The second stop of our journey through the Clab Lands was dedicated to experience and explore the CitizensLab Methodology for co-creation. This allowed us to develop a highly visual session in which we experimented with the steps of the CLab process design: from preparing the field to co-creating shared prototypes and acting for social change to collective sense ma ing to deepen our impact and empower our communities.
CLab is a community of practice reimagining and prototyping a new system of influence based on diverse, plural and inclusive societies, where citizens cocreate, participate, care and self-organise in all aspects that impact their lives. We quest, we inquiry and prototype, we reflect and we share, allowing the change to change us.. We are people prototyping through building relationships with ourselves and others a “culture of co-creation” based on trust, care, mutuality and reciprocity so that regenerative communities interconnected across urope can cultivate new ways of being, behaving and interacting.
he CLab ethodology is about hosting and initiating participatory processes for citizens co-creation who share the purpose of creating actions initiatives prototypes to e plore new and di erent ways to face the comple ity of our societies locally and translocally . s a process where citizens are at the core of re-imagine our democracies and to build regenerative communities that will become a new system of influence. he CLab ethodology, has we have been practicing during these years of CLab cocreation, has phases reparing the ield nitiate a Co-creation process a e ctions and rototype eflect and ma e-sense
“ he C-lab methodology is not something you do, it is a way of doing things” e-imagination is about e tending the e isting perceptive eld. e-imagining relates to a way of doing, a way of saying and a way of being that had no place and no part in the e isting order of things. new system of influence recomposes the relationships between the ways of doing, saying and being that de ne the perceptible organization of citizens and communities. ut di erently, a new system of influence intervenes in and re-con gures the e isting order of things, it re-con gures what is capable of being apprehended by the senses. hat s why how we wor is the crucial element of our community of practice not the what.
How we work, in relation to re-imagining and creating a new system o in uence, is related to our principles that serve as core values or our tra ectory -
Co-creation articipation
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Care
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Sel -organi ation
he meaning o those values is constantly sub ect to change hey are not ed but interact with the conte t nd that is e actly one o the core activities o the transnational C-lab community o practice to make continuous sense o how those values gain meaning in relation to the environment conte t and translate this knowledge and e periences into methodologies or those who are interested
session dedicated to help us immerse in the Clab process methodology through guided visuali ation and harvesting, in order to access our contributions, our practices, our uestions and ideas
I invite you to sit com ortably in your chair stretch your shoulders let any tension go Close your eyes so we can ourney through the C ab ethodology e are leaving this time space
this virtual
How are you sensing into your community about this? ho are you speaking to, what will you do? You begin to notice that this is an opportunity an opportunity or the community You begin to see that i people come together something new could happen ho are the people that you want to come together? How are you getting their interest?
How are you inviting them? Speaking personally, writing an invitation, opening a call‌how else? How are you reaching those who are usually hard to reach? Co-creation It is now September 2022 - You have success ully attracted people to come together oday you are going to be hosting them or the rst time How many people are there? How have you designed the event? hat methods are you using? aming, rt, ind ul ractices, ovement and odywork, Conversation, etc hat are the ideas that are being discussed? ho is showing interest to e periment or prototype? n what topic?
ct he event is over – it has been a huge success You are very happy You cannot believe ho many ideas emerged and ho trust as uic ly built
o are you no going to support the people ho ant to turn their ideas into prototypes o are you supporting people to stay connected hat are the ays in hich you invite people prototyping to capture their learnings or unlearnings ho
or
ith you on this
hat are you doing hen you feel over helmed or need support
Re ect Six months on, arch 2023 – you have invited people to regather to share and re ect
o have you designed this meeting so that people can share their experiences and learnings o are hosting them to capture ideas that can be scaled hat are the ne patterns and ays for ard that they are ma ing sense of o are you engaging those ho have shifted the most to help you ith the next spiral of community or
It is September 2023 - You have learned so much in one and a bit years, your community is enlivened, capacitated and ready to harness the next opportunity, transform a challenge – you are a member of the CLab – a community made up of people from across urope and beyond that you can practice ith You are helping others in their communities to do hat you did o
do you feel no
READ THE HARVESTING WE CO-CREATED USING A SHARED PADLET!!! PREPARING THE FIELD and CO-CREATION https://padlet.com/edsantman/ pmowyu8d6zh0 ACTION and REFLECTION: https://padlet.com/edsantman/y4900hwc62s
Visualizing the co-creation stor A session dedicated to the graphic visualization of the co-creation journey, to explore together the power of visuals to capture the essence of things and express complex concepts in simple and accessible ways. We applied this power to capture the essence of the co-creation methodology that we have been sharing and discussing throughout this meeting, by creating our own visual metaphors for it. Visual metaphors can be powerful tools to represent complex concepts. They help us tell stories with images that we can all relate to and by doing so, they make complex and abstract concepts more accessible to us and to those that sometimes struggle to understand what all this is about. What if we could create a metaphor, an image, a story, that helps us show visually and simply what we mean by co-creation
The journey for me starts with the phase of ‘DISCOVERY’, that has a whole bundle of di erent pathways, it then oes to ‘TRYI O T and rowin seeds’ where all sorts of di erent plants are rowin , ‘ RVESTI CE E R TIO ’ to olle t what has rown and enjoy it, to SETT I IT T E E ERIE CE and ma in sto of what has emer ed, to the start of a E O R EY IT DI ERE T ESTIO S, that brin s you ba to the be innin of the y le of o reation
For me the visual metaphor for co-creation is really the A A A : different elements of different shapes and forms that come together to create something new that is always bigger than its individual parts.
ne watering pot can make grass grow, but two together can make a ower emerge, and three together can grow owers and even a tree. his is what felt when we created our prototype in lab: had the opportunity to try something locally, then found others to create something bigger. And even if it is not always successful, you can always try again.
...A lot of what co-creation brings are things that you don’t expect or see if you don’t listen carefully around you. And there are many different ways in which one can facilitate co-creation: some ways are immediately evident, like watering the plant, other ways seem overly ambitious, like drawing the sun closer to allow more light for the plant to grow bigger, other appear very humble and small, like stopping pests from eating the leaves, but are in fact very important for the wellbeing of the project.
Co-creation for me is a sequence that starts from the seed that grows into a plant that also produces seeds. And even when one plant is dying, when you put many different seeds, the result will be more diverse, with plants dying and plants growing into a forest. And maybe people showing up‌ But co-creation is also like being thrown up in the air or being thrown over by a wave in the sea, losing control in the ‘ ealab ...
Co-creation is like people building a house together. e believe that only those that actually build the house are creating something. But in truth those that build cannot accomplish the task if they don t have people that support them, for e ample taking care of the food or looking after the group s basic needs.
...A lot of what co-creation brings are things that you don t e pect or see if you don t listen carefully around you. And there are many different ways in which one can facilitate co-creation some ways are immediately evident, like watering the plant, other ways seem overly ambitious, like drawing the sun closer to allow more light for the plant to grow bigger, other appear very humble and small, like stopping pests from eating the leaves, but are in fact very important for the wellbeing of the pro ect.
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A for Awesome! C for Creative! A for Amazing! Co-creation is represented by all these C that are meeting each other at the center. ach curve represents one of us, the center is the place where all our nowledge and experiences are meeting to create something new. And this is why we call it co-creation, because through this meeting there is a core of something new that emerges.
For me co-creation is expressed in the metaphor of the salad! When you eat just the leaves, you have one taste in your mouth, but if you add corn or other ingredients, the taste changes and becomes more complex. he same elements combined di erently together can create many di erent avours and can give birth to many di erent ideas and projects.
f someone is an artist he or she can play with this concept!
for esigner not! for xcited! for reat! for alidated! for
arvelously-inspired-by-you!