A new report jointly commissioned by The RSA and 2020 Public Services Trust

This report by Ipsos MORI gauges the potential for greater public involvement in the design and delivery of public services.

Of course in a sense, this idea of “co-creation” is nothing new.  We are all citizens, and it is a mundane but salient point that  we collectively define our services through each and every interaction we have with them – whether as teachers, patients, taxpayers, public sector employees, parents, crime victims, nurses, residents, litter louts, politicians, or carers.

Once we accept that co-creation is the norm, not the exception, we need to understand how to enrich these existing interactions, and perhaps create some new ones “to realise citizens’ potential” as the report (and the RSA) argues.

So much for the theory. As part of our Citizen Power programme we are working over the next two years with 2020 Public Services Trust, Peterborough City Council and the Arts Council East to test these ideas in practice.  

Citizen Power Peterborough is a programme of experimental projects to enhance civic capability and improve services in Peterborough, based in part on these civic development principles.