Letter 17 — To Imagine Leeds

Keeping civic and institutional attention on the transition

Date: 29 October 2025
Recipient: Imagine Leeds — City hub of Climate Action Leeds

Context

The third letter of Week 3 of One Letter a Day turns to Imagine Leeds, the city-centre hub that links neighbourhood action with institutional change. Since its creation within Climate Action Leeds in 2020, Imagine Leeds has become a focal point for collaboration across sectors — a place where residents, researchers, businesses and civic leaders work side-by-side on the long transition toward a fair, nature-friendly and zero-carbon city.
This letter asks how such spaces sustain attention and coherence amid shifting political and institutional priorities.

Letter

Dear friends at Imagine Leeds,

I am writing as part of One Letter a Day: a year-long civic experiment to reopen grounded conversations about the climate emergency, starting here in Leeds. Each day I write to someone whose work shapes how we think and act on this crisis, and publish both letters and replies to encourage wider dialogue.

This week turns to the organisations that give shape to civic life. In Leeds, Imagine Leeds sits at the heart of that network: a space where communities, institutions and ideas meet, and where the city can see its transition reflected back to itself.

Over the past five years you’ve built something rare: an open, physical hub that welcomes residents, researchers, businesses and public bodies into the same conversation. More than 8,000 visitors, hundreds of events and dozens of partner organisations have passed through your doors. That reach has begun to form an infrastructure of collaboration — one that holds potential not just for coordination, but for coherence.

As was highlighted during the West Yorkshire and Humber Climate Commission Gathering in September, spaces like these are civic instruments. In a time when institutional and political priorities can shift with each funding cycle, Imagine Leeds provides continuity: a shared table around which ambition and practicality can meet.

So my question is this:

Over the past five years, Imagine Leeds has hosted thousands of visitors, hundreds of events and dozens of organisations. From your perspective, what does genuine progress look like in a hub like this? And how do you leverage it to make sure that this continues to maintain institutional attention on the transition?

I ask because, as civic life fragments and attention becomes a scarce resource, spaces of continuity matter more than ever. The work you do helps keep the city’s focus steady — reminding both institutions and citizens that the transition is not an abstract goal but an ongoing civic practice. Understanding how you sustain that focus could help others elsewhere learn to do the same.

With appreciation for your work and the constancy it represents,

Vivien Badaut
One Letter a Day
one-letter-a-day.uk

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Tomorrow’s letter continues Week 3’s exploration of civic resilience, turning to Sustainable Arts in Leeds (SAIL) — the network helping artists and cultural organisations reimagine sustainability not only as practice but as possibility.