We gave this presentation at “This Place Matters” in the Vale of Leven. It was organised for us by West Dunbartonshire Council and attended by local leaders from the Council and the community.
1. this place matters
re-thinking local leadership
What do we want our
place to be like?
How do we get there?
Professor David Adams
Professor Trevor Davies
Diarmaid Lawlor
3. • Places condition our lives
They matter to human
experience
• Places can help or hinder our
democracy
• Good places attract
Failing places repel
• Place is the physical ‘container’
for all the people, institutions and
activities that occupy it
• Place-making involves economy,
society and environment
WHY Place Matters
Why is place so important?
4. • Local governance is about more
than delivering services
• It is about making places
successful, now and for the future
• It has to involve everyone
• Learning what makes places
succeed or fail should be at its heart
• It’s often no more expensive to
create successful places than failing
ones. It just needs care and
advance thought
WHY Place Matters
Shaping places is about governance
5. • Leadership drives forward
action, breeds confidence,
reduces risk & widens
participation
• Leadership is about
vision, culture, motivation,
resources.
• This cannot be privatised – it
needs local action within a local
democratic mandate
WHY Place Matters
Shaping places needs leadership
11. THIS Place
• Alexandria Precinct
• ‘walk in any direction’
• hills in 10 minutes
• Fantastic natural
assets
• Greenspace
resources
• Less literally: image
• Long & continuing
association with industry
• Historic and inward
investment
• Aggreko manufacturing
facility
• Award winning building
• State of the art facility for
local population
• Collaborative dual
purpose
• Regeneration effects
assets collaboration associations
connections
16. THIS Place
storytelling health potential
alignment
• Bad outlook for visitors
• Through way for traffic
• Sealife/freshwater?
• Storytelling of rich heritage?
• Advertised attraction/
crumbling
• Poor quality retail/Empty
• Undervalued natural
assets
• Unrealised
• Eyesore
• Needs regenerated
• What internal and
external impact?
• Bad design
• Lack of maintenance
• Dampness
• Deterioration
19. Why does this place matter?
Say why this place matters to you today
THIS Place
And find the things that matter to you all
THIS Place
20. Where are we going?
In practice, who is leading here now?
THIS Place
What are the current relationships between
leaders and citizens?
In practice, who is leading?
21. Where are we going?
In practice, who is leading here now?
THIS Place
What are the current relationships between
leaders and citizens?
In practice, who is leading?What is local collaboration like?
29. story of
self
call to leadership
story of
now
strategy & action
story of
us
shared values &
shared experience
PURPOSE
Common PurposeProfessor Marshall Ganz
Public Narrative
30. The Story of your future part 1
Common Purpose
SELF: What personal values led you to public action?
31. The Story of your future part 1
Common Purpose
What personal values led you to public action?
US: What is the common ground in your values?
SELF: What personal values led you to public action?
32. SELF: What personal values led you to public action?
Common Purpose
US: What is the common ground in your values?
NOW : Using common values, dream big changes here by 2025
The Story of your future part 1
34. action
• Values inspire action
through emotion
• Emotions inform us of
what we value
• Decisions to act are
based on judgements
about values
Values into Action
Common PurposeProfessor Marshall Ganz
35. 35
S Schwartz 2006 adapted by L Higgins
N Pecorelli 2013 for IPPR
Schwartz’s Values Wheel
Prospector
Settler
Pioneer
Professor Marshall Ganz Common Purpose
38. 5 characteristics of successful places
• Places intended for people
• Well connected & permeable
places
• Places of mixed use & varied
density
• Distinctive places
• Sustainable, resilient & robust
places
WHY Place Matters
39. Places intended for people
• Successful places attract
people, and encourage them
to linger and return
• The more diverse the
activities on offer, the more
people will come
• But people want to feel safe,
comfortable & not be
overwhelmed by traffic or
the scale of the environment
WHY Place Matters
40. Well connected & permeable places
• Successful places allow
people to move in & through
them easily, especially on
foot or bicycle
• They have meeting places
and stopping places
• Places that are better
connected and easily
accessible attract more
trade & are more lively
WHY Place Matters
41. Places of mixed use & varied density
• Towns traditionally grew &
developed as a patchwork of
mixed activities & uses
• But, until recently, developers
and planners have preferred to
separate out activities & uses
• Mixing up uses within any
building, street or area brings
variety and vitality to places.
What should be the limits to
this?
WHY Place Matters
42. Distinctive places
Successful places places are
distinctive & memorable
But too many places across the
UK are virtually the same, with
the same house types, same
national chain stores, and the
same branded restaurants
Let’s tackle urban monotony by
encouraging places to be
different!
WHY Place Matters
43. Sustainable, resilient & robust places
• Sustainable design means
creating places that last for
generations & reduce
climate change
• Places that are resilient
‘bounce back’ from
unexpected change
• Places that are robust are
flexible enough to modified
without excessive
disruption
WHY Place Matters
45. The Story of your future part 2
THIS Place
Describe your DESTINATION.
What does this place in 2025 look like?
46. The Story of your future part 2
THIS Place
Describe your DESTINATION.
What does this place in 2025 look like?
Tell the story of the journey from now till then …….
47. this place matters
re-thinking local leadership
Key Local Issues
Peter Barry
Head of Customer & Community Services: West Dunbartonshire Council
48. THIS Place
• A new joined up approach to local services and communities
• Improve the coordination and responsiveness of local services with
an emphasis on efficiency
• Support the development of empowered and engaged communities
active in the design and delivery of services to the area
• Alexandria Pilot Sept 14 – March 15
• Key issues in pilot:- anti-social behaviour, back courts, waste
management
• Wider issues: employment and training, housing, health
Neighbourhood Management
51. Getting there: You got there!
THIS Place
Who led the changes your dream needed?
What did they do?
What happened in your place as a result?
Looking back from 2025:
What assets & resources did they adapt or use?
52. THIS Place
BUT THAT FUTURE DIDN’T HAPPEN! Why?
Getting there: Oops!
What were the barriers and blocks to your future?
54. … we don’t use them properly?… we have no tools?
Does place leadership fail because …
Common Purpose
55. To shape places, we need effective
policy tools
How well stocked is our
policy toolbox?
How well used in our
policy toolbox?
Common Purpose
56. What might we expect to find in the well-
stocked policy toolbox?
‘Shaping’
instruments
‘Capacity
building’
instruments
‘Regulating’
instruments
‘Stimulus’
instruments
Common Purpose
57. • Spatial visions, strategies,
plans, frameworks etc.
• Promote integrated thinking and
enable collective action
• Can involve strategic
transformation of whole areas
• Successful strategies have the
‘power of persuasion’ – they
can radically change what
people think is achievable
Shaping tools
Common Purpose
58. Regulating tools
Restrict choices by regulating
what people can & cannot do
Most effective when they
persuade people to follow policy
intent, rather than just give up on
their plans
Require consistent application
and effective enforcement
Common Purpose
59. Stimulus tools
Open up opportunities by ‘making
things happen’ through:
Actions to kick-start development
by direct state intervention
Development grants, taxation
incentives and other price-adjusting
actions
Holistic place management and
other risk-reducing actions
Public-private partnerships and
other capital-raising actions
Common Purpose
60. Capacity building tools
Learn to think afresh, be open to new
ideas, and learn from best practice
Gain knowledge & information,
especially about market actors &
operations
Build networks & relationships across
the public, private & voluntary sectors
Develop skills & capabilities in
leadership, project management &
cross-sectoral working
Local leaders will:
Common Purpose
63. The Story of your future part 3
THIS Place
Tell the story of getting from now till then …….
Say what your future is like
Where did change first start?
What action was most important?
68. Why the Vale matters…
• Generations of families
• Success
• Opportunities
• People & place:
resilience
• Services and facilities
• Do we have the
mechanisms?
• Great place to live &
work
• Do we have the
ambition?
• Home: expect good.
• Is it?
• What should better look
like?
histories
expectation
potential
ambition
THIS Place
69. Leadership and collaboration here is about..…
• Expectation - the
council/public agencies
• Can’t work on our own
• Need strategic partners
• A regeneration group?
• Enabling and invisible
leadership
• Building capacity
• Making space
• Community participation
partners
roles
THIS Place
70. • Expectation=the
council/public agencies
• Can’t work on our own
• Need strategic partners
• A regeneration group?
• Think big BUT…
• need results
• Sporadic collaboration
• Capitalising on opportunities
‘in between’
• Long term relationship
• Sustaining relationships
• Feeding back what works:
impacts
• Roles change over time
• Enabling and invisible
leadership
• Building capacity
• Making space
• Community participation
partners
rolesrelationships
results
THIS Place
Leadership and collaboration here is [?] about..…
structures
impacts
75. THIS Place
WDC Neighbourhood management model…
Trust AND
credibility
Share ambition with
community
Public sector demonstrates:
can change, can listen, can
join up, can act
AND
Challenge and support
communities to do more for
themselves
If WE put in a bit more effort -
better results when we make
the ask of communities
what
76. how
THIS Place
WDC Neighbourhood management model…
Trust AND
credibility
Share ambition with
community
Public sector demonstrates:
can change, can listen, can
join up, can act
AND
Challenge and support
communities to do more for
themselves
If WE put in a bit more effort -
better results when we make
the ask of communities
Alexandria pilot
Anti social behaviour
• Didn’t have right intelligence
• People too frightened
• Delegated responsibility
Back courts
• Little work, high impacts
• Huge transformation
• People using
Waste management
• Education and support to
help those who need it AND
get messages across
77. THIS Place
IF its about the
‘long haul’, then…
• Long term relationship
• Sustaining relationships
• Feeding back what works:
impacts
• Roles change over time
relationships
79. the starting point is people
A vibrant successful
town. Work opportunities
for all, events, creativity,
know our heritage.
Leaders working
because they could
make a difference.
Community attracting
people
1
80. the starting point is people
Busy, attractive, still
relatively small town;
attractive to visitors, not
because of an attraction:
attractive place to spend
time; people came back
more than once; and
more people want to live
here. An attractive and
happy place
2
81. the starting point is people
Grandfathers live here,
and grandkids stay near
by. A place of choice,
community feel. People
aspire to stay here.
3
82. the starting point is people
People enjoy their
community, can achieve
and use their skills
4
83. THIS Place
IF it’s about ‘enabling’
‘capacities’ and ‘the long
haul’…a common identity
87. Sustainable management at the
RUHR is based on voluntary
inter-local & regional Co-Operation
- is possible
- needs visions and projects
- needs moderation and informal
management
- asks for qualities in different fields
- is based on peoples trust
89. Vibrant, connected, scenic
• Cultural heritage
• Enhance older communities
• Events
• River and cycle path, connections
90. Unique brand
• Everyone knows
• A starter location
• A place that’s really interesting to walk
around: public art
• Regeneration, derelict land, asset
management
91. Network of community spaces
• Community spaces hosting local services
• Mixed services: support, trades
• River and landscape connect service places
92. Connected attractive
• Attractive town centres
• Connections to attractive landscapes
• Excellent ordinary services
• Learning as we go and from other places
93. Champions…
• Local authority backing
• Local action [Berlin]
and met half way
• Targeting place
priorities
• Action updated year by
year: proof and impact
• Common vision and
identity
• Physical upgrade of
housing and natural
assets
• Collaborative
structures made visible
catalyst
collaborative
incremental
identity
THIS Place
94. Failure..…
THIS Place
• No common vision
• Political conflcts
• Failure of storytelling
• Good leadership but
problems down the line
• Unrealistic fantasy offer
• Too much, too long, too
hard
• Didn’t fail: just take longer
to get there. Don’t get
knocked off course
• People resist change
• Outside interference
• Poor resource
management; not
resources
common purpose
local decisions
reality
determination
97. THIS Place
kicked off by…..
vision
determination
desire for better
brilliant plan
Held to account collaboration
Awareness
/capabilities
trust
champion
communication
common
identity
So let’s look at why STORIES might have something to offer in motivating others to join us in action. To do this let’s think for a moment about the different ways we understand the world around us, the challenges we face and the action we might take. Psychologists tell us that we are capable of understanding the world in two distinct ways – the HEAD mode and the HEART mode.
The head mode helps us with strategy and analysis. It helps us to answer HOW questions. How we should run a campaign or how we can maximise turn out at an election? Leadership obviously requires these skills. But don’t we often act as if this is the only way of understanding the world around us? When we are trying to seek support don’t we act as if only we could find the right argument or piece of evidence surely others would come around to our way of thinking?
One of the reasons why this often fails is because is misses out the second way we have of looking at the world – the heart mode. The heart mode helps us to understand the world in completely different way. In terms of whether things are good or bad for us, hopeful or depressing, attractive or repulsive. The heart mode helps us to answer the WHY questions. Why should I care about this injustice or why should I vote for this candidate? As we’ll explore further during this workshop this is the domain of story rather than strategy.
Effective leadership requires both these modes – the head and the heart in order to move the hands – that is to move others to action.
The heart mode helps us to understand what we value – but how does this help us to move people to action?
The argument of this workshop is that the effective use of narrative is itself a leadership skill. And we’ll come back and look in much more detail about why that might be.
But first I just want to pause on that word ‘leadership’. The kind of leadership I’m talking about is described on the slide. This is not the kind of leadership that says “look at me” or “do what I say”. This is not about being the single bright star in the sky. This is the kind of leadership that seeks to enable others to join together to take action.
But not action when the outcome is certain. Action in the face of uncertainty. How many campaigns have you been involved in when the outcome was certain? Particularly about things that really matter to you? Almost never.
Of course we know that all of us will exist on an emotional range from despair to hope. If I ask you to make a difficult choice to join me in action when you are feeling despair – how do you think you are likely to respond? [Answer – higher levels of anxiety, less likely to say yes.]
There are emotions that inhibit us from taking mindful action – ACTION INHIBITORS and, there are emotions that enable us to take mindful action – ACTION MOTIVATORS
Apathy – Anger: if the people you are hoping to move action are feeling apathetic you need to give them the experience of FEELING outrage to provide the emotional information they need to enable them to make the choice to join you.
Isolation – Solidarity: If the people you are hoping to move to action are feeling isolated you need to to give them the experience of FEELING their connectedness with others to enable them to make the choice to join you.
When we are developing our public narrative we are seeking to draw upon those emotions that motivate us in order to help overcome the motions that most often inhibit us from taking action.
So what is public narrative?
Skill: something we can learn to do – and learn to do better and better. Like any skill it is something that we get better at with practice.
Motivate: we can have the best strategy in the world but if people won’t join us then it is useless.
Join: this is about enabling collective action – not action that we take singly but together.
Action: public narrative is intentional – not using stories because they are funny or tragic or to add flair to a speech. This is about using the power of storytelling to enable real action in the world.
This is the basic framework of public narrative – as you can see it has three elements. During this workshop you will learn to tell and link three distinct stories.
Your story of self: a story of why you are called to leadership right here and now
Your story of us: a story about your community and why they are called to take action with you
Your story of now: a story about the action that needs to be taken now and the consequences of taking or not taking it
Understanding the link between values, emotion and action is central to public narrative.
The argument that I am making is that values inspire action through emotion. Let me say that again – values inspire action through emotion.
Let’s think about that for a moment. Call to mind an injustice that you see in the world. What is it? How does it make you feel? Why do you feel that way? Because of the values that you hold. Our emotions provide a kind of information about what it is that we value.
It turns out that people who are unable to feel emotion are also unable to make choices. This is especially important in public narrative because ultimately you will be asking people to MAKE A CHOICE to join you in action. Unless you can provide them with the emotional information they need they are unlikely to do so.
The argument of this workshop is that the effective use of narrative is itself a leadership skill. And we’ll come back and look in much more detail about why that might be.
But first I just want to pause on that word ‘leadership’. The kind of leadership I’m talking about is described on the slide. This is not the kind of leadership that says “look at me” or “do what I say”. This is not about being the single bright star in the sky. This is the kind of leadership that seeks to enable others to join together to take action.
But not action when the outcome is certain. Action in the face of uncertainty. How many campaigns have you been involved in when the outcome was certain? Particularly about things that really matter to you? Almost never.