This document serves as a living workbook, which will be regularly updated as the project progresses and further work is carried out.
We are breaking away from traditional, siloed organisational models. This Living Place is exploring ways to operate that reject impermeable structures and embrace fluid, collaborative, and community-led frameworks whilst maintaining accountability, good governance and clear direction.
We’re questioning:
Our approach is deeply embedded in continuous learning, both from the community and within our own team. Rather than positioning ourselves as external experts, we act as facilitators who help our community unlock its inherent strengths and knowledge.
Learning is at the heart of TLP’s framework. Every decision, every project, and every collaboration is driven by the principles of place-based, community-led design. We don't come into spaces with pre-determined solutions. Instead, we listen first, allowing the community to identify its own needs and priorities. This creates a feedback loop, where learning and action inform each other, leading to a constantly evolving strategy that is responsive to real-time challenges.
Our core question is: What would a strategy look like that grows from within the community itself?
This means we adapt our approach as we move forward, ensuring that the work we do is relevant and meets the community where it is. It’s a radical shift from how many organisations operate—by centering strategy on the living dynamics of our communities, rather than external metrics of success.
Our structure is designed to be adaptable and responsive, with the purpose of reimagining what organising for community resilience can look like. Our approach is focused on collective learning, shared power, and maximising the alignment between community action and strategic development.
We’ve developed an intersectional, place-centric model that doesn’t focus on any single issue in isolation. Instead, it brings together fragmented efforts in the community to create systemic change. Our model works to connect social, economic, and environmental efforts into one cohesive framework.
We believe that resilience is built through interconnectedness. Whether it’s addressing access to land, ownership of buildings, sustainable living resources, or community-driven projects, we’re always asking: How do these pieces fit together to create a thriving whole? Our model bridges the gaps between efforts, aligning resources, knowledge, and partnerships to foster long-term resilience.