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!
Permission to dream together, about towns
On a hot summer’s day last year, 8 strangers met for the first time in Shipley, a town in West Yorkshire to begin a collective imagination practice journey with an invitation from myself, stewarded by Huddlecraft, Canopy & Centre for Public Impact. The aim? To get curious about our towns and what their future could hold.
The Nature of things
Ever since locating Street Space to Bradford it’s been fascinating to notice an important actor making her way into all of our projects, quite by stealth: Nature.
Now, I’ve never been a big ‘nature’ person, probably guilty of being one of those people who enjoys ‘doing things in nature’ rather than connecting with its natural healing and life giving powers. My focus is often getting people outside, making it easier to walk and cycle and I’ll do whatever it takes to support this mission.
Join us for…Your Town Jam
Join a 3 month hybrid learning journey to collectively reimagine the future of your town, by growing & testing your ideas in real life.
Towns are places we buy and sell in, live in and move through, play and work in. What might happen if we put relationships at their heart? What if we made everyone truly feel welcome? Or put the circular economy into practice? Or centred future generations? What would these changes look and feel like? How can we usher them into the real world through collective imagination and experimentation?
The joy of…co-design
There’s been an explosion in the desire to evoke ‘joy’ in our public spaces over the last few years. I’m not sure where it’s come from but it’s certainly needed.
The drab, grey spaces most of us live in and move through as part of our day to day routines are often overlooked and unappreciated spaces that instead of platforming creativity, joy, possibility and connectedness are rooted in necessity, survival, the bare minimum…