Building resilience in the cracks of the economy

At the allotment last weekend I tugged at a stubborn bit of bindweed that had threaded itself through my tomatoes. It looked small at first, then suddenly I was pulling up metres of the stuff.

It reminded me how precarity works. It creeps in. By the time we notice, it’s already wrapped around our lives: the job that never quite becomes secure, the degree that doesn’t open the door, the rent that climbs while the ladder of “next steps” loses rungs.

We grew up rehearsing a script — school → job → home → stability — and many of us ended up in the in-between instead. The cracks. And yet, in those cracks, people are building things that last: reciprocal networks, small enterprises, local production, new forms of care.

This post is about designing with that in-between, not papering over it. It’s about how councils, services, anchors, start-ups and community groups can grow resilience where formal systems are thinnest.

What I’ve learned (and am still learning)

• Precarity isn’t a personal failure. It’s structural. Treating it as an individual problem pushes people into shame and silence.
• Informal doesn’t mean fragile. Mutual aid, repair, side-hustles, caregiving — these are adaptive systems with rules and trust, just not always recognised.
• Social infrastructure is economic infrastructure. Places to meet, trusted groups, micro-institutions — this is the safety net between services.

For context: New Local’s flagship report on community power argues for shifting from delivery to partnership (https://www.newlocal.org.uk/publications/community-power). IPPR’s work on community wealth building shows how anchors can lock in local value (https://www.ippr.org/research/publications/community-wealth-building). Nesta’s long-running People Powered Health programme explored practical ways to share power with citizens in care (https://www.nesta.org.uk/report/people-powered-health/). None of this is theory for its own sake — it’s a set of invitations to act differently.

A practical way to build resilience (no jargon, no table)

1. Start where people are coping already.
   Spend time listening where the system is thinnest: payday to payday, post-diagnosis, school-to-work, caring after hours. Ask, “What keeps you going now?” Capture the workarounds, not just the needs.
2. Make the hidden economy visible.
   Map the informal stuff people rely on — childcare swaps, lift-shares, repair skills, food sharing, side-income. Treat it as capability, not risk. Ask what would help it grow safely.
3. Co-create “in-between” supports.
   Back small scaffolds that sit between formal and informal: micro-grants, tool libraries, shared kitchens, community workshops, peer-to-peer learning, time-banking. Keep paperwork light; keep decisions close to residents.
4. Prototype tiny, learn fast.
   Run a one-month pilot with minimal rules. Check in weekly. Change what isn’t working. Celebrate what is. Publish what you learned, including the awkward bits.
5. Knit formal and informal — without smothering.
   Pair grassroots groups with anchors for procurement routes, space, safeguarding, and legitimacy. Let community partners lead the “how”.
6. Invest in places and people (not just projects).
   Secure space — a hall, shop unit, or shed — and a named facilitator who is trusted locally. Resilience needs a place to live.
7. Scale sideways, not just upwards.
   When something works, help another neighbourhood adapt it to their context. Share patterns, not templates.

Real examples (UK, Europe, and beyond)

• Think & Do Camden (UK) — a pop-up model that turned empty shops and community rooms into spaces for climate action, repair, sharing and neighbourhood projects. It shows how places enable everyday production, not just consumption. https://www.thinkanddocamden.org.uk
• Library of Things (UK) — a social enterprise that lets people borrow the things they need (drills, carpet cleaners, sewing machines) rather than buy them. It saves money, reduces waste and builds local skills. https://www.libraryofthings.co.uk
• Welsh Government — Foundational Economy Challenge Fund (Wales, UK) — public investment to grow everyday sectors (care, food, housing, utilities) that people rely on, with practical experiments across regions. https://www.gov.wales/foundational-economy-challenge-fund
• SEWA — Self Employed Women’s Association (India) — a trade union and network for women in the informal economy, building income security through co-ops, micro-insurance and childcare. https://www.sewa.org
• Ushahidi (Kenya, global) — an open-source platform born in Nairobi that lets citizens map and share real-time information in crises — showing how local knowledge can outpace formal responses. https://www.ushahidi.com

A short starter plan (you can begin this month)

• Week 1 — Listen: host two very small listening sessions (6–8 people). Bring snacks. Ask, “Where do you feel most on your own?” and “What already helps?”
• Week 2 — Spot the seeds: choose one informal practice to back (e.g., a repair club or tool share). Offer a micro-grant and a space for four weeks.
• Week 3 — Make it easy: remove one barrier (insurance, keys, storage, materials). Pair the group with a named council/anchor contact.
• Week 4 — Share the learning: publish one page: what worked, what didn’t, what’s next. Invite another neighbourhood to copy-and-adapt.

Why this matters for councils, services and anchors

People notice when institutions only show up at crisis or procurement stage. Working in the cracks — quietly, consistently — rebuilds trust. It says: we see your effort; we’ll back it without taking it over. It also makes economic sense: repairing, reusing and sharing reduce costs and vulnerability.

A gentle call to action

• Service leaders & policymakers: pick one in-between moment (leaving school, first diagnosis, moving home) and redesign one support around it. Measure trust and connection, not just throughput.
• Community groups: keep telling the ordinary stories of how people get by — those are the blueprints. Ask for light-touch support, not heavy schemes.
• Funders & anchors: resource places and people, not just projects. Offer flexible funding and procurement routes that welcome co-ops, micro-suppliers and community businesses.

If you have examples of resilience growing in the cracks where you are, I’d love to learn from them. Drop a link, a photo, or a line or two of what made it work. I’ll share back what we’re trying here too.