Conclusion: Futures in Relational Public Management Approaches

As we can see, there is nothing new in the idea that our experiences of the public realm can be better. Indeed, the idea of a relational approach itself is in a way re-emerging from the previous decade when it was initially proposed (Cooke & Muir, 2012; Muir & Parker, 2014; Wilson et al., 2024). The idea for this edited collection was born in the warm glow of a successful inaugural Relational Public Services Conference in the summer of 2023 and fed by stoking the coals of the fire at the subsequent 2024 event. What does this collection of chapters from around the world have to tell us about the ways and means of making relational public services part of the future ways that governments, societies, communities and members of the public achieve ‘good lives’?