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The recent launch of the Liverpool City Region Imaginarium - a new initiative focused on creating space for citizens, social entrepreneurs, communities and institutions to come together to imagine and shape the future of the region - reflects the same underlying argument explored in this blog and accompanying policy briefing: that long-term change depends not only on services and institutions, but on people’s ability to participate, collaborate, and exercise collective agency.
Across the Liverpool City Region - a place shaped by deep traditions of solidarity and collective action - there is something powerful that often goes unrecognised. It’s not just the services we deliver, the programmes we fund, or the strategies we develop. It’s the people. The relationships. The quiet, everyday acts of care, creativity, and collective action that hold communities together.
For generations, this region has been shaped by civic energy - from historic moments of solidarity and protest to modern-day mutual aid, social enterprise, and grassroots innovation. Today, that same spirit is alive in neighbourhoods, community groups, and informal networks across the city region.
But here’s the challenge: while this civic capability is strong, it isn’t consistently supported, connected, or sustained. Too often, it remains fragmented - tied to short-term projects, isolated initiatives, or individual organisations. Energy is generated, but not accumulated. People step forward, but pathways for continued participation, leadership, and influence are unclear.
At a time of complex, interconnected challenges - from health inequalities and mental health pressures to the cost of living and climate change - this matters more than ever, because these are not problems that services alone can solve.
This is the starting point for a policy briefing I recently wrote, exploring how we move from services to civic capability - and why that shift matters now. While this blog draws on the experience of Liverpool City Region, the challenge it describes - and the opportunity it presents - is one facing places across the UK.
Moving beyond services
For decades, public policy has largely been built around services - designed to meet needs, respond to problems, and deliver outcomes. But what if we shifted the focus? What if, instead of seeing people primarily as recipients of services, we recognised them as active agents - with skills, insights, relationships, and the capacity to shape the places they live?
Civic capability is about the conditions that make this possible. It includes confidence, skills, relationships, and opportunities - the building blocks that enable people to participate, organise, lead, and influence. And crucially, it doesn’t appear overnight - it develops over time.
Thinking in terms of infrastructure
One of the key arguments in the briefing is that we should start treating civic capability as a form of infrastructure. We already understand the importance of infrastructure in other areas. Transport systems connect people to jobs and opportunities. Digital infrastructure enables communication and innovation.
Civic infrastructure does something similar - but for participation, power, and collective action. It provides the spaces, platforms, and pathways that allow people to get involved, build confidence, develop skills, and grow into leadership over time.
Right now, much of this exists - but it is often hidden, under-resourced, or disconnected. The opportunity is to make it visible, intentional, and joined-up.
A life course approach
If civic capability is to grow, it needs to be supported across the life course. Participation is not a one-off event - it deepens over time.
A young person who gets involved in a community initiative today could become a social entrepreneur, organiser, or civic leader tomorrow - but only if the right opportunities and connections are there. At the moment, those pathways are often unclear or fragile.
A life course approach would change that. It would connect the dots between different stages of life and different forms of participation - from early engagement and learning, through to leadership, advocacy, and even economic participation. Instead of isolated moments, we would start to see a system where civic capability accumulates.
What does this look like in practice?
We don’t need to start from scratch. Across Liverpool City Region, we already see powerful examples of this in action - from grassroots funding platforms and community learning programmes to organising networks and social enterprise initiatives.
The issue is not the absence of activity. It’s the lack of connection between them. To address this, the policy brief sets out a practical direction of travel.
First, there is a need for stronger shared leadership - bringing together public institutions, community organisations, and civic actors around a common mission to expand civic power. Second, there is a need for a long-term strategy that recognises how civic capability develops over time, and aligns policy, funding, and practice accordingly. And third, there is a need to better connect the spaces and opportunities that already exist - making it easier for people to find their way in, get involved, and keep progressing.
This is not about creating new systems from scratch - it is about making better use of what we already have.
Why this matters now
Public services are under increasing pressure. Demand is rising. Resources are stretched. In this context, it is tempting to focus solely on delivery, efficiency, and short-term outcomes.
But this is precisely the moment when civic capability matters most. When systems are strained, the ability of communities and institutions to work together - to problem-solve, support one another, and shape solutions - becomes a critical asset. And yet, it remains one of the most under-recognised and under-invested areas of public policy.
A different future
Shifting from services to civic capability is not about abandoning services. It is about rebalancing the system. It is about recognising that long-term change depends not just on what services do for people, but on what people can do with each other.
If we take this seriously, we can move from short-term projects to long-term capability, from fragmented initiatives to connected systems, and from passive recipients to active citizens. And in doing so, we can build a Liverpool City Region where participation is not exceptional, but expected - part of everyday life, and a defining feature of how we create change together.
The full argument and recommendations can be explored in the policy briefing.