Climate Companions: Civic Pedagogies by Design and Critical Spatial Practice

‘Climate Companions’ was a two-year, practice-based, Participatory Action Research (PAR) in Poplar, East London. The research explored the potential of design-driven civic pedagogies in nurturing agency toward more resilient urban futures. It asked the questions: Which design tools, learning methods and spaces enable transformative civic learning?

Civic Pedagogies seek to realise civic action through projects of emancipatory learning occurring at the edges and outside our academic institutions. This co-inquiry aimed to extend theories and practices in this field by utilising co-design to collaboratively shape two civic pedagogies (2022-2023). These were nested within the R-Urban Poplar eco-civic hub, an urban common and part of a network of ecological hubs supporting circularity and civic resilience in cities.

Several findings are relevant for future spatial practitioners, educators, and designers. Firstly, the learning that took place was situated and embodied; we learned ‘by-doing’, ‘from place’, and ‘through togetherness’. In this case, the role of R-Urban as a designed space of civic learning was integral, creating an informal civic classroom through ‘demonstration’ and by curating a caring, inclusive, and diverse pedagogy.

Co-design was catalytic in opening up R-Urban to new members and supported participants in taking on new roles. This process supports the ‘achievement of agency’ by acquiring new skills, valorising situated knowledges, and teaching peers. This agency has transformative potential to move beyond the self towards broader civic interests, which is reflected in the reproduction of the R-Urban hub and through neighbourhood action. Civic pedagogies provide citizens with the know-how, and capabilities for transformative action in the places they live.