The mood was inspiring this year. There is a sense that place-based work, doing with rather than to people, is gaining momentum – neighbourhoods were highglighted throughout the conference as a key agent for change. For many community groups and organisations that have been pioneering this work for years, there is a sense of hopefulness for the future.
One of the sessions that stayed with us was Sir David Robinson’s keynote speech on relationships. At its core, David believes that great work is founded on relationships, not systems. Systems should support relationships, not stand in their way. And while he points to inspiring examples of relationship‑centred practice already happening, he’s clear that too many institutions still operate in silos, slowing real progress.
‘Too much is built on machines behaving like people and people behaving like machines.’
For David, this captures the heart of the issue. We need to put people back at the centre of the work we do. With a political agenda that is finally paying attention to communities and neighbourhoods, and investing in them, there is a genuine opportunity to shift the narrative and rebuild around relationships rather than routines.
Steve Reed, the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, had a clear message for attendees: he wants community work to move from the margins to the mainstream. In his view, the people doing this work should no longer be seen as rebels pushing against the system, but as the standard‑bearers of how things ought to be done. And rather than tinkering around the edges, he called for something far bolder: not a tweak to the system, but a complete rewrite, to “break the status quo and remake the state around our communities” promising “change so bold and ambitious it shakes the ground beneath our feet”. This statement was backed up by tangible support: in his speech, Steve Reed MP mentioned £15 million invested in Community Power pilot, supporting initiatives led by local people, and a new £61 million going towards the community Right to Buy to encourage people to take their local assets into community ownership.
To a lot of us working in this space, this isn’t just reasonable, it’s the steps that clearly need to happen. However, we are not naïve about the challenges ahead. Programmes like Pride in Place hold great promise, but this will only be realised if they are genuinely led by local residents. This, at times, can feel challenging. A lot of people directly involved in place-based work will see first-hand the scale and complexity of the challenges that communities are currently navigating and grappling with. To create a shared vision, it is essential that people can talk to each other and build a sense of belonging to a certain place.
JRF’s session on the North East and resilience brought this into focus. The panel, composed of Shadha Khan, Adam Cooper, Andrew McIntyre and Victoria Hughes, traced a powerful history of a region rich in talent and innovation, yet one that has been systematically asset‑stripped for decades. Communities across the North East have endured loss and hardship, and in doing so have had to dig deep to become more resilient. But, as the speakers stressed, resilience is not a virtue to be celebrated, it is something people were forced to develop in the face of adversity.
Several contributors pointed to something deeper happening within these communities: grief. They described grief as fertile ground where division can take root, but, as Shadha Khan put it so clearly, ‘grief doesn’t have to turn into grievances’. Their hope is for a more united future, built on a renewed sense of identity and grounded in the skills, knowledge and strengths of local people.
This is exactly what we explored in our fringe session, ‘Shared Roots, Shared Futures’, where we reflected on our ‘Bonds through History’ community engagement project with Havering Council, Eastside Community Heritage and Thames Freeport. This project brought together different generations and communities to share their stories of Harold Hill, a Pride in Place neighbourhood, and their hopes for what comes next. This isn’t a ‘nice‑to‑have’ project; it’s essential. As Ian Thomas, Chief Executive of the Corporation of London said in his opening remarks to the conference, we should be ’embracing tools like ethnography to better understand our communities’. By gathering oral histories and creating spaces for people to talk about the place they call home, the project brought together residents who might never cross paths in daily life, united by one thing: their love and pride for Harold Hill.
We’re not claiming this work is a silver bullet, but we’ve seen the difference it can make. Older residents recognising young people in the street for the first time. Honest conversations about the pressures and possibilities of the new regeneration programme. People discovering shared experiences they didn’t know they had. These moments matter. They’re the building blocks of community.
We’re committed to continuing this work of bringing people together, strengthening communities, and building on what’s strong rather than what’s wrong. If there’s one message we’re taking from Stronger Things this year, it’s this: when we work together, there is real hope.