I saw a notice by the entrance to my lovely local park the other day, announcing, slightly ominously, ‘Your park is changing…’ Reading on, I learnt that the car park, children’s play area and some other facilities were relocating. I wanted to know more – but could I find any details Read more…
Public consultation, community engagement, stakeholder participation, surveys, workshops, meetings… How can designers discover what people actually want when designing a scheme? These skills aren’t usually taught in professional training, and it’s easy to mishandle this sensitive and complex area – to the potential detriment of design, or worse, planning objections Read more…
To round off a year of thoroughly mixed messages on the value of parks, the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) launched the “ambitious programme of pocket parks” promised in the 2015 general election manifesto. £1.5m is available to fund up to 100 pocket parks across England. However, at Read more…
Public space is a fascinating place. I wrote my MSc dissertation on an urban town square and the ways people use it. The space in question was Peckham Square, originally designed as a new civic heart for Peckham, that scruffy, maligned bit of south-east London that I once called home. A lengthy co-design process was Read more…