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Community guide to co-design

18-03-2026

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Bring neighbourhoods and nature together, with tools and tips to put local people, plants and places in the driving seat.
Communities - Co-design
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©National Trust Images / Paul Harris

What do we mean by ‘co-design’ in communities?

Co-design is a way to bring different people with different viewpoints together, to come up with new ideas for their community that give local green spaces, places and people a helping hand.

Alex Quattrone, Research and Development Manager at Neighbourly Lab, defines co-design as follows:

“Co-design brings people who are affected by a problem together with organisations, experts and decision makers to come up with shared solutions.”

Whilst there are different ways to approach this process, the principles of co-design should feel the same. Alex summarises these as:

  • Human-centred – working side by side with people and valuing diversity of knowledge and lived experience
  • Inclusive and participatory – removing barriers to participation, using creative and engaging routes in, recognising people’s strengths and building capacity
  • Open and transparent – build in plenty of time to discuss ideas and evolve them together
  • Collaborative – working together with lots of different people with diverse ideas and viewpoints

Crucially, co-design involves people with first-hand experience of a problem or an issue, making it as easy as possible for them to share their views and shape the outcome.

It moves groups along a journey from insights and questions to ideas, solutions and testing – sometimes at speed.

Read on to discover how to run a co-design process based on these principles, taking groups outside their comfort zone to unexpected places that give people and nature a helping hand.

How is co-design different?

Alex explains how co-design is different to other forms of engagement, based on Arnstein's Ladder of Citizen Participation. Scroll through for more.

Arnstein's Ladder of Citizen Participation
A group of young people walks in a loose line along a forest track. They're in wintry clothing and one carries a large pink bucket.

“The bottom two rungs of the ladder might be used for campaigning work, where you're trying to influence or change peoples’ mind. It’s more about ‘doing it to’ people and might not involve those with lived experience. You’re trying to lead someone to reach a certain conclusion or belief.”

A group of people relax in an urban community garden. Some chat under the shade of a blue gazebo, others sit at sunny tables and one or two potter about doing gardening jobs.

“The middle section involves learning about people's views or collecting information, to feed into a design process. It’s usually a one off – for example, collecting surveys. It gives a quick snapshot of an issue or to feed into a larger co-design process.”

A young lady standing in front of a white garden wall smiles as she passes a cup to a man with outstretched arms. She looks to have ladled the cup contents from a large cooking pot. She wears a light brown headscarf, he is shaded from the sun by a black hat whilst another man in the foreground wears a colourful cap.

“The top part of the ladder is about doing things in equal partnership with people, including people with lived experience. Everyone has an equal voice to participate. At the very top, you’re likely to be co-delivering the plans or services that you've created through the co-design process.”

Two people tend to an allotment-style area of green space in an urban estate. It is surrounded by grey houses and a bus passes on the road behind.

“To really shift the way you work with people, from working for to working inclusively with, there are three key questions to hold throughout: How might we engage fully and consistently with others? How might we work with people as different to us as possible? How might we meet the needs of all people to participate?”

More about inclusive design

Why does co-design matter?

Co-design can look quite different to established ways of working. The Co-Production Collective shares how helps people and nature in urban communities.

More from the Co-Production Collective

Deliver what matters

Efficiency

Social justice

Empower people

Shared goals

What is the co-design process?

The Design Council’s Double Diamond model is a way to move people and organisations along the co-design process. Scroll down to discover more about each stage, then download our plan-making template to guide you through.

Co-design plan-making template

CC BY 4.0 license

The Set-up and Discover phases

The aim here is to open the conversation, bringing the right people in to help you discover what’s important to those who call the place you’re working in home.

It’s about community-led research that will challenge assumptions and build relationships with participants.

Expand the arrows to discover how to unlock new views and experiences in a welcoming, inclusive way.

Click the buttons for more community research and planning tools.

Download planner Download guide to focus groups More about community-led research

What is it

  • Sit down with someone who has experienced a problem and get to know them
  • Ask questions to understand an issue and the impact of it in their own words

Why you use it

  • Get to know people personally – understanding their mindset, behaviour, and motivations
  • Gather rich insights and understanding
  • Explore personal and sensitive subjects, giving voice to people who might struggle in other settings

Top tips

  • Start broad to get to know the person, then get specific to the challenge
  • Write down or record exactly what they say, do not infer meaning
  • Conduct your interview in a space that’s familiar to them
  • Ask open questions and give people time

What is it

  • Bring together a group of people who might have different viewpoints or come from different backgrounds
  • Prepare a set of key questions that you want to ask
  • Use the questions to facilitate a conversation between group members

Why you use it

  • Understand the diverse motivations and desires of a group
  • Bring diverse people together
  • Deliberation and consensus building

Top tips

  • Facilitate conversation and connection between group members
  • Bring quieter members into the conversation and ensure everyone’s voice is heard
  • Support deliberation and don’t try to rush a consensus – this happens over time
  • Capture diverse viewpoints

What is it

  • Shine a spotlight on people’s stories and experiences around a particular topic
  • Participants come with a story and share it in small groups
  • Group members take different roles, from actively listening to asking questions

Why you use it

  • Encourage people to focus on their own personal experiences through the use of stories
  • Build empathy and connection between participants
  • Find common ground – levels the playing field

Top tips

  • Pick a theme/prompt but allow stories to be broad
  • Set clear roles and guidelines for how people should act and responsibilities for active listening. Don’t leave it up to chance or there’s a risk of missing key information or that people will feel that their input wasn’t taken on board
  • Be aware of conflicts and manage as needed

What is it

  • A strength-based approach that builds on the positive rather than the negative
  • Ask participants what works in your neighbourhoods, and what’s good

Why you use it

  • Build on what has worked in the past and therefore is more likely to succeed
  • Each community develops its own bespoke response to its own situation
  • Encourage collaboration and develops a strong vision

Top tips

  • Start with a core group and build to the wider community

What is it

  • An informal ‘café’ style setting for participants to explore an issue by discussing it in small groups.
  • Discussion is held in multiple rounds of 20 to 30 minutes
  • Each table has a specific question, related to the overall purpose of the event.
  • Participants go to each table to discuss that question, to build on other peoples’ input and ideas

Why you use it

  • Gather collective intelligence on experiences or ideas around an issue
  • Collaboration and network building
  • Generate new ideas and meaningful conversation
  • It’s relaxed and exploratory

Top tips

  • Ensure space is welcoming for everyone
  • Ensure participants take responsibility for listening and exploring insights together
  • Choice of questions is crucial – they should be engaging and relevant
  • Use this to generate ideas, rather than decision-making

Finally, here are nine tips to take away for the Set-up and Discover phases:

  1. Bring people with lived experience and others in their “community” into the process – i.e. how does tackling the climate crisis for one person intersect with other services, institutions, groups etc
  2. Go in with a clear plan of why you are doing something, the pros and cons, what you’re hoping to learn
  3. Cast the net wide in terms of topics you’re covering, don’t narrow things down straight away
  4. Learn from participants about who is missing, what was missing from the conversation, what else they might want to share
  5. Refine and iterate – it’s not about getting it “perfect” straight away, but learning and developing the process and insights as you go
  6. It’s ok to start with the people you already have connections with, just be aware of the gaps and how you might intend to build from that point
  7. Get creative! Storytelling, photo exhibitions, fun days are all valid routes in – what you plan to do with those insights when you get them is the key part
  8. Capture as much as you can and reflect on what you have learned after the process
  9. Enjoy and be open to learning – this stage is all about being surprised and learning new things

The Define phase

The aim of this stage is to define the question or challenge you need to answer, using what you’ve learnt from your community during the Discovery phase.

It’s important to enter the Define phrase with a curious mindset. Trust your instincts, look for inspiration and keep the work energised and pacey.

Expand the arrows to learn how to make sense of what your Discovery insights might mean, and to start framing the key question that will define how your organisation can deliver real changes for nature and people.

Download insight gathering template Download question framing template

The first step in the Define stage is to come together as an organisation to share insights from the Discover phase.

Seeing these together will help you to reflect on the neighbourhood’s relationship with nature, and how access to green spaces could help change things for the better.

  1. Download the ‘Insight gathering template’
  2. In the first section, note down the things that struck you in the Discover phase. These could be surprising, challenging or consistent points raised
  3. Next make some observations about what it could mean for your place e.g. if people feel nature is only valuable when it’s properly maintained, an opportunity could be people taking an active role in green spaces
  4. Then identify any key themes that seemed to be most important to people. If you can, merge themes to include as much as possible
  5. If there are too many themes to work with, you could ‘vote’ for the themes which felt most important to people, or where you feel your organisation can have the most impact

Expand the next arrow to start framing your key questions for the Develop phase.

‘How might we…?’ is a way of asking a question that invites exploration and ideas.

It acknowledges that we don’t know the answer, and that there are different ways you might answer it.

The question contains: the challenge/opportunity, an action and a user.

  1. Download the question framing template to see an example
  2. The aim of the example would be to generate lots of ideas that are specific to mental health, access to green space and young people
  3. Work as a team to add some ‘How might we’ questions to the last section of your insight gathering template, using the themes and opportunities you have identified
  4. These are the questions that you will take into the second diamond, where you will start to develop ideas

The Develop phase

The aim of this stage is for your organisation to generate lots of ideas to tackle the challenge identified in your chosen ‘How might we’ question.

Creative thinking is a team sport. You should involve other team members, stakeholders or service users to get a range of perspectives.

The ideas can be practical solutions or ‘wilder’ concepts that go beyond the status quo. This stage is intended to be a fast and iterative way to create new concepts and refine them based on feedback from people and stakeholders.

Expand the arrows for more about the Develop phase.

Download Crazy 8s board Ideas development template

Before you start generating ideas, pause and take stock of where you are in the co-design process by answering these three questions:

  1. What user research have you undertaken?
  2. How well do you understand the problem and what your users need?
  3. Does the question reflect your research and audience?

This is a chance to remind everyone in the Develop team of the community insights that led you to your key question and – if needed – refine the wording to ensure it truly reflects the conversations from the co-design process.

It will help make sure everyone has the same understanding of the question and what it means for the place before moving on to creative ideas.

Next, think about how your sessions to create ideas will work with three more questions as follows:

  1. Which team members, stakeholders or service users can you bring into the process to get a wide range of perspectives? Try not to have more than 8 people in a session.
  2. Have you considered accessibility needs? Check with your participants beforehand to make sure everyone can access your session space, whether it’s online or in person.
  3. What ground rules do you need to create a safe space? This can help your participants feel comfortable sharing their ideas. For example, you could say:
    • ‘This is a judgment-free zone’
    • ‘There are no wrong ideas’
    • ‘Raise your hand if you want to speak’

  • Start with the right question and an idea of the audience you are designing for
  • Adopt the right mindset: No one has all the answers; don’t be afraid to try things out and fail.
  • The solution is out there, and with a clear focus on your problem and those experiencing it, you will find it.
  • Think of as many ideas as you can, make them tangible, and test them.
  • Consider creative methods to generate new ideas, like sketching or visioning. Expand the next arrow ‘Crazy 8s and Evil 8s’ for more on this.
  • Merge ideas where possible
  • Don’t limit your ideas by wondering whether they are deliverable – you can decide what is feasible for testing later on

It’s likely you’ll need to shortlist your ideas before moving on to testing. To do this, think about three questions:

  1. How well does the idea answer the question?
  2. How much value could it bring?
  3. How much resource would it require to deliver?

Once you have a shortlist, you can start to understand more about each idea e.g. where it came from, what it entails in practice, how the user might benefit, what the impact might be and any wider context.

Download the ‘Ideas development template’ via the button for a framework to develop these points. Ideally, the person who suggested the idea would be part of this.

At the end of the process, your ideas should be scoped sufficiently to share back, test and refine them with people in a more meaningful way.

The Test phase

The aim of this stage is to release ideas off the page and out into the real world to get feedback and buy-in from your community and key stakeholders.

It is a critical part of the co-design process. It’s a chance to engage potential delivery partners and even funders at an early stage.

During testing, look closely at how people respond. As well as testing the viability of an idea, this can help you consider what elements people or groups might take more ownership of in delivery.

Leave time to reflect and refine based on peoples’ feedback, so your final draft is representative of what people think or feel.

Some ways to test your ideas could be:

  • A stall at a showcase or exhibition event
  • Hosting online platforms (upvoting, commenting)
  • Conversations with stakeholders
  • Online meetings with community groups
  • Prototyping (e.g. mock-up a poster or advert about it to bring it to life)
  • Via local networks (i.e. youth groups or social clubs)

Inclusive design

The Double Diamond model supports inclusive design. Here are three other ways to ensure everyone can participate fully in the co-design process.

Inclusive design 101 with Microsoft TEDxTalks: How to make design really inclusive

Engage fully and consistently

Seek out differences

Meet the needs of all

Icebreakers and activities

Here are some ways to help people settle in and get comfortable during co-design.

Blob Tree

Blob Tree is a tool to check in on how a group is feeling about a subject or exercise. Encourage people to place the ‘blob’ figure that best represents their emotions onto a tree and take the conversation from there.

More about Blob Tree
More about Blob Tree

59 second sketch

59 second sketch gives everyone a prompt (e.g. what do you love most about nature in your neighbourhood?) and 59 seconds to draw their answer. Ask the group to share their drawings with the group.

Yes and / Yes but 

Yes and / Yes but starts with a prompt (e.g. let’s offer an internship) and builds on the idea, with each person adding a point using ‘yes, and...’. to shape it into something bigger. Use ‘Yes, but’ to spot any potential challenges.

Five whys

Five whys digs into the cause of an issue, uncovering glitches in delivery or processes along the way. Start with a description of the problem, then ask and answer ‘why’ five times to reach a statement about what went wrong.

Theory of five whys
Theory of five whys

The article you have just read is part of a series created by Nature Neighbourhoods.

Nature Neighbourhoods was a national partnership programme between the National Trust, RSPB and WWF, funded by the National Lottery Community Fund and the Co-op.

The programme’s big idea was to work alongside 18 community organisations over 2 years, helping them co-create people-powered plans for nature in their own neighbourhoods.

Each collaborative plan was firmly rooted in whatever nature and climate actions are most important to the people living and working there. And they were brought to life with Nature Neighbourhood’s funding, support and training.

Watch stories from Nature Neighbourhoods Read the project report