Embracing the messiness of truly resident led action (and nature).
Last week we had our kick off gathering for 5 wannabe Ginnel Gardeners from across Heaton ward in Bradford as part of Nature’s Way. Pioneers have stepped up to clean up rubbish, tame weeds and nurture nature across 5 snickets, back alleyways and corners across Bradford over the next 6 months.
Through our peer group we’ll cheerlead and champion for our ginnel gardeners. Combining monthly meet ups with inspiration and Q&A with local resident and expert gardeners, sharing knowledge and guidance from our council partners. Our pioneers will swap stories and share experiences to bolster door knocking, clean ups and overcome barriers that so often lead to inaction when the initial small steps people want to take aren’t supported.
Al fresco Greggs lunches and the ‘stickiness’ of public space
People eating lunch
People reading the paper
People chatting on the phone
People smoking and vaping
People walking their dogs
People sitting
People pausing
People pushing prams
Engines revving
Wheelie bins rolling
Paper bags rustling
Pigeons strutting
Pigeons huddling
Pigeons pecking at crumbs
These observations are part of an action learning project, with Street Space, exploring the relationship between social behaviour and the street furniture situated in three West Yorkshire town centres. As this project is reflective and open in nature, our definition of street furniture is also flexible. It can be used to refer to objects found in public space — including, but not limited to, signs, planters, benches, barriers and bollards, statues, bus shelters, bike racks, and lighting.
Towards a gently radical revolution…
Over the past few months a group of 12 residents from across Shipley, West Yorkshire have been meeting together to plot. Not to overthrow the status quo, but almost.
We set up Play Street Pioneers because actually closing a road to traffic (even for a few hours) is a radical act. Making safe space on our streets for children to play on their doorsteps, for older people to chat and parents to watch on and connect is gently radical. We have become so immune to the idea that our street space could be used for anything other than space to keep and move vehicles around the idea of using it for anything is quite a leap, especially for those living on popular rat runs.
The Hidden Benefits of Child Friendly Spaces
Last week we brought to life a series of experiments and ‘hacks’ in our town centre to explore the impact of creating a sense of permission to play in public space. Experiments or temporary re-imaginings as we like to call them, were loosely designed around the height of 95cm (the height of an average 3 year old) but this didn’t mean shorter (and taller) people couldn’t get involved!