Seeds of Ordinary Hope: a call for the work we need

On Thursday 5 June 2025, we had the pleasure of coming together in the Barbican Centre for our Ordinary Hope Summer Celebration – an evening gathering of organisers, think tanks, economists, policymakers and decision-makers from across politics, to reflect on what makes good work, and how we get there.

We came to hear from the writer and researcher Hilary Cottam OBE, The Guardian journalist Jonathan Freedland and Lukasz Rachel, our Academic Co-Director (Economics) – drawing on lessons from Hilary’s latest research and book, The Work We Need.

Hilary’s book brings together years of work: thousands of conversations, hours of radical listening, and hundreds of ‘imaginings’ – collaborative sessions where small groups of people come together to discuss what they want from work and design what could help make work better. Across the UK and USA, from community workers to CEOs, Hilary asks how we can redesign work. Not just what work is, but what it could be.

Across these conversations, six recurring themes emerged: the basics (pay and safety), time, place, meaning, care, and play. 

One imagining that particularly stayed with Hilary came from a grave-digger, who sketched a sophisticated, non-linear vision of good work on a paper tablecloth – a vision that went beyond the four-day work week, and asked deeper questions about work, meaning and change.

Another lesson came from a woman in Barrow who works as a welder, as Hilary described a “seamstress for nuclear subs.” At school, she had been encouraged to pursue a career as a vet, but she found meaning in a place where society hadn’t expected it.

Hilary reflected on how we romanticise the work of the 20^th century, reminding us that the ‘golden era’ of work was not inclusive. We need to learn to see every worker as a carer, and workplaces too must hold their responsibility with care. As Hilary said, “don’t exhaust me so I can’t play”; work must be organised so workers themselves don’t have to broker and negotiate flexible working arrangements. She challenged the policy position of how to get people well enough to work.

As Lukasz Rachel underlined, the changing nature of work and technology means that we may see increased polarisation in the work we do.

“As routine tasks are automated, remaining jobs polarize: many become either more creative or more precarious” Rachel explained.

As the conversation opened to the audience, thoughts and questions sprouted. What of the remote worker with control over time, but little to no connection with place? What lessons can we learn from the third sector and community ownership? What of the next generation and job design?

The crowd buzzed with energy as we gathered for drinks and conversation in the Barbican Conservatory. Hilary urged us to reflect on work and identity, what it means to be a worker and how we should reclaim and define the label. This invitation echoed in the care and curiosity with which we asked one another about our work, and the paths that led us to where we are now. I asked one of the team how their shift was going, and their answer was honest. They were tired but had rallied, drawing energy from the crowd. 

Reflecting on the subject and our setting – the Barbican Centre – I had a sense of befitting irony. The Barbican, an iconic brutalist structure, was built in the heart of London in an area once devastated by the Blitz. The centre brings together arts, business and residential housing – a post-war reimagining of metropolitan living. We gathered to hear from Hilary about reimagining working lives, we were reminded that place shapes possibility, and that the structures we inherit and inhabit matter.

For the ecosystem, this is also a task in imagination – as we try to use the space we have built here at UCL to break new ground on the ideas and tools required to tackle the very critical challenges facing Britain – from the changing nature of work to the disruption that AI and other technologies bring.

As Hilary had emphasised, these ideas cannot flourish in isolated monocultures; we need to consider the wider ecology of local economies and embrace pluralism in our systems thinking. She pointed to Barnsley’s digital innovation hub, a council-owned and managed centre, which has enriched its local economy and fostered inclusive growth by drawing the community and businesses together.

As the evening drew close, we stepped out of the lush Barbican Conservatory - a space that had briefly become a terrarium for our conversations. It felt as if Hilary’s books - sold throughout the evening - were like seeds, each conversation a form of pollination. Ordinary hope, carried home, ready to take root.