Governing Together
Together, we aim to co-create practical pathways for local governments, organisations, communities, and their wider ecosystems to foster trust, motivation, and the critical conditions for sustained collective action. This means identifying key principles, everyday practices, and governance structures that guide how decisions are made, problems are defined, and priorities are set across public, private, and civil society actors.
We don’t always have the perfect words or terms to describe what we’re discovering here. Sometimes we only understand something by circling around its edges – and that’s okay. Our work and reflections embrace a high degree of emergence, where meaning and clarity unfold over time, shaped by relationships, patterns, and insights that surface throughout the process. In the thinking and practice we offer, we will surely make assumptions and mistakes – and we see that as a healthy part of the process. We are open to being challenged, because we believe that is where the seeds of transformation and innovation live: in dialogue, in friction, in difference, and not only in shared but also in compatible visions and ideas.
Investing in Soft Infrastructures –Cultivating the Conditions for Change
Today’s problems aren’t just technical – they’re deeply social, psychological, cultural, moral, and relational. Tackling climate transitions, housing shortages, or public health crises requires us to work together across departments, sectors, industries, and communities. But that kind of collaboration doesn’t happen without trust, humility, shared understanding, and the belief that change is both necessary and possible.
And right now, many people don’t feel or trust that possibility. Systems change is hard – for the simple reason that systems are good at resisting change and staying exactly as they are.
Instead, people are increasingly overwhelmed, sceptical, or disengaged. Many feel paralysed by conflicting information and unsure of what they can do to address any of the complex challenges. They feel their voices don’t matter. They experience participation fatigue and resentment toward governments, institutions, and elites. They’re unsure who to trust or how to engage. This breakdown in collective sensemaking makes it even harder for cities and local governments to mobilise the very collective action they so urgently need.
We work closely with many local governments and often see them asking versions of the following questions:
- How do we make better decisions together, especially in uncertain times?
- Who decides what we consider a ‘better’ decision?
- How do we engage people meaningfully, not just performatively?
- How do we rebuild trust so people want to participate again?
But many responses from decision-makers still focus too narrowly on individuals, trying to ‘nudge’ better behaviour or raise awareness through campaigns. While gamification and campaigns can be useful tools for education and awareness – when applied thoughtfully and with deep contextual understanding– they often overlook the systemic barriers that constrain people’s choices. Too many interventions still treat individuals as isolated units of change, missing a crucial insight: we are inherently relational beings, shaped by our closest social circles, communities, and environments. We need to design interventions that reflect this. Educating people alone will not necessarily lead to sustained change if people remain embedded in systems that lock them into certain entrenched social practices and patterns of behaviour.
You can find our publication on the foundational conditions here.
Note to the Reader:
Dear Reader, Before you dive in…
This isn’t a deck to read in one go.
Think of it like a garden – wander in, linger where something catches your eye, skip a few paths, come back later!
Our Companion Guide
How to explore our workAs authors, we come to this work with humility and generative curiosity, rather than a sense of certainty, challenging the belief that we can fully know, define, or have all the answers to complex questions. Our insights come from decades of practical experience on the ground, not from abstract concepts or theories.
This work calls for an attitude shift — not only from its authors, but from anyone engaging with it. It is less a rigid framework and more a set of conditions, or a ‘companion guide,’ inviting curiosity, openness, and generosity. Generative curiosity means starting from genuine openness toward others and adopting a ‘yes, and…’ mindset, borrowed from improvisational theatre, which helps build on each other’s ideas rather than block them. We welcome challenges, new ideas, and perspectives to grow this work collectively.
Drawing on contemplative practices, this approach invites us to make meaning for ourselves. Rather than offering fixed interpretations, words and ideas open space for personal resonance, allowing new understandings and ways of seeing to emerge. Meaning arises through interaction with the material, requiring proactive engagement on both sides.
We recognise that this way of engaging contrasts with a more familiar Western tradition of a focus on solutions, often rooted in modernist and Enlightenment frames of reference. That tradition values certainty, linear progress, and clear answers and set briefs – often before we even fully understand the problem. While that approach has brought important advances, it can also limit openness to ambiguity, uncertainty, and relational complexity. Governing Together invites a complementary posture – one that holds space for ongoing questioning and co-creation over time – being responsive or attuned to what arises in real time.
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What Keeps Us Awake At Night
This is our starting point and the context we work in, where we face the hard truths of our time – widening inequalities, deep injustices, and entrenched powers that shape the world we live in. These are the stories and patterns that stir us, unsettle us, and keep us awake at night – the reasons behind why we do what we do. Sharing them here is our way of naming what matters and why we choose to act.
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In Practice – How We Get Our Hands Dirty
Here, we open up how we work – the practices, experiments, and approaches that guide our day-to-day efforts. From designing processes and tools to enabling change on the ground, this section shows the practical ways we put ideas into motion, keep our hands dirty, and help improve the fertility of the soil for others to do good work.
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The Village
Change does not come alone — it takes a village. This space gathers the field we are part of: partners, collaborators, and fellow practitioners working toward new paradigms. Here, we amplify the good work of others and host reflections, interviews, and shared pieces of design work and writing that show how our collective strength grows through relationships, a multitude of intelligences, and governing together.
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Our Shared Work – Where We Show Up
This space gathers our public work – talks, events, publications, and other contributions that share our learning more widely. Here we open up the conversations we have beyond our immediate field, offering ideas, stories, and provocations for others to pick up, question, and carry forward. It is both a record of where we have been and an invitation to join us in shaping what comes next.
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Let’s Govern Together
We would love to hear from you. Whether you want to share a thought, explore working together, or simply say hello, this is the space to connect. Change is relational, and every conversation is part of the larger weave.
Please get in touch at hello@governing-together.org
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Funders
Our Roots
Every action has a root. Ours lie in the values, life stories, and connections that shape who we are. This page is where we share our beginnings, our team, and the threads that brought us together – not just our skills and capabilities, but the deeper reasons why this work matters to each of us.
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Glossary – Building a Common Ground
Language shapes how we understand each other and the work we do. This space gathers key terms, concepts, and ideas that guide our collective practice, offering a shared reference to help everyone speak, think, and act together. By building a common language, we strengthen our connections, clarify our intentions, and support the field as it grows.
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