About Jam and Justice
Jam and Justice set out to create a unique space for social innovation to co-produce, test and learn from new ways of governing cities. ‘Jam’ means bringing together different partners in the city to innovate to address shared problems. ‘Justice’ is about re-connecting with those who have been disenfranchised and excluded from the search for solutions. We were particularly interested in the value and practice of coproduction to address complex urban problems and understanding how we can bring different groups together to achieve fairer and more inclusive outcomes for different groups.
What did we learn? Download the overall report: How can we govern cities differently? The promise and practices of co-production (July 2019)
Jam and Justice received funding from the Economic and Social Research Council’s Urban Transformations programme, a portfolio of projects in the UK examining major changes taking place in cities across the globe.
Jam and Justice was also supported by the Realising Just Cities UK programme, part of the international Mistra Urban Futures centre for sustainable cities.
Jam and Justice started in January 2016, drawing to a close in 2019. Our main test-bed was Greater Manchester.
The Jam and Justice research methodology brought together academic and non-academic researchers – with different knowledge, skills and resources interested in making devolution matter in Greater Manchester – to test and learn about the theory and practice of co-production in research. Known as the Action Research Collective, the group’s primary role has been to initiate, develop and undertake comparative learning from Jam and Justice's action research projects. These are:
Young People Missing from Decisions
Councillors for the People
People’s Republic of Energy
Transform GM
People’s Procurement
System Doesn’t Work
Space in Common
Care at Home
