Community and stakeholder engagement
PLACED creates independent engagement that facilitates genuine conversations with community voices, creating opportunities to help make thriving places.
Our creative activities provide accessible opportunities to listen and learn, bringing local insight and representational voices together with those delivering built environment projects.
We manage the expectations of communities, acting as a facilitator between the client and stakeholders and the wider public. Our activity captures meaningful feedback and data, enabling clients to move forward with solutions that respond to local needs.
We work with local authorities, housing associations, design teams, developers and businesses to help build support, facilitate engagement and deliver projects, both in person and online.
We are uniquely positioned to respond to increasing requirements to engage, adding value and clear benefits.
Development of engagement strategies
We’ll work with you to identify needs, audiences and project parameters to develop a tailored strategy that will build understanding, increase conversation and support community cohesion around place-based projects.
Ed the Campervan
We use our mobile campervan to create a pop-up event that captures non-traditional voices and an incidental audience. Ed’s flexibility means we can get close to areas of high footfall or the area being discussed, to bring ideas, plans and proposals to life with visual, hands-on activities.
Pop-up shops
Our pop-up shops allow us to get under the skin of an area, sharing key project information and capturing feedback. Typically situated on a local high street, they capture diverse stakeholders voices. We create warm, welcoming, and friendly spaces to engage in conversation through collaborative activities and programmed events.
Pop-ups can be short-medium term (one day or longer.)
Focus groups and co-design workshops
Our workshops create the opportunity to work with a focused group – such as your project partners or older people – or host an open session. Our experienced team navigates beyond initial barriers or responses, using visual, participative co-design activities to explore solutions in detail through a relaxed but structured session.
Sessions can also be delivered online. We’ve honed our expertise to skilfully encourage wide participation, using interactive digital tools to steer and capture the conversation.
Online consultation website
Our digital engagement hub for engagement enables us to capture location specific data on an interactive map, broader conversation exchange through the Ideas Wall, along with a traditional survey. With a visually striking use of real-time information, a project-specific website gives you a vibrant platform to inform people about the consultation, idea development and project – in one easily-accessible place.
Young people engagement
We’ve built up an excellent reputation for our extensive work with young people, including through our PLACED Academy. We run a variety of engagement sessions, from one-off workshops in schools to outreach programmes. Working with young people offers an excellent opportunity to gain meaningful input from an under-represented demographic whilst increasing your social impact. More details can be found on our education and youth engagement services page.
Tailored engagement events
We’re full of ideas. Over the last decade, PLACED has run a variety of tailored events and projects for clients, creating opportunities and alternative ways of raising awareness and engagement. These range from our community activity packs, family craft and workshops to our debate events, virtual seminars and walking tours.
How we work
PLACED specialises in making sure that people who don’t traditionally have their voices heard can be part of the design and decision-making process, alongside active, vocal stakeholders. Our principles address the challenges that clients wanting to deliver engagement often face.
To find out more about our work visit our education and youth voice page.