Conclusions: Moving beyond building sandcastles ... long-term sociotechnical infrastructure for social justice

Wilson, Rob ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0469-1884, Baines, Sue ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3859-9448, Bassi, Andrea, Aramo-Immanen, Heli, Prandini, Riccardo, Narbutaite Aflaki, Inga and Fox, Chris ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1931-2058 (2024) Conclusions: Moving beyond building sandcastles ... long-term sociotechnical infrastructure for social justice. In: Co-creation in Public Services for Innovation and Social Justice. Policy Press, Bristol, pp. 179-192. ISBN 9781447367161 (paperback); 9781447367185 (online)

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Abstract

This concluding chapter summarises the book’s central premise, drawing from conceptual and empirical contributions of our collective experiences and reflection of enacting social innovation through co-creation. Throughout the volume we have explored thinking and practices around co-creation. We have emphasised in particular the turn towards relational ways of thinking in the framing of individuals and communities as having their own goals, capacities and mechanisms of change. This needs to be brought together in various combinations to form the sorts of mutuality envisaged by proponents of co-creation and co-production in policy and practice. In this final chapter we now turn to considering the transition needed from the current focus on pilot projects and interventions or experiments in co-creation, which almost always begin with a plan and end in what is an apparently concrete and impactful solution. The problem with these short-term investments, as many have come to realise, is that although we learn from them, we can rarely sustain or scale beyond the original resourcing. Therefore, we conclude that there is a need to cultivate a relational approach for social justice and present a model that combines context-specific structures with reusable infrastructures able to support and sustain successive initiatives.