a cultural agency for civic agency
The Department of
Neighboring
Our health, democracy and public life depend on people having enough agency, connection and shared space to act together. That means being able to work across difference and take action together.But much of the work that makes this possible is informal and often invisible. It rarely appears in budgets, professional records or official accounts.What if it did?
official notice
Neighboring Works
We make relational work official and official work relational by making and testing things that support relationships and shared agency.
PUBLIC WORKSVote with your HE/ART
Voice the Vote
ON THE RECORDInvitation as Urban Policy
Spacing Magazine
IN RESIDENCETeaching on Canadian and international health policy.
BRIEFINGSArts & Public Health
Lincoln Center Presents
commission the department
Let's Make This Official
Make things. Record what matters. Change systems.
We use systems acupressure in small, consequential places where a well-made intervention can help something move.Sometimes that means strengthening a relationship. Sometimes it means making useful knowledge or a good practice easier to use.Systems Acupressure is how we look for leverage in the systems that shape shared agency.
You can hire the Department for one useful thing or invite us in for a longer piece of work. Every engagement makes something that lasts.
PUBLIC WORKSMake civic ideas feltInstallations, objects and prototypes for trying out civic ideas in public.
ON THE RECORDMake good work countEvidence, case studies and publications that make good work easier to find and use.
NEIGHBOR IN RESIDENCEInvite us inA time-bounded residency or fractional role that produces or advances something new.
DEPARTMENTAL BRIEFINGSShare useful ideasTalks and briefings for people working through complex questions.
Have something else in mind?Tell us what you’re working on or what you want help to make possible.
antecedents
The Department of Neighboring grows out of two decades of work connecting health, public policy, community life and institutional change.Founder Kate Mulligan is a health geographer, policy and implementation scholar, community mobilizer and institution-builder. Kate has worked across governments, universities, health systems and communities, including founding the Canadian Institute for Social Prescribing and co-chairing the International Social Prescribing Collaborative. She has been featured on NPR, CBC, BBC, the Toronto Star, the Globe and Mail, Business Insider, and more.
© The Department of Neighboring. All rights reserved.