Restorative Cities and Communities

Around the world, cities have declared either that they are, or aim to become, restorative. 

What this means in practice varies from place to place. For some, the emphasis is on creating places where conflicts are resolved restoratively not punitively. For others the vision extends more widely to building strong relationships, breaking down community divides and rebalancing the relationship between citizen and state.

This is how it’s described in Canberra:

Being a restorative city is a vision of what it means to be community, to live in community, and to be part of the Canberra community. It is focused on asking: How can we live and work in ways that foster the connections to one another that we need to be well, to be safe and to flourish? It is as much about how you recognise and strive to address the problems of relationship and inclusion, and of difference, as of the harms of the past and the present.
Canberra Restorative Community

Research on restorative cities


The Mint House is grateful to colleagues working on restorative city initiatives across England and Wales for sharing their learning with us during interviews we carried out in 2018. You can find the results here:

Research to date on restorative cities is mainly descriptive. This includes a series of case studies, with commentary, published in 2019 in the International Journal of Restorative Justice.

The European Forum for Restorative Justice has compiled information on restorative cities and has a restorative cities working group.  You can find these resources here:

The restorative cities working group has also published a ‘travel guide’ outlining the restorative journeys of several restorative cities around the world. You can download it here:

Summary


Here are what we take to be the lessons from experience so far:

  • Be clear what you mean by a restorative city

  • Specify the outcomes you hope for and how these will be measured, then evaluate

  • Understand and build on the strengths (skills and resources) you have already

  • Make sure you don’t depend too much on a single individual

  • Look beyond professionals

  • Resist silos: beware of replacing one power structure with another

  • Work with communities to respond to needs

  • Use creative communications to share the vision so it doesn’t just involve enthusiasts

  • Make the case for the restorative city – including the economic case.

  • Think about sustainability, then prepare for the long haul!

 Restorative Cities around the World

  Brighton

  Case study in International Journal of Restorative Justice 2019 vol 2(2)

  Bristol

  Case study in International Journal of Restorative Justice 2019 vol 2(2)

  Hull

  Hull 2010.ppt (iirp.edu)

   Leeds

  Restorative Practice | LRPC (leedsrpc.org.uk)

  Portsmouth

  Restorative Portsmouth - Safer Portsmouth Partnership

  Southampton

  Launched Restorative charter November 2017

  Restorative charter launched (southampton.gov.uk)

  Stockport

  Restorative Stockport

  Leuven (Belgium)

  Case study in International Journal of Restorative Justice 2019 vol 2(2)

  Como (Italy)

  Case study in International Journal of Restorative Justice 2019 vol 2(2)

  Tempio Pausiana (Italy)

  Case study in International Journal of Restorative Justice 2019 vol 2(2)

  Oakland, California

  DJDS | Restorative Justice City (designingjustice.org)

  Vermont

  Restorative Justice in Vermont (cjnvt.org)

  Canberra

  Canberra Restorative Community

  Newcastle, NSW

   Newcastle as a Restorative City - Newcastle Law School - The University of Newcastle, Australia

  Whanganui, NZ

   Restorative Practices Whanganui | Towards a Restorative City

   Case study in International Journal of Restorative Justice 2019 vol 2(2)

Please get in touch if you’re interested in being part of a movement to help Oxford along the road to becoming a restorative city!

Restorative Communities UK Network

restorative communities uk network

The Mint House organises 3-4 informal online gatherings a year of the ‘Restorative Communities UK Network’ (formerly ‘Restorative Cities UK Network’) to bring together people across the UK who are interested in restorative cities, towns, counties, and communities. If you would like to join the mailing list, please send us an email.