After an eventful 2024 that included the launch of the Engagement Overlay to the RIBA Plan of Work and the start of our lunchtime CPD training sessions, we were excited to restart our Conversation Labs this spring.
Conversation Labs are monthly online discussions and networking sessions, hosted by ACD members and featuring guest speakers. These free, informal events are a space for discussion on key issues in collaborative design and community engagement. They are open to anyone - whether a seasoned practitioner or simply interested in community engagement - and are designed to create space for sharing, reflection and learning from one another.
On 19th March, the 2025 series was launched with the theme of community ‘consultation fatigue’ - a growing challenge identified by engagement practitioners. We were delighted to welcome Wongani Mwanza, Director and Participatory Urban Design Lead at Transition by Design Cooperative, who joined us to help unpack what drives this fatigue and what we can do to address it.
Wongani drew from his experience on the Blackbird Leys Community Centre in Oxford, a project shortlisted for the 2025 Pineapple Awards for Community Engagement. Working in partnership with Oxford City Council and The Peabody Trust, the project aims to deliver a new community centre and open spaces shaped by the needs and aspirations of residents - now and for the decades to come.
Wongani shared Transition by Design’s core engagement principles, emphasising that engagement should be timely, sustained, inclusive, two-way, transparent, and a matter of public record. In other words, communities should be active participants - not passive consultees - throughout a project’s life. Wongani's presentation was recorded and can be viewed on YouTube.
Some key approaches included:
Forming the Leys Community Review Panel to build trust over time
Working with existing local organisations to broaden the reach
Holding regular (but not overly frequent) meetings, with clear updates and visible feedback loops
Engaging communities in non-project-specific settings, such as local events.
A powerful takeaway was Wongani’s emphasis on the role of engagement professionals in shaping client thinking, not just collecting community feedback. This echoes the purpose of tools like the Engagement Overlay to the RIBA Plan of Work, which supports the integration of meaningful engagement throughout a project’s lifecycle.
Following Wongani’s presentation, participants broke into smaller groups to reflect on the causes of consultation fatigue. Common themes emerged:
Lack of follow-through: Trust breaks down when communities don’t see how their input is used, or when delivery doesn’t match what was promised
Perceived tokenism: Engagement can feel like a tick-box exercise when influence is limited or unclear
Disconnect from decision-making: Even when voices are heard, they’re often not reflected in outcomes or strategic discussions.
While the issue is complex, the group shared a number of thoughtful strategies to reduce consultation fatigue:
Clarify the “Scope of Influence”: Be upfront about what’s open to input and what isn’t - set expectations early
Maintain visible feedback loops: Let people know where their input goes and how it shapes decisions
Acknowledge local histories: Recognise past experiences and avoid repetitive engagement. Show that previous input has been heard
Support informal engagement: Informal settings - like knitting circles or local cafés - often allow for richer, more honest conversations
Stay present and visible throughout the process: Engagement shouldn’t stop after the initial phases. Ongoing contact in place helps build relationships and accountability over time.
This session reminded us that consultation fatigue isn't caused by too much engagement - but by engagement that doesn’t feel meaningful or have real-world impact. Valuing people’s time, clarifying their influence, and showing how their input has shaped a project are key to building long-term trust.
We’re grateful to Wongani Mwanza for kicking off our 2025 Lab series with clarity, care and provocation, and to everyone who joined us for the discussion. Conversation Labs will continue every two months in 2025, creating space for reflective and collaborative discussions on the future of engagement and design.
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