In my community engagement project with WeCanMake, I’ve been connecting with local residents and staff through internal design sessions, community events with our partners Knowle West Alliance and Knowle West Media Centre, and informal conversations about how we can co-create affordable housing and spaces that meet local needs. This upcoming week, I’ll be attending a summit conference in Wales to discuss some of these challenges and explore potential solutions. These conversations often revolve around the idea of home as a place that supports community and a healthy environment.
A significant challenge has been finding ways to activate the Rodford Dreams site without creating a permanent event space that might confuse people once construction begins. Since it will soon become an active construction zone, we’re balancing temporary, community-building activities—like events that explore reusing waste and water abundance—while making it clear that this is a work-in-progress.
To support this, we recently put together a document to invite youth workers to use the space for short-term, creative programming. The idea is to test concepts that could be incorporated into the final design, while also giving local young people a sense of ownership and opportunity. Another consideration is ensuring that older residents have a dedicated period for their own recreational use, so the organization has decided to hoard the site from regular activity unless specific events are happening.
I’ve also been learning how to read and shape urban planning proposals (which we just submitted to the council for Rodford Dreams, yay!), including understanding how to talk about community benefits, environmental impact, and long-term stewardship/building access. Plus, I’ve started supporting a GIS mapping project that’s helping us identify promising infill housing sites and document existing community assets. It's been great to see how these digital tools can actively support our vision for co-design.