Camden Renewal Commission

Let’s come together to create a fair and sustainable Camden for everyone

The experience of the pandemic has been incredibly difficult, bringing huge challenges and changes to people’s lives. It’s shone a spotlight on the inequalities that exist in Camden and residents across the borough have said that we can’t go back to the way things were before.

To achieve change, we need to think and act differently.

Growing inequality and a climate crisis are not challenges easy to address, but we know that amazing things can happen in Camden when people – residents, communities, local organisations and the Council – come together with a shared goal.

Missions for change

We’re joining together to renew the borough with bold and ambitious missions, using recovery as an opportunity and a catalyst for reimagining Camden’s future.

Through conversations and collaborative work across the borough, we’ve created four core missions, covering food poverty and sustainability, diversity in positions of power, health and sustainability of estates, and opportunities for young people.

By 2030, those holding positions of power in Camden are as diverse as our community – and the next generation is ready to follow.

By 2025, every young person has access to economic opportunity that enables them to be safe and secure.

By 2030, everyone eats well every day with nutritious, affordable, sustainable food.

By 2030, Camden’s estates and streets are creative and sustainable.

Why have we created missions?

Powerful change can happen when people from across the public and private sectors come together to achieve a shared goal. This shared goal, or mission, helps to channel creativity and innovation to create public benefit. 

UCL’s Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose has led on putting missions at the heart of innovation and growth policy globally. Read their beginner’s guide on why, where, and how missions matter.

How have we created missions?

The development of Camden’s renewal missions was rooted in community stories, informed by data and evidence, and shaped in collaboration with community partners.

Throughout 2020 and 2021, Camden Council brought together a diverse group of people from across Camden’s community, voluntary, business and academic sectors to look beyond the pandemic and think about how Camden could not just recover from the crisis, but to renew and build a more equal, sustainable borough. 

The group included Pooja Agrawal (CEO and co-founder of social enterprise Public Practice), Athian Akec (Member for Camden of the UK Youth Parliament), Delia Barker (Programmes Director at the Roundhouse), Kate Bell (Head of the Rights at the Trades Union Congress), Sadia Farah (First Step Action), Christine Foster (Chief Commercial Officer at The Alan Turing Institute), Alexis Keir (Director of Elfrida Rathbone Camden), Saul Klein (Founding Partner at LocalGlobe and Latitude Ventures), Marcel Levi (Chief Executive of University College London Hospitals), Sir Michael Marmot (Professor of Epidemiology and Public Health at UCL​), George Mpanga (Performer, Artist and Social Commentator, also known as George the Poet), Ann Phoenix (Professor of Psychosocial Studies at UCL), Simon Pitkeathly (Chief Executive of Camden Town Unlimited​) and Farhana Yamin​ (Lawyer, Author, Social Justice Activist & Founder of Track 0).

Chaired by Councillor Georgia Gould, Leader of Camden Council, and Professor Mariana Mazzucato, founder of the Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose at UCL, the group’s work focused on hearing about Camden’s priorities and develop the missions.

Read more about the call to action, listen to stories of the pandemic from Camden’s residents and organisations and ideas for change moving forward, as well as our blog posts summarising meetings held so far.

What’s next?

The Commission published its final report, you can read it HERE.

We’re working together to tackle some of the biggest issues facing Camden and you can be part of it.

Find out how local community organisations, businesses and residents are coming together to bring Missions to life and build a better, fairer borough; We Make Camden is a platform to share these stories.