Stories

Welcome to our stories page - here you’ll find a collection of insights and learnings from place-based work, alongside our team and partners’ thoughts and reflections.
Two people touching hands. One person has two bracelets.
Blog
Why did we create Place Matters?
In 2020 Place Matters commissioned a piece of research into the practice of making changes happen in places.
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Block of arrows all going in same direction, one does in the other direction
Blog
Beyond collaboration in place-based leadership
These are reflections following a webinar that Place Matters held on July 13 2022.
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Three people sat around a table discussing
Blog
The conditions for place-based success : Lessons learnt from a lifetime of community centred change
Place Matters Co-Director, Emily Sun, hosted Dame Julia and David Sanderson on 19th June 2024. This is a summary of the key topics and themes discussed.
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A ball of multicoloured strings
Collective Impact for Stanford Social Innovation Review
Large-scale social change requires broad cross-sector coordination, yet the social sector remains focused on the isolated intervention of individual organizations.
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Graffiti on a wall under a bridge reads 'lets love our community'
More Than Infrastructure by Place Matters
Read the Place Matters 2021 report on how to enable place based working. This report was written collaboratively by John Hitchin, Emily Sun, Jo Blundell and Jennifer McConnel.
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The framework moves through four stages: Understanding place, community power and collaborative leadership, Systems change and impact area
Framework : Theory of Place and Systems Change
Our Theory of Place is a developing framework that explores the complexity, nuances and stages of place-based work.
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Deep Collaboration logo where a dark blue circle sits between a pink shape and a light blue shape
The 5 Steps of Deep Collaboration
Deep Collaboration, part of Platform C, offers resources and programs that individuals and collaborations can draw on to create shared leadership.
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A cog with arrows inside pointing both left and right
Framework : Practices, Conditions & Mindsets for Place-based Change
Our Place-Based Change Visual is a developing framework that explores the necessary conditions and practices for effective place-based change, and the skills and mindset that Place Matters holds in our work.
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Beige circle with white outline image inside : four people sat around a table shaped as a cog
Place-Based Funders Action Learning by Place Matters
In April 2023, Place Matters held a roundtable of place-based funders to discuss the position of funding organisations in the sector. This paper outlines the key themes from this discussion.
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LCR Cradle to Career Learning Event Summaries
Place Matters is the Learning Partner to the Liverpool City Region Cradle to Career programme. These learning summaries support the work of this fantastic initiative, which is bringing real change to the region.
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