As is likely the case with every LiA, my first week in York, England, was a whirlwind. My placement is with Yorspace, a community-led housing developer and land trust that is on a mission to build low-cost, low-carbon neighbourhoods in York & North Yorkshire. As an urban planning student, that is exactly what I want to be doing, so I was very excited to get started.

The Yorspace team have been incredibly kind about teaching me and integrating me into the team, and on my first day my supervisor showed me the new 14-unit housing cooperative Yorspace has just completed. The last family moved in only a few days before I arrived, so it's an eventful time!

Outside of work, I really enjoyed visiting SPARK York, a community space that made use of neglected land and shipping containers to create a vibrant hub in the city centre. Each stall is rented affordably by someone who wants to start a business,  and eventually most go on to launch permanent premises in the city! SPARK is a great place for food, social events, and people watching, and it goes to show that boldness, creativity, and bringing many small stakeholders together and produce great results in terms of urban space. I was also thrilled to see that it is home to the thriving York Social Enterprise Coalition, of which Yorspace is a member, because my Laidlaw research project was on social enterprises! 

York is far enough north that the days in summer are incredibly long -- the sun doesn't set until past 9:30! I've been taking advantage of the extra sunlight to spend time in the parks, and I stumbled upon a lovely community garden at Hull Road Park that I will certainly be taking inspiration from for the community garden I help with back home.