We are now living in a democratic emergency. Autocrats, authoritarians and outright fascists appear to be on an inexorable rise, while few politicians seem capable of charting a credible path forward in the face of today’s immense challenges. 

Yet just beneath the media radar, another story is taking shape: a story of democratic renewal and reinvention, with citizen participation, deliberation, and defiant joy at its heart.

Nowhere does this situation apply more than in the Ladywood neighbourhood of Birmingham, where green shoots of community power push stubbornly through, despite all the odds, in ways that are admired and followed across the world.

Imandeep Kaur, co-founder of the Civic Square initiative that is at the heart of much of this, likes to quote Adrienne Maree Brown in talking about “inch wide mile deep change, that schisms the existing paradigm.” Join Jon Alexander, author of Citizens, to get under the skin of this approach, what’s going on in Ladywood, and what it could mean for the rest of the country and indeed the world. He’ll be in conversation with Imandeep and renegade architect and thought leader Indy Johar, who has been advising from behind the scenes from the very beginning, among his many contributions to framing the civic potential of our time.

Event Schedule

6:00pm: Pre-event socialising and networking

A cash bar will be available for refreshments.

6:15pm: Event begins

7:30pm: Event ends

Speakers:

Imandeep Kaur is the Co-Founder and Director of Civic Square, a project focused on demonstrating neighbourhood-scale civic infrastructure to drive social, ecological, economic, and climate transition. Prior to this, she was the founding director of Impact Hub Birmingham, which worked to build a fairer, more equal city through people, place, and open movements. Imandeep also co-led TEDxBrum from 2012 to 2017. In recognition of her impact, she received an Honorary Doctorate from Aston University in 2019 and was awarded a prestigious Ashoka Fellowship in 2020. Imandeep is passionate about turning transformative ideas into practice, working collaboratively to create regenerative futures at the neighbourhood scale.

Indy Johar is an architect, co-founder of 00 (project00.cc) and most recently Dark Matter. Indy, on behalf of 00, has co-founded multiple social ventures from Impact Hub Westminster to Impact Hub Birmingham. He has also co-led research projects such as The Compendium for the Civic Economy, whilst supporting several 00 explorations/experiments including the wikihouse.cc, opendesk.cc. Indy is a non executive director of WikiHouse Foundation & Bloxhub. Indy was a Good Growth Commissioner for the RSA, RIBA Trustee and Advisor to Mayor of London on Good Growth, The Liverpool City Region Land Commissioner, The State of New Jersey – The Future of Work Task Force – amongst others.

Jon Alexander is the author of CITIZENS: Why the Key to Fixing Everything is All of Us, and co-founder of the New Citizenship Project, a book and company that work to shift the dominant story of the individual in society from Consumer to Citizen. Among other plaudits, CITIZENS was listed by McKinsey as one of its Top 5 Recommended Books in its Summer Reading Guide 2022, described as “an underground hit” in the Financial Times, and selected by the World Economic Forum for its CEO Book Club. Jon began his career with a decade in the advertising industry, before shifting his attention to understanding how communications skills might be deployed to invite people into their agency as citizens, instead of just selling stuff to them as consumers.