What have we learnt from a year of digital and distanced community engagement?

One year after hosting an event at the outset of the pandemic to discuss the challenges for community engagement, Public Practice convened a panel of experts to ask what we have learnt from a year of engaging at a distance. Has community engagement had the shot in the arm it arguably needed? And – as restrictions begin to lift – how can we combine the best of digital and non-digital methods to produce the most effective community engagement?

On 7 May 2021, a panel comprising Beth Murray, Keep Chingford Green Community Group, Waltham Forest; Grace Crannis, Public Practice Associate and Senior Planning Engagement Officer at LB Richmond & Wandsworth; and Verity Jane Keefe, a visual artist working in the public realm, shared their experiences from the past year and how they expect engagement practices to develop based on these learnings. The session was chaired by Public Practice Alumnus Jessica Cargill Thompson.