Welcoming in 2026
Reflecting on 2025 to move forward at OURI Labs
Well hello and happy new year to everyone who has been following us for the past three years and also hello and happy new year to those that are joining us for the first time - really happy to have you here and thanks for taking the time to read this.
Sending warm wishes to everyone over this period (especially those that are from the UK and having to endure the darker and colder days).
After spending 2025 testing different formats, I’m returning to Substack with a more blog-style approach to our news. For those who’ve been receiving updates via email, I’d love to see you here on Substack where we can share our learnings, work, musings and also other news related to OURI Labs.
And you may be wondering about the mushroom imagery? Mushrooms really embody how we mean to go forward - but more on that below.
Looking back at 2025
What a year of firsts this was!
We published our first research paper with Cities & Health on our systems workshops. We won our first ideas competition - collaborating with the brilliant architects Ash Sakula and Tonkin Liu on the Farrell Centre’s Flyover Futures competition. And we secured our first piece of grant-funded research, working with The Good Economy on a project for Esmee Fairbairn Foundation. Perhaps most excitingly, we were able to initiate and secure funding for our own research project - more on this as the year unfolds.
We continued developing our systems workshops with local authorities, working with Essex County Council and Surrey County Council. Throughout the year, we built partnerships around urban health, housing, and how integrated participatory processes can support population health.
But in the interest of being honest about the journey of an early-stage start up, of course not everything landed as we hoped. Plenty of projects didn’t materialise, proposals were rejected, and funding applications didn’t come through. This taught us invaluable lessons about timing, about what works, what doesn’t and how we might hone a proposition. We also had to pause our Associate Collective meet ups in the latter half of the year to focus on project delivery and are looking to organise a small get together this Summer rather than more regular meet ups.
More about our 2025 highlights here.
Into 2026
We’re excited to continue this momentum - gathering around the metaphorical communal bread to deliver on the values and projects we’re most passionate about.
Growing our ecosystem
We’ve grown our community through new partnerships and networks. We’ve come to understand that we’re part of a wider built environment ecosystem, and without these partnerships developing, our work simply wouldn’t be possible.
Being part of the Health and Wellbeing in Planning Network has truly been a meaningful part of this year. Collaborating with a network of local authority and wider system partners to understand how we systematically integrate health during a time when structural and policy changes are happening is a huge privilege.
It’s been wonderful to act as a partner to these organisations and help facilitate spaces where practitioners feel supported in their work.
What this year has taught me
We’ve been quieter than usual this year because we’ve been working hard behind the scenes to develop the work we believe in. We love learning from nature and it feels apt to lean into mushroom and mycelium wisdom here - letting opportunities percolate beneath the surface and emerge when the time is right.
What to expect in 2026
We’re working on a knowledge share from the three systems workshops we’ve delivered with East Sussex, Essex, and Surrey County Councils - so please do look out for that.
We are continuing to help build and co ordinate the Health and Wellbeing in Planning Network, please do join our LinkedIn group and look out for more opportunities to get involved. There is more partnership work developing on the sidelines that I can’t wait to share.
The vision for OURI Labs continues to sharpen: we’re working towards a healthier built environment through improved participation and collaboration. We’re making the case for participatory decision-making in urban development. Health, equity, and community wellbeing are inevitable outcomes of truly inclusive processes.
Here’s to continuing this important work together in 2026!
Note: For the most up-to-date information about OURI Labs’ activities, please follow our LinkedIn page or Instagram channel.
If you would like to schedule a call with us - book in a call with Sem (Founder of OURI Labs) here.