Real Talk Living Lab in Boston

A new civic infrastructure in Boston grounded in dialogue as a way of building up our “civic muscles” of democracy

At the MIT Center for Constructive Communication, we believe that the hard work of democracy is rooted in our ability to listen, understand, and relate with one another. Our goal with our project is to bring the process, the methods, and the tools designed and prototyped at MIT CCC into the city of Boston and engage a diverse network of local stakeholders (such as government, private actors, community-based organizations, media, and educational institutions) in the co-design and co-development of a lasting piece of civic infrastructure that promotes healthy and constructive public conversations. These community dialogues are based on people sharing their experiences of living in their local communities and can be focused on the areas that most impact their lives, such as housing, public health, safety, education, and others.