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Manchester Looper Project
The Manchester Urban Living Lab has been exploring ways of increasing the participation of citizens in decision making, alongside other stakeholders using a “learning loops” approach.
The aim of LOOPER is to build a participatory co-creation methodology to demonstrate ‘learning loops’, which are new ways of decision-making that bring together citizens, stakeholders and policymakers and incorporate visualisation technologies and experimentation.
Beginning with discussions about issues of concern in Brunswick and then gathering data to help the groups fully understand the nature of the problems, the groups started to co-design potential solutions, and evaluate their desirability and feasibility. The project team are now implementing several connected interventions focused on greening, traffic calming and placemaking, all of which involve Brunswick residents and local organisations, various teams within Manchester City Council, and other stakeholders.
These interventions are understood as experiments. They consist of temporary or more long-term changes to the neighbourhood that are being monitored in relation to a range of potential effects. There is an opportunity to embark on a second learning loop where certain elements can be adjusted and the effects monitored. The desired outcome of the overall process is that everyone engaged will learn from it and will apply this learning in future decision-making and actions in Brunswick and beyond.