Drawing on an innovative co-design process, facilitated by the contributors, this vignette explores how practitioners have tried to make concrete the theory of co-design. The example highlights the deep challenges this presented to traditional ways of working and thinking. It concludes that a ‘leap of faith’ is sometimes needed for practitioners to see the benefits of unusual co-design processes. The illustrative example is of an attempt to redesign public services in one neighbourhood in Bradford, West Yorkshire, in the north of England. The neighbourhood is known by its postcode – BD5 – and is a place, and set of people, that had already undergone many attempts at urban renewal and regeneration. As with other stories presented in this book – in Deptford and in Birmingham for example – previous government-funded regeneration programmes had brought some improvements to the area, but not enough and not as transformatory as was needed. This contribution relates the details of a process used to bring in new thinking to longstanding issues facing local people and organisations.

A case has been presented for ‘incomplete design’ as a positive feature of alternative policy-making approaches. By presenting a rich and honest picture of the work done, this contribution allows us to glimpse some of the flavour of what incomplete design felt like for those participating in it. These designs lack the security of certainty, or at least old certainties. This example shows us that introducing new approaches is not easy, and may initially feel uncomfortable for participants, and needs facilitators to manage these feelings. The challenge it presents is to be comfortable with uncomfortableness. Fundamentally, it reminds us that creating change in policy and policy processes is often really hard. It offers a methodology to produce better policy outcomes in a more effective and inclusive way. This illustration is of some accessible facilitation tools, which are transformatory in making principles real. At its core, it advocates for reconnecting with citizens’ lived experience in policy.