About
A workshop for public ideas.
What Civitas Foundry is
Civitas Foundry is an independent platform focused on public life and the systems that shape it.
It publishes and develops work across governance, institutions, public leadership, development and the relationship between technology and the state.
The platform includes essays and papers, conversations, programmes, projects and events. Some originate within Civitas Foundry. Others document or connect to work taking place elsewhere.
The Foundry method
How ideas move through.
- 01
Gather
Gather ideas from different places.
- 02
Challenge
Challenge assumptions and test claims.
- 03
Connect
Connect perspectives that rarely meet.
- 04
Refine
Refine what survives the exchange.
- 05
Build
Build toward useful public outcomes.
Not every idea travels the whole way, and that is the point. Some are sharpened and published. Some become conversations. Some feed into programmes and projects. All of them are better for the exchange.
What we explore
- Governance & Institutions
How rules, organisations and incentives shape what public bodies can and cannot do.
- Public Leadership
The judgement, coalitions and credibility needed to move public decisions forward.
- Development & Reform
Why reform efforts stall, and what makes change durable rather than announced.
- Technology & the State
How data, digital systems and new tools alter the capacity and accountability of government.
What Civitas Foundry is for
Civitas Foundry creates room to examine public problems carefully, question familiar assumptions and develop practical ways of thinking about what could work better.
It is designed to grow beyond the work of any one person, with contributions from different writers, practitioners, researchers and collaborators over time.
Founder
Rex Rim-Rukeh
Founder, Civitas Foundry
Rex Rim-Rukeh founded Civitas Foundry as a shared workshop for public ideas. His writing focuses on why reforms stall, how public leadership and institutions interact, and what it takes to turn good ideas into durable public outcomes. Outside Civitas Foundry, he is a co-creator and contributor to the Big Ideas Platform and serves or has served as a Capstone mentor, both at the School of Politics, Policy and Governance (SPPG).
ContributionsBring something to the Foundry.
An idea, a perspective or a question is enough to begin.