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Research ques3on: 

 

How can new spaces of urban experimenta3on and social 

innova3on challenge exis3ng governance forms? 

@JamandJustice 

http://ontheplatform.org.uk/jam-justice

There is an urgent need to find the ‘jam in the 

sandwich’, to move beyond unhelpful binaries of 

‘top down’ and ‘boDom up’ by experimen3ng in 

the boundary spaces of urban governance in 

order to more effec3vely and democra3cally 

govern complex, wicked urban issues. 

Jam and Jus)ce Case for Support, February 2015

What is the city but the people? 

Coriolanus, William Shakespeare


What kinds of governance mechanisms can support more par3cipa3ve, 

inclusive urban policy-‐making processes? 



The freedom to make and remake our ci3es and 

ourselves is one of the most precious yet most 

neglected of our human rights. 

David Harvey (2008) ‘The Right to the City’, New LeN Review 53: 

Sept-‐Oct.

We now face a crisis of a more profound kind – a crisis of 

iden3ty and morality. The boundaries between “public”, 

“private” and “voluntary” sectors are becoming more 

blurred and the rela3onships between them are being 

renego3ated. …New kinds of organisa3ons are already 

evolving, but innova3on is constrained not only by 

resources but by skills and structures. 

Alex Whinnom, Greater Manchester Centre for Voluntary Organisa)on, 

2014 

hZp://onthepla\orm.org.uk/ar)cle/perspec)ves-‐essay-‐making-‐case-‐people-‐centred-‐approach-sustainability-‐greater-‐manchester


What are the impacts of including marginalised groups and individuals 

in policy, in terms, for instance, of democra3c voice, social jus3ce and 

the quality and nature of decision-‐making processes? 



The cri3c is not the one who debunks, but the 

one who assembles. The cri3c is not the one 

who liOs the rugs from under the feet of the 

naïve believers, but the one who offers the 

par3cipants arenas in which to gather. 

Bruno Latour (2004) ‘Why Has Cri)que Run out of Steam? From 

MaZers of Fact to MaZers of Concern’. Cri)cal Inquiry 30, 

Chicago: The University of Chicago.

The philosopher Isaiah Berlin […] famously 

divided people into hedgehogs and foxes. The 

former know one big thing, or think they do. The 

laDer know lots of liDle things. Design is a 

methodology for foxes. 

Design Council, 2013, p. 24.


 

How can knowledge be organised and produced differently to bridge the gap 

between knowledge and ac3on in urban governance? 



But Manchester, as Mancs love to tell you, has 

been ahead of the game. Perhaps it'll be the first 

place to show us whether our new ci3es work. 

From "Manchester Divided" by Jim McClellan, Esquire Magazine, 

June 1997.

The old model of trying to run everything in our 

country from the centre of London is broken. It’s 

led to an unbalanced economy. It’s made people 

feel remote from the decisions that affect their 

lives. ‎It’s not good for our prosperity or for our 

democracy. 

George Osborne, UK Chancellor of the Exchequer, May 2015 

hZps://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/chancellor-‐on-‐building-‐a-‐northern-powerhouse


 

What are the dynamics, challenges and outcomes of scaling co-produc3on 

to the urban level? 



Governing needs to be reconceptualised as an 

ac3ve process, requiring ‘popular’ spaces within 

ci3es to explore, re-‐invigorate and advance 

democra3c goals. 

Jam and Jus)ce Case for Support, February 2015.

Co-‐produc3on of research allows the authority, 

resources and status of the academy to 

contribute as part of an advocacy coali3on for 

social and policy change. 

Catherine Durose and Liz Richardson (2015) ‘Designing public 

policy for coproduc)on. Theory, prac)ce and change’. Bristol: 

Policy Press, p.205.


How is intermedia3on performed, for what func3on, by whom? What 

intermediary prac3ces and processes catalyse or hinder urban 

transforma3ons? 



I don’t have a voice, I have no weight, I have no 

power, I don’t have the right background, 

probably not the right sex…there are a lot of 

things that prevent other voices and other 

perspec3ves from being heard, and even when 

you are heard, you are ignored, you become 

almost like wall paper. 

Interviewee, Community Organisa)on (2014)

In our fragmented, fast-‐speed, 3me-‐poor, high-‐pressured 

socie3es, where policy proceeds at a startling pace in the 

absence of collec3ve learning, collec3ve spaces for reflec3on 

are needed even more …the challenge is to design 

mechanisms for collec3vely producing knowledge in a 

reflexive ethos, without collapsing into group therapy, while 

maintaining concern to contribute to the possibili3es of 

transforma3on of the world to which we belong. 

Tim May and Beth Perry (2013) ‘Reflexivity and the Prac)ce of Qualita)ve 

Research’, in U. Flick, Sage Handbook of Qualita)ve Data Analysis, London: Sage, 

p.120.


 

What are the implica3ons for academics, their prac3ce and 

universi3es as sites of knowledge produc3on in 21st century 

ci3es? 



Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is 

going to get beDer. It’s not. 

You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You 

can steer yourself any direc3on you choose. 

Dr Seuss, Various.

To the extent that it is possible, we should… reimagine the 

university as a poli3cised machine that works to produce and 

amplify different percep3ons of the world, to find ways to 

interrupt and change the rules of everyday life. We must 

challenge (and fight) over the very func3on of the university. 

‘Demand the Impossible!’ should become the ra3onale of the 

academy. 

Ber)e Russell (2015) ‘Beyond ac)vism/academia: militant research and the radical 

climate and climate jus)ce movement(s)’ Area 47(3): 222-‐229

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