Artist Emma Smith and landscape architect Sadie Stowell begun an ongoing creative investigation into how the rural landscape is perceived and how these perceptions can be recreated or simulated within inner city environments.
Over a year Emma and Sadie conducted workshops with both children and adults in the urban context of the London Borough of Lambeth, and the distinctly rural context of Hertfordshire and also consulted with behavioural science professionals to conclude what mental triggers and associations can specifically evoke an essence of ‘the rural’, and use this to enhance well being.
Artists Terry Orchard and Simon Lee Dicker developed a participatory arts project aimed at improving access to open spaces for the young people with special needs highlighting issues of navigation, accessibility, choice and interpretation. Terry and Simon are developing new activities using video and GPS technology to highlight issues of navigation, accessibility, choice and interpretation. These participatory activities with the students, their parents and carers are focusing on ‘movement through space’ and will take place at Pioneer School and other open space locations around Essex. Ultimately, the aim is to integrate open space design interventions encouraging the creation of more accessible and democratically used spaces.
Artist studio, Proboscis consider what 'common space' means to people from diverse cultural backgrounds, both in the UK and abroad. The work focuses on the notion of kinship and belonging to common spaces as well as the ideas of property and land ownership which are so deeply connected to the meaning of 'common' in the English language.
A Pilot Publishing project commissioned by Haring Woods at Gunpowder Park to reinvigorate the park with a feeling of the original 'commons'; where land was used as a resource for all. The artists worked with ecologists, permaculture specialists and thto experiment with sustainable ways of cooking, involving people both locally and further afield in community-led activity in the park. Workshops, events, and online blogging complemented the construction an off grid kitchen which developed organically, through people's involvement.
Energy Cafe had enormous success in engaging people, both local to the park and further afield in their work, drawing new visitors and instigating new community-led activity in the park. One of the highlights of the project was a Spring Banquet with a wide range of community-led activities, including performances by local musicans on a self-built, solar/bike powered stage.
Haring Woods Studio was commissioned by Peterborough City Council to develop and manage Perception Peterborough, a dynamic and creative visioning project to develop innovative approaches to the challenges and opportunities facing Peterborough and to motivate individuals and agencies to recognise their place in the big picture.
Over 4 days in September 2008, Haring Woods brought together a total of 50 key local representatives and international creative thinkers to develop innovative ideas and approaches to the challenges and opportunities facing Peterborough and its future growth. Artist studio Proboscis was commissioned to work in partnership with Haring Woods to facilitate the creative workshops.
Fresh Kills, Staten Island, NY, NY City department of City Planning
2,200 acres cover what used to be landfill waste. Today it has undergone a massive renewal project, which converted the site into a great park for recreational use. Still under development, Fresh Kills is an example of creative land reclamation that will transform how we experience vast, past industrial urban landscapes. Using innovation ecological restoration techniques, the park aims to be a wild life sanctuary as well as a site for public art, recreational activities and sports.
A investment foundation that supports projects that help the built environment. It focuses on projects that improve quality of life through the building of public spaces. Their methodology is based on communication and research and operates through a grant making and investment strategy. They aim at maximizing the balance of returns on equity while still funding the development of built environment with a direct benefit of common good.
Shared Space has developed a design manifesto for planning, management and maintenance of streets and public spaces based on the balance of traffic with other forms of human activity. Through the absence of traditional signage, road markings and humps and barriers, human behaviour is controlled by everyday life norms. They have work in partnership with local authorities in the UK, the Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, and Germany among other countries.
Breaking Boundaries, The Ashford Ring Project, 2007
A project to renew the design of a 1970s ring road in Ashford using a design approach that gives equal balance to pedestrians and motor vehicles on roads and highways. Shared Space- European urban design a policy makers - are working with artists such as Michael Pinsky, John Atkin, John Maine, Nayan Kulkarniu and Simeon Nelson to work on the surrounding landscape, lighting strategy, and road.
An architects practice specialising in designing social public spaces and green spaces with great importance given to community consultation. They offer an alternative vision to community consultation by enabling the community to lead the design process by their own experiences and from their position as lay people.
This is an artist lead participatory project initiated by the Aberdeenshire Council to regenerate the remote town of Peterhead in Scotland. The artists Sans Façon worked with DEF Landscapes initiatives to create a regeneration plan for the town. Through organising a conference, creating a history map and curating 3 artistic interventions in the town, Sans Façon generated engagement form the local inhabitants in the visioning of the future of the location.
This is an art centred collaborative regeneration initiative forr the former mining town of Castleford, England. 11 improvement projects include the relocation of memorial public benches, the development of a children’s play forest in what used to be an abandoned council allotment and the improvement of the Ferry Fryston Green. This is project is lead by regeneration, design and development organisations and supported by the Channel 4, City of Wakefield Metropolitan District Council, The Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment, English Partnerships, Yorkshire Forward, Groundwork UK and the Coalfields Regeneration Trust.
Cratehouse for Castleford, Wolfgang Winter and Berthold Horbelt, 2006. P
This project was developed by German artists Wolfgang Winter and Berthold Horbelt and informed by local inhabitants of Castleford as part of the Castleford regeneration programme. The artists are known to create landmarks for public spaces through recycled and everyday objects to build functional spaces for the community. For Castleford, they created a Cratehouse made out of shipping containers that reflect the industrial heritage of the area that is used as a meeting point or as the artist call it a “club house.” The shelter is been promoted by the Castleford Heritage Trust to be used by local schools, community groups and organisations.
ELEMENTAL is a Do Tank affiliated to the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile and COPEC, its focus is the design and implementation of urban projects of social interest and public impact. ELEMENTAL contributes to improve the quality of life in Chilean cities, providing state of the art architecture and engineering,understanding the city as an unlimited resource to build social equity.
Observatorium is a non for profit, artist run forganisation that creates exhibitions, public sculpture and networks. It develops projects relating to public space using an inter-disciplinary and participatory approach to decision making for environment design.
Container Cities are an alternative solution to traditional space building in which shipping containers are linked together to provide strongl modules that can be combined to create a wide variety of building shapes. Container City building technology has a great social impact because they provide extremely affordable housing that at the same time is environmentally friendly.
Graft is in cross-disciplinary production company interested in the creative potentials and methodologies of different environments. They are involved in music, car design, art installations, academic projects and "eventings" in a variety of projects throughout the globe. In other words, they use creativity to deal with social and urban issues in an alternative way.
