Mobility Matters Daily #127 - A bit of a dive into co-creation
Plus a bit of fun
Good day friend.
You have your head down in work all week, and you look up and its only Friday. For me that only means one thing. Nope, not a quiet pint at the pub after work, but holiday traffic snarling up the M1 heading North. The transport planner never sleeps. To the news.
James
What is co-creation really?
Over the years I have seen a lot of transport schemes that have claimed that they have used co-creation to deliver a scheme or initiative. And a lot of schemes who have really just used co-creation as a way of saying “we did something a bit different with consultation.” A lot of the definitions focus on the design element and the methodologies used. Even the usually-excellent community planning toolkit focusses on the design elements of co-creation. After all, you are creating aren’t you?
For me, focussing simply on the design part of the process misses what co-creation is all about, but at the same time it does not. I consider that if anyone was to go for the perfect co-creation approach to projects, this would constitute 4 things:
Co-planning. For transport planners, this means working with the public and stakeholders in setting the plan and the objectives. This doesn’t mean that they are working on Gantt Chart or setting the timeline necessarily, but that you set what you want to achieve, discuss and agree how the change will happen, be open about how long things take and the costs, and come to an informed decision that is accepted by the people who you will be working on the project with.
Co-design. Transport planners have long experience on this. You understand the needs of those who you are delivering for (note NEEDS, not wants), and work with them throughout the design process, starting from scratch. You can inform them on the relative merits of different types of schemes or policies, their impacts, and the challenges with delivery. The solution should be acceptable to the majority.
Co-delivery. Transport planners sometimes do this. The processes that public sector authorities have do not help. But you can do basic things like work with local contractors, or invite key stakeholders to be part of a delivery board (even in an advisory role). Your co-planning and co-design process should identify parts of the project where you can meaningfully involve local people and stakeholders in delivery.
Co-evaluation. This is almost never done. Or where it is done, its a survey or interviews that simply ask “look, now its happening do you like it?” Again, there are some really basic things that you can do. Involve local people in traffic counts. Pay a local supplier to do the evaluation.
The reality is, however, that co-creation is a spectrum and varies according to the project and its circumstances. Hitting every single one of these elements may not be feasible in a project. In such instances, it is better to do one or two aspects well than to simply give up and only do the bare minimum for public consultation.
Co-planning has next-to-no examples of how to to it well
Lets be honest. Transport projects usually start with a local authority, transport service provider, or consultant comes up with an idea, and thinks ‘it would be great to involve others.’ After they have done the project planning, and had the Project Initiation Document approved. The CIHT document Better Planning, Better Transport, Better Places is a good starting point for some best practice hints. Co-planning has a long history in teaching and medical practice, that good practice lessons can be taken from.
Co-design of streets has a long history of delivery
Looking at co-design, the list of doing this is extremely long. So long I am annoyed that this has not become standard practice yet. Just from a short Google I have found the following best practice examples:
And before I get the messages that say “you missed out this example of co-design that was really good,” yes, I did. Either because it got buried in the Google search or because I did not choose it from the hundreds possible. If you want to add your own example, put it in the comments!
Co-delivery and co-evaluation just needs one document
Honestly, just read these presentation slides by Civitas. It’s very, very, very good. I need say no more.
Visualisation of the Day
The sun is pretty important, right? The amazing ShadowMap visualises where the sun will be, and where shadows will be cast, for any time of the day, almost anywhere in the world. This is the northern end of St James’s Park in London. This tool is a must for anyone designing a new neighbourhood.
Source: ShadowMap
If you do nothing else today, do this
Help Local Transport Today in its review of how it operates. LTT is one of the staple transport planning publications in the UK. But times are-a-changing, and they want to keep what they are doing relevant. You should help them keep up their excellent work.
Something fun for the weekend
All work and no play is boring right? So have a meme on me.
