Islington, London
Octopus Community Network
octopuscommunities.org.uk
Creating spaces where residents can shape local priorities
Islington is a diverse and densely populated inner-London borough with a strong tradition of community action and grassroots organising. Alongside this, many residents face significant challenges around food insecurity, youth safety and access to power.
Working with local communities, our partner Octopus Communities is exploring how People’s Assemblies can create space for residents to come together, share lived experience and shape local priorities.
Assembly Culture in Islington
Exploring food justice, youth safety and community voice
Since 2025, Octopus Communities has been exploring how People’s Assemblies can help residents play a greater role in shaping the future of their communities.
The aim is not simply consultation, but to create practical democratic spaces where residents can share lived experience, deliberate together and identify priorities for action. Assemblies sit at the heart of this approach, offering a structured yet inclusive way for communities to move from individual concerns to shared agendas.
So far, two People’s Assemblies have taken place in Islington: a Food Assembly and a Youth Safety Assembly, engaging 115 residents in total. Together, these assemblies explored some of the issues people care most deeply about, including access to affordable food, safety, trust and belonging.
The assemblies created structured opportunities for residents to listen to one another, surface shared concerns and develop a stronger collective understanding of local priorities. In doing so, they demonstrated a clear appetite for deeper resident-led conversations about the future of the borough.
Alongside the assembly process, the Youth Safety Assembly resulted in the production of a short film, premiered locally in June 2026, helping to amplify young people’s experiences and perspectives beyond the assembly space itself.
This work is helping to build local democratic capacity, strengthen relationships between residents and organisations, and lay the foundations for further assemblies and community-led action in Islington.
