LAST MONTH, technology company Lenovo launched  the Kind City project - a vision to change urban environments forever and create future cities built on kindness.

One of the themes of the project is ‘Faith in kind cities’ - Open Table Network Coordinator Kieran Bohan was one of a panel of four leaders from diverse faith communities who took part in an interactive podcast for the project.

The Kind City project is an interactive global collaboration which aims to encourage empathy and creates a future built on kindness. The initiative features world-renowned thought leaders, including British-American fashion designer and philanthropist Tan France, best known as one of the ‘Fab Five’ presenters of Netflix’s hit make-over show Queer Eye.

Lenovo’s announcement on the project’s launch says:

‘By championing empathy in society, the project strives to encourage stronger, more inclusive communities made possible through smarter technology, and restore kindness in places where citizens feel increasingly disconnected.’

The Kind City project is steered by a panel of global experts who make up the project’s ‘Kind Council’. The group collaborated on a ‘choose-your-own-path’ podcast to discuss the fundamentals in achieving a Kind City, such as inclusion, trust, sustainability, dreams, and opportunity.  The interactive podcast explores conversations from less commonly heard voices, including more than 20 stories, discussions, and interviews from across the globe.   

The Kind City project was inspired by Lenovo’s research into the lives of city dwellers and their perspectives on the quality of life in their current cities. Surveying more than 5,000 city dwellers across five countries (Brazil, Germany, Japan, the UK and USA), the study exposes the growing need for society to rethink how we live together in city centres post-pandemic.  

The research revealed traditional organizations and government are falling short on prioritizing kindness, leaving it to local neighborhoods and communities to shoulder more than their share of the responsibility. 97% of all polled believing it is important their communities have kindness / empathy, but only 37% feeling their current city is a kind place to live or work.

Faith in Kind Cities

This discussion brought together four leaders of community projects with a faith context to discuss the role faith-based communities can play in creating a kinder city:

• Kieran Bohan, Coordinator of the Open Table Network, a partnership of Christian communities which welcome and affirm LGBTQIA+ people, based in Liverpool with communities across England and Wales.

• Georgina Bye, Chief Executive of Mitzvah Day, the UK's largest faith-led day of social action

• Ferzana Shah, steering group member and volunteer at the Salaam Shalom Kitchen, a joint Muslim/Jewish project in Nottingham

• Charandeep Singh, founder of the Sikh Food Bank in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen & Dundee.

Get involved: Become a Kind City citizen 

You’re invited to share your personal vision of an empathetic and inclusive community by becoming Kind City citizens, which you can do simply by completing the following statement: ‘The Kind City of the future will…’ on the KindCity.com website. Responses will be  transformed into 10 founding principles. These will be shared across the world through a range of exciting installations and experiential initiatives.

The panel discussed how faith-based values have motivated positive change in our communities, how we have worked with other faiths, what kindness means for us and how our projects have encouraged kindness. They also reflected on what role faith can play in creating a kinder city, and how spiritual connection can make communities kinder, the challenges they face and the changes needed to encourage social action and foster spiritual connection.

Listen to the Kind City podcast here.