Who is running the Bristol Urban Forum?
The BUF is operated by a small but growing group of Bristol professionals who specialise in community consultation and city issues. You can find out more about them in the Organising Team section of the website. The team are all volunteers and are looking for other Bristolians from the city's diverse communities to help. In particular, those with experience in event delivery, videography, sound recording, copywriting, research and marketing.
How are the Forum and its events run?
The organising team run the Forum on citizen-led principles. This means that the city's citizens set the agenda, either by coming to the events or feeding in topics for discussion on the website or social media. The events bring together anyone who wants to discuss the subject, from interested citizens to experts in the field and we use a range of interactive techniques to crowdsource an understanding of both the problem the city faces and some potential solutions.
What happens after the events?
BUF events are written up by theme, with each one being the subject of extensive research and enquiry to underpin recommendations for action with evidence. The organising team also hope to keep the public conversation going with a regular podcast to which people can provide their thoughts. At the end of the process, which is expected to be around ten monthly events, each theme will be written up as a section in a Bristol Place Manifesto. The Manifesto will be provided to political and civic authorities ahead of the 2024 General Election to inform the political debates about the city's future.
Is it a political organisation? How is the Forum funded?
The Forum is non-political and does not seek to influence any particular party. Instead its aim is to help those in control of the levers of change in the city understand how Bristol's citizens want to see things change. The Forum convenors do not claim that the evidence collected in the process will be representative of all of Bristol's citizens, workers and stakeholders. It aims instead to ensure that some of those that wish to feed in their views are able to do so.
The Forum has not yet been in receipt of any financial support, but will seek to secure sponsors for individual events to help fund its work. The Forum will publish criteria and principles which will guide the process of seeking and accepting any external funding with a view to ensuring transparency and independence.
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