Harpenden.AI
I live in Harpenden

The journey

From this meeting to an AI-fluent town, in one summer.

This is the honest version. The summer timing is deliberate - it creates visible progress before most residents drift off on holiday, and a festival finish is something the whole town can rally around. We accept that August absences mean the festival has to run through community members, not Hugo alone. That’s a feature, not a bug.

  1. 00

    The website + the meeting

    This week

    You’re on it. The council walks through this site and decides whether to help us move to Phase 1.

    • Council endorsement or steer
    • A named council point of contact
    • A short-list of venues for the opening evenings
  2. 01

    The core offers, at resident-only pricing

    May – June 2026

    AI Night School and Sherpas AI both begin advertising Harpenden-resident pricing and local physical events. Flyers go through the council letterbox drops.

    • AI Night School - Harpenden cohort opens for enrolment
    • Sherpas AI - summer teen cohort opens
    • Two small-business AI diagnostics run with the first independents
  3. 02

    Community groups around local priorities

    June – July 2026

    Residents form working groups around the top community challenges (traffic, venues, loneliness, council engagement). Each group is coached and paired with a diagnostic or Imaginarium session.

    • 3–5 active community AI projects
    • A venue directory in draft
    • The /harpenden-traffic prototype shown to residents
  4. 03

    Become an AI Coach - train-the-trainer

    July 2026

    Early-adopter residents (Segment 1) are trained as AI Coaches for their own networks - so the programme scales beyond what Hugo or any one person can deliver.

    • 10 trained Harpenden AI Coaches
    • Weekly in-person clinics at the Leisure Centre and Library
    • A growing directory of coaches residents can book
  5. 04

    Harpenden AI Summer - the festival

    August 2026

    A visible, town-wide festival that closes the summer. Talks, workshops, showcases, graduations, and celebrations. Delivered by community members - not Hugo alone.

    • Laura on AI for D2C businesses
    • Chris on creating and protecting IP in the AI age
    • Sherpas AI showcase of teen-built tools
    • AI Night School graduation evening
    • Family clinics and older-residents’ drop-ins
  6. 05

    Physical spaces for supported AI work

    Autumn 2026

    A small number of hosted, drop-in physical spaces where residents can come and do real AI work alongside other residents and a coach.

    • One hosted evening a week in a central venue
    • One daytime session a week for parents and older residents
    • A waiting list for AI Night School cohort three
  7. 06

    Port to other towns

    2027

    With Harpenden proving the model, we open the pattern to two or three other carefully chosen towns - and Harpenden becomes the reference case.

    • A playbook, co-authored with the council
    • Case studies on displacement, high-street revival and civic engagement
    • A second town live, a third in planning

The honest caveat

Summer is the right frame even if delivery slips.

If we fall behind, we still ship a smaller summer - and we use the autumn to consolidate. The festival concept is the forcing function. The fluency is the prize.

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