The Nature of things

Clean up in progress

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.

But when it came to clearing an overgrown snicket that we have been ‘reimagining’ with teenage girls in Manningham to support safe pedestrian movement between homes and school, madrassah’s etc I started to question some of our approaches. When the girls said they wanted to see all vegetation cut right back so they didn’t get caught on any spikes from the brambles etc I understood, fair enough, so we worked with the community payback team to support cutting back of the vegetation in quite a brutal way. Perhaps some of this urban nature were some ‘more than human’ species homes and ecosystems.. Was there was a way we could do this in more of a balanced way? We’d be really interested in hearing your approaches for balancing the wildness of nature with a perception and desire for clean and tidy urban spaces.

Following this project we’ve been approached by a community centre in another area of Bradford who asked us to engage locals to collaboratively develop a new vision for an old railway line that runs between two neighbouring communities. The railway line is wild with nature in abundance after being ‘unmaintained’ for years with a narrow mud path down the middle frequented by the more intrepid dog walkers and occasional bikers (with the wide tyres) but also groups of foraging children led by local walk & community leaders supporting young ones to discover and enter into (often for the first time) a truly wild place. We know for some this path has supported grounding and formative experiences for young people, an opportunity to connect with nature, just minutes from their homes. It might be perceived as uncared for by some… but is this nature getting a chance to stretch her muscles?

So during our design workshop there was internal debate about how much nature is too much nature — there seemed to be broad agreement around ‘no nettles’ but also that it was important not to cut the line right back. People didn’t want to encourage a load of people on bikes to use the path — it would ruin it’s potential as a forest school education and experience space. But the surface needs improving for accessibility, as the path turns to mud for half the year and we’re always thinking about how a broad range of people can access these spaces (without wellies, with a pushchair or wheelchair for example) ... how can we balance more people being able to use the path to enjoy being in nature and connecting with other places on foot or bike whilst not losing its wild-ness. The path has huge potential to reconnect people with nature in what otherwise feels like a built up area. In short — there was no reimagining needed here. Nature is already our protagonist and we want her to stay.

In creating our community vision for the old railway line we’ve aimed to balance this sensitively. Alongside developing a series of permanent route improvements such as path levelling, resurfacing, widening and more welcoming access points, we’ve also included seating, signage and permanent play features made from stone. We hope to give a visual connection to the existing heritage features whilst also being tough and resistant to weather and vandalism. There’s a section of the path welcoming community activation and stewardship — a space for forest school activities, temporary structures, dens and swings.

Design workshop in progress

Playful features to encourage movement and exploration such as markers for where the Beck runs below the path and dinosaur footprints trailing into the undergrowth and the potential to commission local artists to develop temporary and permanent art and lighting for entry and exit points.

A Vision Booklet

We hope by showcasing this vision and working with community partners and local organisations to deliver elements of it bit by bit we can build a body of support at the grassroots for what this link could be for people. Not by just focussing on movement, but also on place (and play!) in nature. We hope she doesn’t mind!