Through Thick and Thin
How an infrastructure for relationships could unlock the collective action we need to accelerate progress towards a world designed for and around relationships
Lots of people in lots of different spaces are doing amazing work around building better relationships, but the connections between these nodes are often weak or non-existent. Drawing on conversations with over 100 people in late 2020 and early 2021, we (led by Iona Lawrence) explore the challenges we share in prioritising relationships in the places that we live and work and the work that needs to be done to address those needs.
Our shared and uniting goal is to build a world that is designed for and around relationships: a world where relationships are the first mile, not the extra one.
Building a Relationship Collective: Our Proposal
Building on the insights unearthed in Through Thick and Thin, we submitted an expression of interest to the Bringing People Together Fund at the National Lottery Community Fund to bring to life the idea of an infrastructure for relationships. Drawing inspiration from Joe Mills and friends in the democracy centre, we decided to publish the proposal in the open so everyone can see what we’re hoping to do and more easily explore ways to collaborate.
In short, the expression of interest we submitted is for a two year project to design, test and build the necessary infrastructure to support shared learning and collaboration in the field of relationships and relationship-centred practice in the coming decades.
We are delighted to say that our application was successful and, as of Autumn 2022, we are focused on developing the infrastructure for a thriving field of relationship-centred practice. Find out more about our plans for the next two years below.
Podcast: A Better Way for social policy
In brief In this Joining the Dots podcast, hosted and produced by our partners at Ratio, Steve Wyler of Better Way discusses the work of the network and what it can do to support a fairer social policy.
Coronavirus and social disruption
In brief As social behaviour is disrupted by the Coronavirus, David Robinson says that disruption is neither good nor bad. What matters is what we make of it. I spoke last night to a church minister who had already cancelled the Older Peoples Wednesday group and was...
Calling the Mayor to get behind a London Relationships Commission
In brief In the wake of our latest report, 'The Relationship-Centred City', David calls on the Mayor of London to create an environment in which relationships can thrive by getting behind a London Relationships Commission. A couple of weeks ago I asked the Big...
Podcast: A relational social policy
In brief In this Joining the Dots podcast, hosted and produced by our partners at Ratio, David explores the potential of a relational social policy and reflects on the Islington Green Paper Fairer Together.
Piers Morgan, Love Island and a relationship centred business
In brief In this short blog, David reflects on the sort of relationship-centred business that helps make the world a much better, warmer, kinder place. Half asleep I stumble across a tweet from someone called Matt Haig, of whom I have never heard....
How we live together
In brief “Working for social progress isn’t about waiting for all the stars to align; it’s about making change for ourselves, by the light that we have.” In this essay, David Robinson considers the state of relationships in 2020 and how to do better in the new...
The case for relational resettlement
In brief In this blog, Sam Boyd - Head of Policy, Impact and Communications at Switchback - describes the transformational effect of personal relationships on the lives of young offenders, offering them a way to rebuild their lives and their relationship with...
Blueprints, Clues and Cues
In brief In this blog, Immy outlines our upcoming plans to develop practical tools that support the design and redesign of more relationship-centred places. The problemHere at The Relationships Project we believe that everything works better when relationships...
Imagining a relationship-centred London
In brief In this blog, David shares his reflections on an thoughtful, energetic event in which 25 Londoners reimagined the city from a more relationship-centred perspective.One big question is at the heart of the work of the Relationships Project: “How would...
Relationship-Centred Public Services
In brief In this piece for Joining the Dots blog Ray Shostak considers the “enabling conditions” for developing relational practice and suggests a framework for supporting them. Ray has been a teacher, a local authority worker, a civil servant and eventually Head...
