The Cross-pollination Approach: Conditions for Incubating and Cascading Collaborative Civic Design Initiatives

Integrative civic leadership, which builds on the capabilities of individuals and organizations across sectors and communities, is essential to sustainable and inclusive placemaking. The article explores the conditions affecting cross-sector collaboration and integrative civic leadership in design through an approach called Cross-pollination. Specifically, it identifies the barriers and enablers of integrative civic design leadership, focusing on how such leadership can be instigated in a particular place (incubating) and how it can be scaled up (cascading). The results highlight the importance of creating spaces for reflection, learning, and experimentation that enable the organic emergence of initiatives and the shifting of power relations. The study also reveals the importance of champions, who can tap into existing projects and local connections to cascade ideas and practices. Equally critical, however, are the infrastructures—such as funding and training—that focus on collaboration and empower civic actors to define their own agenda. The article concludes with the proposition that focusing on providing places for Cross-pollination more effectively recognizes the interconnected nature of design and co-design actions. This approach centers support on fostering opportunities for civic leadership actors to co-create and pursue initiatives and projects that align with their values. • Cross-pollination places support integrative civic leadership and co-design. • Seven key considerations are identified for incubating integrative civic design leadership. • Champions play a vital role in cascading cross-sector collaboration in placemaking. • Cross-sector collaboration infrastructures are essential for civic design leadership.