Seeing the public as your client: creative community engagement case studies

Cities only really thrive when citizens’ voices are heard. Yet as governments struggle to get construction moving, they risk leaving society behind.

The current investment conversation is dominated by concerns about war and supply chains, climate and the economy, rather than the quality or mandate for new development. But if you skip the public dialogue early on, the blockages and delays simply emerge later in the form of objections, appeals, reputational damage and redesigns, when they are much more time-consuming and expensive to fix.

And the end result is a building or a place that lacks human connection and fails to deliver on people’s practical and emotional needs.

The obvious truth is that people should feel valued and hopeful as their cities change. Everyone involved in city-making wants this to happen, from developers to architects, planners to activists. But so much community engagement comes too little and too late, without the style, vigour and inclusion that will make most people want to be part of the conversation.

So how do we all do better?

Maybe it starts with understanding the public as our client. Not the only important voice, but the primary one. And if the public is your client, then citizens should be part of open conversations from the start, with their voices shaping both policy and design from the bottom up.

That can be achieved in many different ways, depending on the context and the funding. The four project stories we’ve published on humanise.org, written by Hyelim Jang, all originate in South Korea, but their community-led techniques can be applied in any town or city, from Baltimore to Birmingham. They’re detailed, practical case studies written for people who commission or deliver community engagement. We hope you’ll use them to inform the way you relate to the public, wherever it is that you work.