Enabling collaboration as a way of working in India’s urban ecosystem
Enabling collaboration as a way of working in India’s urban ecosystem
The Request for Collaboration (RFC) is an initiative by U-CAN that explores how organisations can move from intent to practice when it comes to collaboration – through experimentation, reflection, and shared learning.
Why Collaboration Matters for Organisations and Cities
The ecosystem of organisations and individuals working to improve our cities often focus on specific parts of a larger challenge. While this specialisation creates depth and credibility, it can also mean that actors working toward similar goals rarely have structured opportunities to combine their strengths.
The consequences are visible across the urban landscape:
- Similar problems addressed through disconnected efforts
- Duplication of ideas, pilots, and engagement with government stakeholders
- Partial solutions to systemic challenges
- Valuable expertise remaining under-leveraged
- Limited pathways for field-level learning and joint action
No single organisation, however capable, can fully address the complexity of urban challenges alone. Most organisations recognise the value of collaboration. But fewer are able to sustain it meaningfully. This is because –
- Funding structures prioritise short-term, project-based outputs
- Organisational systems are optimised for individual delivery, not shared work
- Collaboration requires time, trust, and flexibility, often without immediate returns
What is the RFC initiative?
The Request for Collaboration was created by U-CAN to explore what it takes to move collaboration from intent to practice. Rather than prescribing solutions, the RFC was designed to enable conditions where collaboration could emerge and evolve organically.
Core objectives
Enable early-stage collaboration
Support organisations to jointly explore ideas without rigid deliverables
Support experimentation and learning
Allow teams to iterate and adapt as insights emerge
Build collaborative capacity
Help organisations learn how to work across boundaries
A Practice-informed framework for collaboration
The RFC has created an opportunity to observe how collaboration unfolded through the first phase of the initiative, and inform the creation of a practice-informed framework that will evolve with the RFC initiative in subsequent phases.
