Made to Measure

Year 1 Report for the Every One Every Day initiative in Barking and Dagenham 

“City builders and community builders the world over are taking note of the quiet revolution that is happening in Barking and Dagenham. Every One Every Day is the real sharing economy. It is building the kind of neighbourhoods everyone is going to want to live in in the future.”

Alex Ryan, VP Systems Change, MaRS Solution Lab

“Participatory City provides a refreshing narrative and a tangible manifestation of what transition can look like, at the scale of the neighbourhood. It represents a model that can connect with similar movements of change, scale across neighbourhoods, and be adapted to cities anywhere. Simply put, it provides an inspiration for us to re-imagine how we live and work together in the future.

Jayne Engle, Cities for People, McConnell Foundation

“It feels as right as it feels radical to assert that we can take on complex social challenges by nurturing connections between people around their own creativity and energy. Built on years of research, it is no surprise the program focuses so purposefully on making it easier to co-design projects and easier for many people to participate in ways that sync up with everyday life. Hats off to the Every One Every Day community for bringing forward a vision bold enough to challenge old ways of thinking, and people-centered enough to actually work.”

James Anderson, Head of Government Innovation Programs, Bloomberg Philanthropies

“For city managers and policy makers, the strategic focus is shifting from service delivery to the creation of enabling conditions for ongoing, self-sustaining, social value creation. Enabling is demanding work. It includes the ongoing search for social and cultural assets that have potential; involving people in projects who may not feel empowered to do so; the development of collaborations with adjacent organisations, and anchor institutions, that share the long term vision.”

John Thackara, Founder, Doors of Perception

The first year of the Barking and Dagenham initiative gives an exciting indication of the potential of this approach – not just in theory but in practice. These lessons in what has worked, and what hasn’t, will have resonance well beyond the borough.

Kieron Boyle, Chief Executive, Guy’s and St Thomas’ Charity

“Participation is the key to our shared future. It gives us all a sense that the future is ours to make, not just the product of forces far beyond our control, and in so doing it provides the sense of hope and optimism for which people are searching all over the world.  This is why the Every One Every Day initiative is so important.”

Marc Stears, Director Sydney Policy Lab, Sydney University