“If you're not engaging with the broader infrastructure around you, if you're not thinking about more than just the people through your door, you're probably not doing place-based work.”
Aligning Place, Evidence, and Change: Lessons from the UK
John Hitchin · Co-Founder, Stories of Change
About this episode
In this episode, Matt and Tenille speak with John Hitchin, co-founder of Stories of Change and co-author of the Place and Evidence in the UK report. John unpacks what genuinely makes work place-based versus just happening in a place, and walks us through a new taxonomy of five categories of place-based change — each driven by different mechanisms and requiring different forms of evidence. It's a rich conversation about aligning evidence to how change actually happens, the role of relationships, and what it takes to build a field of practice.
Key takeaways
Place-based work engages with infrastructure, not just individuals
The difference between working "in a place" and doing place-based work comes down to whether you're engaging with the social, state, and market infrastructure around you — or just serving the people who walk through your door.
Not all place-based work is the same
The report identifies five distinct categories of place-based change, from continuous local social change through to large-scale market interventions — each driven by different mechanisms and requiring different forms of evidence.
Align your evidence to how change actually happens
The biggest problems arise when funders and practitioners mismatch their evidence approach with the type of change being pursued — such as demanding quantitative outcome data from work that is fundamentally about building social capital and relationships.
Funders should interrogate their own values first
Before deciding what to measure, funders need to be clear about what they actually want to achieve — because that determines which category of place-based work they should invest in and what evidence is appropriate.
Shared language, not shared frameworks
Frameworks are like toothbrushes — everyone wants one, but no one wants to share. The goal isn't one universal framework, but broad consensus on how we understand different types of place-based work and their mechanisms.
Topics covered
- Place-based change
- Evidence and evaluation
- Mechanisms of change
- Systems change
- Community development
- Funding and commissioning
- Field building