In our first policy briefing of 2024, Heseltine Institute co-director Catherine Durose alongside Liz Richardson (Professor of Public Administration at the University of Manchester) and Beth Perry (Professor of Urban Epistemics and Director of the Urban Institute at the University of Sheffield) ask: Co-production is everywhere, but is it useful?
Advocates of co-production – a form of collaboration often between professionals and those usually on the receiving end of their expertise - argue it is necessary to respond to contemporary challenges, such as uncertainty, complexity and contestation. But how useful an idea is it? This policy briefing sets out three tentative answers to this question from differing perspectives. It demonstrates that co-production is in some ways a messy concept, and there is further work to do to define and communicate the distinctiveness of the idea. Its value lies in calling for policymakers, practitioners, researchers, and citizens to come together in ways that inspire change in existing practice to better meet the challenges of the moment.
Co-production is everywhere: but is it useful?
DOI: 10.17638/03172461
Further detail on the research underpinning this policy briefing can be found in the following recent articles:
Durose, Catherine., Beth Perry, Liz Richardson and Rikki Dean. 2023. ‘Leadership and the hidden politics of co-produced research: a Q-methodology study’. International Journal of Social Research Methodology. 26(1). 1-21. https://doi.org/10.1080/13645579.2021.1960738
Durose, Catherine., Beth Perry and Liz Richardson. 2022. ‘Is co-production a 'good' concept? Three responses’. Futures. 142, 102999. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.futures.2022.102999
Perry, Beth., Catherine Durose and Liz Richardson with the Action Research Collective. 2019. How can we govern cities differently? The promise and practices of co-production. Greater Manchester: Creative Concern.
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