Participatory Democratic Methods for a Civic University:Collective re-imagining of the University of East Anglia's civic role.

Little, Benjamin and Forster, Johanna (2025) Participatory Democratic Methods for a Civic University:Collective re-imagining of the University of East Anglia's civic role. In: UNSPECIFIED. (In Press)

Full text not available from this repository. (Request a copy)

Abstract

Since the launch of the Truly Civic report (Kerslake et al, 2019), UK universities have responded to renewed calls for civic commitment by convening a small group of executives from higher education and local government to set priorities for a Civic University Agreement. But could a university take a completely different approach? Instead of asking senior leaders to define what “civic” means in their place, what if we asked the people who live there to define it for themselves? They should be the beneficiaries of such activity after all. From 2021-23 the University of East Anglia (UEA) embarked in a series of six day-long democratic agenda setting events using Open Space Technology open to anyone in Norfolk and Suffolk (Owen 2008). Attended by 350 people and with 15,000 online interactions using the participatory Polis platform (Demos 2022), each event produced a short book in the words of participants and directly informed what became UEA’s 60th Anniversary Civic charter (Forster et al, 2023). The Charter defines the civic role the university should play as articulated by the people of its region. We are recording its effects using Ripple Effect Mapping (Nobles et al, 2022), another participatory method. This paper will explain the process, contexts, outputs and outcomes of a democratic approach to a Civic University Agreement. It will also tell the story of what happened next, from a new arts centre in Great Yarmouth, to co-producing a regional economic strategy, to the Norwich mayor’s apology for the Blood Libel.

Item Type: Conference or Workshop Item (Paper)
Faculty \ School: Faculty of Arts and Humanities > School of Politics, Philosophy and Area Studies

Faculty of Social Sciences > School of Global Development (formerly School of International Development)
University of East Anglia Research Groups/Centres > Theme - ClimateUEA
UEA Research Groups: Faculty of Arts and Humanities > Research Groups > Comics Studies Research Group
Faculty of Arts and Humanities > Research Groups > Political, Social and International Studies
Faculty of Arts and Humanities > Research Groups > Cultural Politics, Communications & Media
Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Marine Knowledge Exchange Network
Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Groups > Global Environmental Justice
Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Collaborative Centre for Sustainable Use of the Seas
Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Centres > Water Security Research Centre
University of East Anglia Schools > Faculty of Science > Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research
Faculty of Science > Research Centres > Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research
Depositing User: LivePure Connector
Date Deposited: 20 Mar 2025 15:30
Last Modified: 20 Mar 2025 15:30
URI: https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/98834
DOI:

Actions (login required)

View Item View Item