What we do

Our Services:

PLACEMAKING

RESEARCH

MENTORING

ENGAGEMENT

EVALUATION

STRATEGY

FACILITATION

We believe in building genuine connections, so the first thing we do is listen to our clients. This way we can understand and focus on what matters to them: communities of local residents, particular population groups, organisations, businesses, service providers,local and central government. Then we bring our knowledge, experience, and design skills to engage and work with their ideas to bring their vision and goals to life. This way, together, we co-create solutions that work well in the local context, learn together and build capacity as we go.

Placemaking and community building/engagement

We accelerate placemaking, community building and engagement by building on the strengths and assets already present in a place and community. Starting with what is already available (energies, resources, skills, knowledge, passions) helps reveal collective goals and aspirations and working creatively together achieves meaningful engagement and develops clear pathways towards positive outcomes for local communities and places. Effective community engagement can help further a myriad of goals held by different groups, organisations, local authorities and central government agencies working at the neighbourhood level, including business associations, property developers and retirement village operators.

Strategic development

We use creative approaches so we hear from a wider variety of voices. Data gathering is followed up with participatory analysis processes to collectively make sense of what is said so responses are developed that deliver on social, cultural, economic, environmental, political and institutional goals. Actions can also be co-developed, prioritised and, potentially, co-delivered. We recommend reviewing implementation at agreed intervals, to reveal progress and emerging possibilities as well as to ensure practice-based evidence and learnings are woven into projects in real time.

Community-led planning and action

Plans and actions that effectively include community members alongside professionals are likely to be more relevant to and welcomed in that community. They can also bring the best of both lived experience and specialist knowledge together to work towards collective intentions, visions and goals. Our skilled expertise ensures locals drive positive changes in their places, in ways that work for them, and produce quality processes and results that build resilience and regeneration in both communities and systems.

Research and studies

Nothing happens that wasn’t first a dream. We help groups better understand local opportunities, including what has gone before, what works elsewhere as well as why people want to work together, what they want to achieve and how they can most effectively go about making their collective dreams reality. Using a wide range of interactive tools and techniques, our research and studies include not only what is desirable but what might be feasible and viable too.In recent years, our reports have underpinned strategic planning, given voice to youth perspectives, supported placemaking decision making and mobilised collective action in a range of ways.

Participatory Evaluation

Noticing and assessing what happens and what differences are contributed to (and for who) is key to informing further development, change and sustainability. Drawing on developmental evaluation principles, we help assess how well things are working, what progress is being made, how new possibilities are emerging, and the kinds of outcomes and impacts that an initiative is contributing to so new strategies can be developed. Our evaluation work is frequently interactive at all or some of the planning, design, data gathering and sensemaking stages, and findings are often woven in as projects unfold.

Co-design and facilitation

Independent facilitation can help you reach potential you didn’t even know was there! Our facilitation can help bring diverse perspectives together, draw ideas out, develop them collectively, overcome obstacles and keep things moving in positive and compassionate ways. Our approaches foster deep collaboration and co-design and are generously interactive, fun and reflexive as well as pragmatic.

Keynotes and conferences

Our team and those we collaborate with are available to keynote and help organise conferences. From time to time, we run events, courses and workshops to grow local skills, share understandings and broaden perspectives, including our own. We were part of the organising team for the International Community Development conference in Darwin in 2023; have run the Kūmara Awards in Aotearoa in 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2024; a placemaking activation weekend in Kororāreka Russell in 2024; and training workshops in Tauranga for SociaLink and Colab Collective.

Also we develop custom tools for our projects!

We believe in the power of visual tools to bring clarity and new perspectives. Our tools are carefully crafted and tailored to each project, helping to see and understand data in a fresh, intuitive way. By making community engagement fun, and data collection and analysis more accessible and engaging, we uncover valuable insights that drive meaningful outcomes. And they are quite enjoyable too! Tools we can share are offered at no cost.

Coaching and training

Sometimes the skills and resources we need for transformative change are hiding in plain sight. This is when coaching or training can be really useful. We offer tailored coaching in creative community engagement, locally-led change strategies, and participatory community building, planning and action. We also offer a range of full and half day training sessions that can be tailored to your context. Talk to us about training on the basics of community-led development, a lean canvas approach to community-focused evaluation, placemaking as a tool for community building, iterative strategic planning tools to help build on things that are at our fingertips already and identify those that we may need to bring in.

Growing capability

The way we work builds on and grows the skills, experiences and perspectives that already exist. We are always learning and we love to share ideas, ways of doing things and results. Everything we do aims to grow positive social and physical infrastructure to support collective locally-led regeneration, resilience and adaptation.

Want to be part of a community of practice?

Contact us!