Formation of the Action Research Collective, 2016-2020

Perry, Beth and Russel, Bert (2021). Formation of the Action Research Collective, 2016-2020. [Data Collection]. Colchester, Essex: UK Data Service. 10.5255/UKDA-SN-854550

Our cities are in crisis. There are real uncertainties about issues such as austerity, economic growth, diversity and sustainability. Most people are beginning to recognise that existing ways of working aren't delivering benefits for the people who need them most. Citizens and third sector organisations are often left out of the picture as formal urban partnerships spend their energies negotiating with central government. Local expertise, innovation and creativity have often not been seen as part of the answer to our urban crisis. But we can see that there are people and organisations taking action locally and coming up with different kinds of solutions.
Jam and Justice is a novel project that seeks to address wicked urban problems through collaborative working on messy solutions. 'Jam' is about trying to bring together different constituencies in the city to experiment and innovate to address our shared problems. 'Justice' is about re-connecting with those who have been disenfranchised and excluded from the search for solutions. We want to create an Action Research Cooperative - or 'ARC'. The ARC is a space which will allow a different way of thinking about how to work together to address 21st century urban challenges. Researchers know some of the answers, citizens have other ideas and solutions and insights, practitioners bring yet another perspective, and political leaders have visions for how they want things to be. The ARC will bring these different groups together to co-develop innovative approaches to address complex urban governance problems. The ARC is made by the people who take part in it: academics, politicians, practitioners, citizens and activists. Some of us will try and play more than one role, for example as practitioner researchers and academic-activists. We want to use the ARC to help us bridge the gap between knowledge and action and to shape the action which we can take together.
First, the ARC will set the principles for how we want to work together. Then we will initiate a series of 'learn and do' projects, which will generate the primary data needed to answer the research questions: what sorts of new ways to govern the city-region can help transform the debate? How can we include voices that have been neglected previously? Who can help mediate between different groups and interests? We will open up the opportunities to be part of the ARC not only through our projects, but also through a creative social engagement programme, including live debates, online communities, blogs and podcasts. We are going to tell people what we are up to right from the start, so they can follow, share and engage with our work. We will be holding a range of public and special interest events, where people can hear about and become part of the project.
So where is this all going to happen? We are going to start in a place we know, working with people who share a commitment to urban transformation. We will build the ARC in Greater Manchester, a place right on the cusp of change, as the first English city-region to be negotiating more devolution of powers from central government. Greater Manchester is a unique test-bed for our research interests, a city-region where we can further academic knowledge and deliver high policy and practitioner relevance. We have already identified key partners across the public, voluntary and community sector in Greater Manchester who want to work with us in the ARC. We will also network with national organisations and learn from what is happening around the world through fieldtrips to Chicago, Paris, Melbourne, Cape Town and Scotland. The ARC is a unique space for social innovation to co-produce, test and learn from new ways of governing cities. This will help us critically reflect on how to organise knowledge better to make positive urban transformations happen that are inclusive and equitable.

Data description (abstract)

This deposit contains 29 documents. This includes two documents used to promote the Jam and Justice project and generate initial interest in joining the Action Research Collective (ARC). The second bundle of documents are those relating to the formation of the ARC. The project methodology aimed to bring together academic and non-academic researchers – with different knowledge, skills and resources interested in making devolution matter in Greater Manchester – to test and learn about the theory and practice of co-production in research. This selected group would be known as the ARC whose primary role was to initiate, develop and undertake comparative learning from action research projects. Documents deposited are the ARC application form, the marking criteria used by the Principle Investigators to select ARC members, profile information sheet for ARC members and the consent form for ARC members to participate. The ARC members Co-designed 10 social experiment projects and all of the final project reports from these and the Jam and Justice final report are included. The power point presentation slides used at the final report launch in July 2019 are also deposited. A number of administrative documents are deposited, namely the agreement of services for individual ARC projects and payment approval sign off records used to ensure projects were on track and meeting milestones. Finally, there is a document that details all of the short project videos generated with links to view them online.

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