Enabling meaningful Co-Production at scale: A new phase in Fairville’s Dialogues in Co-Production

On Thursday 15th January 2026, Fairville’s Dialogues in Co-Production enter a new phase. Building on an earlier programme of curated events designed to coalesce an international community of practice interested in co-production, the next phase of the Dialogues in Co-production will focus on unpacking some of the critical enabling factors required for community-led co-production coalitions to emerge, embed and deepen their influence over essential city- making and management processes.

Rooted in the experience and aspirations of Fairville’s eight city Labs (six in Europe and two in Africa), the Enablers Series will zoom in on four areas identified through earlier Work Package 5 research into the key challenges and opportunities revealed by the Labs’ attempts to co-produce more just practices, policies, plans, services, and places :

Enabler Series, Dialogue 1 - Grounding / Establishing Meaningful Co-Production 

Meaningful co-production processes typically require a foundation of establishing conditions such as: strong horizontal networks capable of resisting injustice and articulating situated knowledge; the availability of aligned intermediaries skilled in knowledge translation; broad public support for the principle of co-produced city-making and management; and/or accessible, receptive, and capacitated institutions willing and able to respond to alternative imaginations of and for city space and governance. This dialogue will draw together examples of how such enabling conditions have been activated, strengthened and embedded in practice. 

Online Webinar, Thursday 15^th January 2026, 2-4pm GMT / 3-5pm CET [ https://www.fairville-eu.org/dialogues-in-coproduction / link to the poster] 

Enabler Series, Dialogue 2 - Resourcing for Meaningful Co-Production*

Across the Fairville experience (and indeed beyond), resourcing emerges as fundamental barrier frustrating both the emergence of equitable co-production alliances and, later, the development and implementation of impactful co-produced projects, plans and strategies. Responding to this challenge, this session will bring together several mechanisms with the potential to resource co-produced city-making and management at scale. 

Online Webinar, Thursday 12^th February 2026, 2-4pm GMT / 3-5pm CET 

Enabler Series, Dialogue 3 - Regulating for Meaningful Co-Production*

Alongside its focus on community-initiated co-production practices, for Fairville public matters of law, policy and decision-making process are seen as critical terrains of struggle. Responding to this interest, this session will bring together regulatory innovations and activations with the potential to catalyse co-produced city-making and management at scale. 

Online Webinar, Thursday 12^th March 2026, 2-4pm GMT / 3-5pm CET 

Enabler Series, Dialogue 4 - Defending Meaningful Co-Production

Painstaking to establish yet quick to unravel, the learnings and achievements of co- production processes must be celebrated, documented and actively defended if they are to become embedded as transformative form of city-making practice. Responding to this reality, this session will bring together a discussion of co-monitoring, scrutiny and accountability mechanisms, as well as training and documentation processes, and their value to defending and extending hard won advances by co-production alliances. 

Online Webinar, Thursday 16^th April 2026, 2-4pm GMT / 3-5pm CET 

The series will help to formulate recommendations for local and regional governments to better recognise and support co-production as a critical tool in efforts to reduce inequality and reinvigorate constructive local democratic engagement across the European region (and beyond).  

These will be discussed and finalised through a final online reflexive session in June 2026: Enabler Series, Dialogue 5 - Enabling Meaningful Co-production at Scale – Key Learnings. 

Participation in this series is open to residents, activists, academics and built environment professionals alike, and the Fairville Consortium welcomes inputs from anyone with an interest in exploring the potential of, and co-learning from, concrete experiences of co-production as an engine of just city making. 

To receive more information on our upcoming events, subscribe to our newsletter here or send us an email at fairville.eu@gmail.com

* Enabler Sessions 2 and 3 are organised as a collaboration between Fairville and a UCL Knowledge Exchange Project, Reclaiming Co-Produced Housing, co-coordinated with the Global Platform for the Right to the City and Habitat International Coalition. 

Authors: Barbara Lipietz, Alessio Koliulis, Tim Wickson

Cover photo: Ka Hetzeneder