Social Value and Place

The Engagement Gap

In many towns and cities, there is a widening gap between large institutions and the communities they serve.

You likely have an Engagement Strategy or a CSR commitment, but does it feel authentic and does it deliver impact through meaningful engagement? Often, we focus on metrics and tick boxes, delivering outreach to people rather than building the future with them.

You cannot audit your way to community trust.

At One Little Spark, we believe that Real Impact requires radical engagement. We help you move from being an Anchor(ed) Institution (which holds things down) to a catalyst institution (which shapes conditions for transformation). We turn community and stakeholder engagement from a nice-to-have activity into a core strategic driver.

Our Impact & Engagement Services

We work with Civic Engagement Leads, Directors of Place, and Research Impact Teams to design interventions that are rooted in reality but aimed at the horizon.

1. Civic Imagination Accelerators

Standard consultation is often retrospective (What do you think of this plan?). We facilitate high-energy, futures-focused sessions that deliver deep community engagement.

• The Shift: From Consultation to Co-Creation.
• The Method: We use Futures Wheels and Speculative Design to bring stakeholders together. We bypass the politics of today to imagine shared futures for place.
• The Impact: A shared “Civic Roadmap” that stakeholders and communities actually own, leading to higher trust and sustained partnership.

2. Social Value & Impact Strategy

For Universities, Corporations and Local Authorities, you need strategies that satisfies the regulator but also inspires your staff.

• The Shift: From Counting Heads to Changing Lives.
• The Method: We help you move beyond simple metrics. We identify your Civic Superpowers and build a narrative-led Impact Framework that captures the true value of your work—not just the volume.
• The Impact: A robust, distinct Social Value and Impact Strategy that aligns with your corporate mission and stands up to scrutiny.

3. Place-Making Labs

Specific deep-dive work for post-industrial or coastal communities. This is engagement from the ground up that requires the rewriting and rewiring of place.

• The Shift: From outdated notions of managed decline to industrial sublime and renewed possibility.
• The Method: We use the history of the place as fuel for futures thinking and innovation. We support projects that honour and harness the past while keeping focus on possible futures.
• The Impact: engaged projects that deliver social value and meaningful impact to communities and place

An approach rooted in Transformative Imagination and Possibility

We don’t bring a cookie-cutter approach to our work. We understand the texture of places where we work.

Our work is grounded in the concept of the Industrial Sublime and critical hope. We work to highlight the beauty, resilience, and ambition of place.

• We Start with Assets: We maximize engagement by asking “What is strong here?” not “What is wrong here?”
• We Use Futures Thinking: Because the best way to ensure long-term impact is to design for the next generation, not just the next audit.
• We Facilitate with Care: We create safe spaces for difficult conversations, turning conflict into collaboration.

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Testimonial

“A fascinating insight into how imagination can be nurtured to support leadership, innovation, and resilience. Huge thanks to Professor Kieran Fenby-Hulse for such a thought-provoking and inspiring session.” — Emma Chapman, School Manager

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Ready to deepen your impact?

If you want to build a strategy that truly engages your community, let’s talk.