resilient, place-rooted pathways towards equitable and regenerative futures.
Vision
A reciprocal tapestry of joyful, creative and equitable rural places - where communities work collectively to steward thriving ecosystems, economies and cultures of care.
● What this means in practice
Our work moves across six core functions:
Listening: We listen to people, land, history, tensions and possibilities.
Convening: We bring neighbours, organisations and partners together around shared questions.
Designing: We shape gatherings, projects, networks and processes that respond to what is emerging.
Organising: We help turn ideas into coordinated action.
Resourcing: We connect work to funding, people, partners and support.
Building: We stay with the work as it becomes real, growing projects, networks and infrastructure over time.
And we measure and learn, tracking what is changing, what is working, and what needs to adapt.
What we are doing is not a collection of separate activities.
We are holding a connective role within a place. That means keeping a wider, systemic picture in view, understanding how different people, projects, resources and challenges relate to each other, and helping move them towards something more joined up, resilient and alive.
In a world where work is often siloed and fragmented, this kind of role is rare. But without it, ideas stay isolated, energy dissipates, and change struggles to take root.
What this looks like in practice
Because we hold this connective, adaptive role, our work doesn’t take a single form.
Because we hold this connective, adaptive role, our work doesn’t take a single form. It changes depending on what is needed in a place, and what is already there.
Sometimes we are bringing people together around a shared question. Sometimes we are helping a group move from an idea into a real project. Sometimes we are supporting a community through a longer journey of change. Sometimes we are connecting people, resources and opportunities that would otherwise remain separate.
Often, we are doing several of these things at once, while holding the bigger picture of how a place is shifting over time.
We are constantly asking:
What is happening here?
What is needed next?
What is missing?
What is ready to grow?
And shaping the work from there.
How our work grows
From there, we bring people together to build shared understanding. We explore what is already happening, what is missing, what is stuck, and what could become possible.
Then we design the next steps, whether that is a gathering, a story project, a working group, a new role, a funding bid, a community plan, or a longer journey of place-based transformation.
Over time, this builds the relationships, confidence, skills and infrastructure that allow communities to shape their own futures.