To a More Ambitious Place

Voices of The Glass-House Debate Series 2014/15

Participants on our ‘Walk in Someone Else’s Shoes’ event with Bristol-based project Walking Interconnections, prior to the Bristol Debate in February 2015.

To a More Ambitious Place

Every year since 2007, The Glass-House Community Led Design has organised a national Debate Series to provide a free, open platform that brings together and shares the diversity of voices in our places.

The Series has become our flagship public outreach programme in our mission to support a shared path to better places and empower local people to be part of that change.

Our 2014/2015 Debate Series, in partnership with the Open University and the Academy of Urbanism, set out to question and explore our ambition for our places.

Do we need to change the way we make and shape our places? Are the right people involved in these processes? Have we demanded enough of ourselves?

Some of the voices from this year’s Series are captured in this publication, which draws together our four debates, held between October 2014 and March 2015, in Glasgow, Sheffield, Bristol and London. All four debates were chaired by Glass-House Chief Executive, Sophia de Sousa.

We hope that these voices will help provoke further conversations and inspire ideas about the kinds of places we want to live, work and play in.

Does practice make perfect in place? Glasgow / Wednesday 1 October 2014

Speakers

• Pauline Gallacher, Convenor, Scottish Community Alliance• Professor Chris Platt, Head of Architecture, Mackintosh

School of Architecture, Glasgow• Etive Currie, Senior Planner, Glasgow City Council

The one practice that makes perfect is the

practice of engaging with the unknown and

negotiating a path with people to make things

better. Diarmaid Lawlor, Architecture and Design Scotland, on our blog

We have a whole generation of talent with

limited opportunities because of the policies we

have in place. Chris Platt, Glasgow Debate speaker

Communities, often generating their own financial

resources, are more sustainable custodians of the

future of their local places.Sandra Macaskill and Yasmin Ali, on our blog

Is the public sector risk averse, do we have

enough creative leaders, or do we favour those

who promote the status quo? @fmstirling on Twitter

People need permission to fail, if we are to create

opportunities for dialogue and progress.Etive Currie, Glasgow Debate speaker

We [communities] have proven we can do

it – that we can move mountains, now we

need to move to the next level – ‘modest

institutionalisation’.Pauline Gallacher, Glasgow Debate speaker

Where are local government? We need to get it

right at the top.Audience member, Sheffield Power can be taken, but not given. The process

of the taking is empowerment in itself. Gloria Steinem, as quoted by Sheffield Debate speaker,

Cristina Cerulli

Do the right people have power in place? Sheffield / Wednesday 19 November 2014 Speakers

• Tony Stacey, Chief Executive, South Yorkshire Housing Association

• Maxwell Ayamba, Project Manager, SHEBEEN• Cristina Cerulli, Director, Studio Polpo

The resources of land and money are everything

and we feel powerless.Reverend Christopher Rowe, Love Milton on our blog We need to create opportunities to bring

people together and inspire and support them

to do things together. Audience member, Sheffield

My contention is that all people have power –

they can choose to exercise it or not exercise it

depending on their level of anger/passion.Robert Johnson, Member of North London Citizens & Citizens

UK, on our blog

Rather than just trying to do things for people,

how can we create the space where we do

things together? Tony Stacey, Sheffield Debate speaker

The Big Society was created to encourage social

action but how can people play an active role if

they are not empowered?Maxwell Ayamba, Sheffield Debate speaker

Is our view of place too short-sighted? Bristol / Wednesday 11 February 2015 Speakers

• Barra Mac Ruairí, Strategic Director of Place, Bristol City Council

• Melissa Mean, Redcliffe Neighbourhood Development Forum

• Steve Maslin, Director, Building User Design

Do we accept failure from those who lead

changes to our places? We don’t and this makes

risk taking difficult. Barra Mac Ruairí, Bristol Debate speaker

For long-sighted approaches to be able to

flourish, we need our structures reassessed.

‘Process’ must be put on par with ‘product’.Katy Hawkins, The Academy of Urbanism, on our blog

Good design comes from a good brief and a

good brief comes from inclusive conversations.

Steve Maslin, Bristol Debate speaker

A building is for life, not just for the planning

process.Lori Streich, Carriageworks Action Group

Really good call for emotional content as a core

element of built environment. @PaleBlueCIC on Twitter

What matters to communities? We don’t give

awards for those things – what do we mean by a

successful place?@C3Chess on Twitter

Do we accept the status quo in place? London / Wednesday 18 March 2015 Speakers

• Alastair Donald, British Council Project Director, British Pavilion, Venice Architecture Biennale

• Leslie Barson, London Community Housing Co-operative• Andrew Carter, Acting Chief Executive, Centre for Cities

I feel beaten down by having to engage on so

many levels to achieve something.Audience member, London

Let’s look for the answers in where we have

stopped looking: at the people who have been

there and will still be there.

Samar Héchaimé, Factors, on our blog

Leadership by a community makes power

disperse and diffuse.Leslie Barson, London Debate speaker We need a debate about behaviours in place.

People do diffferent things, in different ways

that we need to accept.

Andrew Carter, London Debate speaker

Once the focus becomes on the individual

then what you lose sight of is a more ambitious

outlook where you actually start to create design

solutions that can retain the freedom of choice

that people want to have. Alastair Donald, London Debate speaker

In inclusive place making, examples the world

over tell us that local devo aint the fix.@nmcinroy on Twitter Things can certainly be made more transparent

and user-friendly and some of the interminable

jargon eliminated; planning is not something

best left to university-trained professionals.Sir Tom Shebbeare on our blog

DIVERSITY: Attendees valued the spectrum of perspectives in the room above all else across all four debates.

100%of attendees in Sheffield rated the event overall as good or excellent.

Feedback on the Series

100%of attendees in Glasgow rated our speakers as good or excellent.

This was a provocative and inclusive discussion.

TAKING ACTION: Over half of all attendees at our debates said they would do something differently as a result of them.

As a result of the debate, I will look to get involved in place and play my part.

AcknowledgementsNational Partners

Glasgow Debate Partners

Sheffield Debate Partners

Bristol Debate Partners

London Debate Partners

Thanks also to our speakers, think piece contributors and all

those who attended debates or engaged online.

Get involvedSupporting people and places We want to make great places a reality for everyone. Whether you’re involved in a local community project, or working in development in the public, private or voluntary sector, we can support you to embed a participatory design approach and empower local people to contribute to the process of improving their place.

The Glass-House Debate Series 2015/16Our 2015/16 Debate Series ‘A Place for Everyone’ will explore the common elements that draw us together in place and society, and how we create places that work for everyone, whilst stimulating individual needs and aspirations.

The Glass-House Learning Series Our new Learning Series will be an opportunity for people and organisations working to improve places to develop new skills and knowledge, and learn from other people’s experiences of placemaking. First up is a design workshop on 18 June 2015 for students and communities that will draw on the experience of rebuilding community and place after the 2011 Japan Tsunami.

Empowering Design Practices This major five-year collaborative research project will explore how community-led design can help empower those who look after historic places of worship to create more open, vibrant and sustainable places that respect and enhance their heritage. Support is available for live projects. www.empoweringdesign.net

Stay connected with The Glass-House Community Led Design

www.theglasshouse.org.uk@GlassHouseCLD on Twitter and FacebookE: info@theglasshouse.org.ukT: +44 (0) 207 490 4583

www.theglasshouse.org.uk Charity number 1112094 / Limited Company number 5435630

© The Glass-House Community Led Design 2015.