Public Services Lab Blog

Think local, act global

25.02.2010

It is not enough to assume that scaling back the state will allow local innovation to flourish. Achieving genuine localism relies on a different kind of support from the centre.

All of the main political parties increasingly look to localism as the source of potential solutions to some of today's big social challenges. The current Government has made significant steps towards more local accountability and autonomy; the opposition have pledged a radical shift in power to local communities as the hallmark of their vision of the Big Society.

But this is more than a debate about big or small government. It is not enough to assume that scaling back the state will allow local innovation to flourish. Achieving genuine localism relies on a different kind of support from the centre.

Earlier this week we launched Mass Localism, a report that explores what makes local solutions so effective, and suggests how government could support more of them. The report draws directly on insights from the finalists of NESTA's Big Green Challenge, and it's been striking how many locally-led initiatives seem to share these characteristics.

Take London Citizens for example, a movement that's been gathering increasing momentum recently in its campaigns for a fairer Living Wage, affordable housing and sustainable living in London. Or Merseyside's reparative justice scheme - Making Good - that encourages local communities to suggest different forms of community punishment and steps towards rehabilitation. 

This kind of genuine localism works because it allows for local ownership of solutions and is specific to context. Therefore trying to 'scale-up' specific solutions to other communities can undermine the very thing that makes local solutions successful in the first place.

Mass Localism depends on a different kind of support from government and a different approach to scale. Instead of assuming that the best solutions need to be determined and driven by the centre, we need to create more opportunities for communities to develop and deliver their own solutions, and learn from each other.

This trend towards more distributed, citizen-centric innovation is reflected elsewhere across our economy, culture and society. Initiatives such as the Design Council's DOTT Cornwall project or the Big Lottery Fund's Fair Share programme are exploring new ways of innovating with citizens. With more and more tools to connect communities and achieve impact nationally, local action holds even more potential.