Thank You to ‘Kitchen Conversation’ Participants
October 12, 2011
On behalf of myself, Emerging Leaders and the Community Engagement Task Force (CETF) I wanted to send out a public Thank You to the Emerging Leaders members who took time last night to participate in the ‘Kitchen Conversation’ held, providing feedback into the Community Engagement Policy currently being developed by the CETF & the City of London.
The feedback collected is being cleaned up and the transcribed notes will be passed along to the CETF so that a revised draft of the policy can be made to move forward in the process.
While there was lots of great feedback provided surrounding the notion of ‘community engagement’ and the ways in which the City of London can/should engage with its citizens, there were two points made that I think were particularly interesting:
Does the built form and function of a city (how things are planned and physically developed) have any influence over how engaged citizens are? Do citizens living in certain types of neighbourhoods or types of residential development get more engaged in city ‘happenings’ than others?
Is there a way to make engagement more integrated into our every day lives? Rather than making additional efforts to hold a public meeting, put out a public notice etc. are there efforts that can be made to engage with citizens during their normal everyday activities and lives?
Comments and thoughts such as these ones make me believe that citizens, or at least the Emerging Leaders we connected with, are looking for types of engagement that stem from deeper thinking and are more entrenched into our every day lives and are less of an after thought.
If you were unable to attend this ‘Kitchen Conversation’ or would like to provide some additional input feel free to do so online via the following link: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/CETFOctober2011
Thank you once again to all participants.
Kevin Van Lierop
Community Energizer
Emerging Leaders London Community Network
