Written by:
Sophia de Sousa
The date of 1 May carries with it a number of rich traditions and celebrations across cultures and centuries. Around the world, it is celebrated at International Workers’ Day, or Labour Day. The first of May also goes back to ancient Roman festivals celebrating the beginning of Spring, and our May Day bank holiday in the UK marks the welcome of a new season.
On this day in particular, I’d like to share some thoughts about the current state of affairs. I want to stress straight away that mine is not a critique of any particular political party, but rather of the political system that has contributed to the current socio-economic landscape and the challenges being faced across communities and sectors in the UK. Those of us working within the third sector are facing what seem like insurmountable challenges. And we are not alone. Our colleagues in local government, education, health and social care, the arts and culture are similarly stretched and struggling to deliver the core services that their communities need. Our social infrastructure that holds our places and communities together has been systematically chipped away at and is now in tatters. Business owners, farmers, and industries too, are struggling. Our waterways are flooded with sewage on a regular basis, as energy prices continue to soar. Our railways are fractured, complicated and expensive. One third of our nation’s children live in poverty.
It is genuinely tough all over and I think we are all struggling.
I acknowledge that there have been some specific global circumstances that have contributed to this. The financial crash of 2007 led to a global financial crisis and to an era of austerity in the UK. Covid-19 brought most of the world to a standstill and will continue to affect us in ways we are still discovering. The war in Ukraine has also had a global impact on energy prices and food production. And let’s not forget our global climate emergency.
So it’s fair to say that our politicians have had a lot to deal with at a local, national and international level.
However, it’s also worth noting that in the past 20 years we have had 11 central government ministries, 16 Housing Ministers and planning reforms that have regularly required local governments to create new strategies and ways of working and to respond to shifting objectives and targets. At every election campaign at local and national levels, party manifestos and both aspiring and newly elected leaders set out their bold new visions and what sets those apart from their political foes.
I put it to you that this is not the most sensible approach to long-term strategic thinking about our places, our built and natural environments, and the amenities and services within them.
Shaping, nurturing and protecting our built and natural environments, and the people, plants and creatures that inhabit them, is a long game. There is very little that can be achieved in either of these spheres within one political term of office, or across one or even 5 annual budgets. Similarly, there is little that can be achieved if the opposition party is doing everything it can to challenge the strategies and actions of those in charge.
In political terms, surely it would be more sensible to take a cross-party approach to this. What if, instead of each government stepping into office and setting out a bold new vision, our politicians worked together across the political spectrum to co-produce a 10 or 20-year strategy that all of the parties committed to implementing together, no matter who is in power at any given moment? This happens to some degree on very specific agendas, but what if this were just the approach to managing our shared environment more strategically and effectively? Yes, things may need to change and adapt with any long-term plan, but this too could be achieved collaboratively.
What if, rather than starting from what separates our political parties and their agendas, we started with what unites them – their shared values and shared ambitions for places that work for people and the natural environment.
And this is not just the responsibility of our political leaders. We all have a role to play in this. What if, instead of the different sectors and different communities working at odds with each other, we all took the approach of wielding our collective powers more collaboratively for common goals and common good?
Easier said than done, you might say. Agreed, but there are some simple steps we could be taking. There are things that we could all do to explore collaboration with others, to share our assets, and most importantly to share and wield our power for the greater good rather than for the advancement of personal, organisational or sectoral advantage. We can create the space to get to know those who are different from us, to acknowledge and respect those differences and the needs and aspirations that come with them, and to work together to find shared values and common ground. We all want safe and welcoming places to live, to have opportunities to learn, to grow, to connect, to play. Let’s start with that.
It starts with us sitting around the table and asking ourselves and each other what we could do better together than we could do alone, and then to create the conditions to work together. We need to build infrastructures for collaboration which can be initiated and convened by any sector.
In this time of immense challenges, let’s get together, roll up our sleeves and work together. And let’s think of this 1 May as a potential starting point for respecting, celebrating and supporting the work that we all do, whether through public service, our professional life, in education or through community activism.
Necessity is the mother of invention. Might this May Day see the birth of a new season of cross-party, cross-sector, multicultural and multigenerational collaboration and leadership in place?
We’ll be exploring these themes in our upcoming Glass-House Chats. Come and join the conversation.
Do the right people have power in place?
15 May, 10 am, online
Join us for our May Chat, where we will explore the role and different types of power in placemaking, who currently holds power, and how we might better share it through collaborative placemaking.
Is our view of place too short-sighted?
19 June, 10 am, online
In our June Chat, we’ll be exploring the balance between opportunity and responsibility, and the challenge of combining short-term successes with a more strategic approach to achieving long-term goals.
Do we accept the status quo in place?
17 July, 10 am, online
In our July Chat we will consider the cultural norms that influence the status quo of placemaking. We’ll ask whether we truly have ambition when it comes to our places and will explore the role of experimentation and risk-taking in shaping how we do things.