"I have a very simple proposition for the audience and stakeholders in the room. How would it feel differently if you and the people around you truly believed you owned the land that you stood on? How differently would they behave and belong in that space?"
@pauletteasinger1 (
@clitterhousefarm )
Stories. Provocations. Laughter. Joy ✨ 90 minutes flew by at last week's 'footworking' event 👣 with more than 50 curious humans meeting unlikely allies across architecture, community organising, housing, engineering, and design.
We heard what it takes to build local change.
We heard how community innovators and industry practitioners are creating a new architecture for neighbourhood transformation – done differently and ‘together’.
We heard bold visions and provocations for what’s now needed, to shift our practices at scale.
We also heard "how it is really hard to do the imaginative work when we're cleaning toilets and chasing rats everyday" (James Turner)
There were reminders:
👂🏽 Trust is infrastructure. Without it, nothing happens.
🐢 Relationships take time – that *is* the work.
🫱 Doing ‘on behalf of’ is better than doing ‘to’. Doing ‘with’ is better still (cf. the #DoWith movement!)
🧱 Developers typically build units, not homes or communities. Community asset development shifts numbers to meaning, output to long-term value that strengthens social capital.
We need to call time on ‘co-design’ as tokenistic engagement. There’s a collective case for slower processes, deeper listening, and relationships with local community innovators that can hold the weight of real change.
Huge thanks to everyone who came, contributed and lingered in conversation long after our contributors wrapped up.
Especially grateful to
@downham_health_through_sport , James Turner, Paulette Singer, Wongani Mwanza, Sarah Castle, Paul Clark and James Binning for bringing so much to the evening, and to
@wspglobal for supporting the event.
📷 Photos by the wonderful Natalie Sloan
@littleredhenfilms
(Words by Naomi Rubbra, Footwork CEO)
