Methodologies — The Commons Lab

Tools for turning lived experience into better decisions

The Commons Lab is the home for the methods I have built and refined over fifteen years of practice — approaches that help institutions design with communities rather than for them. Each one is grounded in a simple conviction: the people closest to a problem hold the insight needed to solve it.

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The Community Huddle

A structured convening format that brings residents, frontline workers and decision-makers into the same room as equals. The Huddle replaces top-down consultation with shared sense-making, so policy is shaped by the people who will live with its consequences.

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The Developmental Design Model

An adaptation of design thinking that begins with introspection before empathy. Built originally for young and first-time designers, it gives people the self-awareness and vocabulary they need to define problems clearly and carry solutions all the way to action.

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Knowledge Mobilization

A practice for closing the gap between research and the people it is meant to serve. It treats the translation of evidence into usable, shareable knowledge as a discipline in its own right — making findings equitable, accessible and ready to drive change.

📷 IMAGE PLACEHOLDER

Add a photo of a workshop / huddle / facilitation session here (landscape, ~1200×700px)

Why introspection comes before empathy

Classic design thinking assumes the designer already understands the problem, knows their own perspective, and has the means to act. For young people and communities entering the process for the first time, those assumptions rarely hold. The Developmental Design Model adds an introspection stage at the front of the process — helping people understand their own identity and assumptions first, so the empathy that follows is genuine and the solutions they build are ones they can actually deliver.

Read the thinking behind the methods

Explore the essays where these ideas are worked out in detail.