What can we do to make change happen?

Want to see more interesting, joyful and human buildings in your town or city? There are three things you can start doing right now which will help massively:

Notice:

Take a good look at the buildings around you, and think about how they make you feel. Are they lifting you up, and bringing a bit of joy to your day? Or are they just visual blah blah blah? Our Spotter’s Guide can help.

Talk:

If change is going to happen we need the conversation to get bigger and louder. Talk to friends, family and colleagues; share Humanise social posts and emails with your networks; read Humanise with your book group.

Change:

Demanding change doesn’t have to mean marching on parliament. You can make your voice heard by joining Humanise, telling us what matters to you, and using our research to call for changes in your area. 

We’ve put together the Humanise Principles to help professionals working to create more human buildings. It’s a people-centred toolkit you can use to inform decisions about design and investment, and have better conversations with planners and communities.

“In a world overflowing with policy and guidance, the Humanise Principles are a breath of fresh air – simple, practical, and genuinely useful.”

– Jonathan Wilson, Co-Founder and Managing Director, Citu

In too many places, development is seen as something that happens to a city, rather than something that’s created by and for the city itself.

We want leaders to be bold and visionary about their town or city, using the very quirks and characteristics that make it special to inform the kind of growth they need – not off-the-shelf generic development that could be anywhere. Coupled with creating the conditions which proactively encourage that development, this could supercharge the towns and cities that communities want.