One Kilburn
Reframing community governance as a service
This team project partnered with One Kilburn in London to explore how participatory governance can become more transparent, inclusive, and easier to engage with. Through field research and co-design, we proposed a practical governance framework and toolkit—covering roles, meeting processes, access channels, and a governance handbook.
DESIGN PROCESS
Context & The Challenge
Context & challenge: participation exists, but pathways are unclear
One Kilburn connects residents, community organisations, and local authorities to drive local initiatives. However, our observations and interviews revealed unclear roles, fragmented information, and high barriers for residents to participate—reducing collaboration efficiency and trust. We framed governance as a public service that can be designed and delivered.
Research Approach
Research approach: making governance observable and designable
We followed the Double Diamond: combining secondary research on governance models with field research, meeting observations, and stakeholder interviews. Our focus was: how decisions are made, how information flows, and how residents enter and stay engaged. Insights were then translated into co-design opportunities.
Stakeholders & Key Insight
Key insight: the real issue is low visibility of collaboration
In a multi-stakeholder network, participation is shaped less by the number of activities and more by visibility: who owns what, where updates live, how voices are heard, and how decisions are recorded and fed back. We defined three experience gaps—role clarity, accessible entry points, and process transparency—as our design focus.
Co-design: Turning Insights into Options
Co-design: turning governance from internal rules into a shared language
We facilitated workshops to map current processes, prioritise issues, and co-create improvements. The goal wasn’t to decide for the organisation, but to build a shared governance language—translating values (inclusion, transparency, accountability) into concrete mechanisms (roles, meetings, documentation, external communication), ready for prototyping.
Prototype & Testing
Prototyping & testing: role-play to validate usability of processes
We role-played One Kilburn’s open meeting scenario with participants taking different roles (coordination, sub-groups, residents). We tested: accessibility of information, clarity of meeting flow, and whether feedback could be captured into next steps. Findings led to four refinements: thematic meetings, more formative feedback channels, consistent documentation, and rotating community ambassadors.
Final Proposal
Final proposal: governance as an operable service system
We delivered an actionable governance system, not just recommendations:
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Restructured model clarifying key functions (coordination, comms, funding, documentation) and their relationship with thematic sub-groups;
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Ambassador mechanism with rotating leadership to bring diverse community voices into decision-making;
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Improved meeting processes through thematic and small-group formats;
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Documentation & access to keep workflows, records, and updates visible and usable over time.
Deliverables & Impact
Deliverables & impact: making governance visible, usable, and accessible
Key deliverables include the governance structure, role descriptions, meeting templates, access/feedback channels, and a Governance Handbook. The system helps One Kilburn:
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lower barriers for resident participation (clearer pathways and channels)
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build transparency and trust (trackable processes and records)
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improve cross-stakeholder collaboration (clear responsibilities)
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enable long-term operation through reusable templates (sustainable governance assets)
