All political parties are focused on how to help build more vibrant feelings of community, local pride and belonging, especially in places where they have been lost.
One of our series of levelling up events, this LSE roundtable focused on how policymakers can create a ‘Sense of Place’, especially amongst young people. Hear from the academics and some of the attendees in this short video.
Hosted at the Brent Civic Centre in the shadow of the Wembley arch, LSE academics Dr Julia King and Dr Meredith Whitten shared research, ideas and best practice with councillors, planning officers, think tankers and community charities in a discussion led by LSE’s Ben Rogers, founder of Centre for London.
The conversation focused on reimagining our understanding of existing public spaces, and changing the way we develop new ones to strengthen a sense of ownership for communities.
Key conclusions for policymakers include:
- With the modern push for more active travel within cities, locations should be linked with green infrastructure as they would be with lighting, drainage or even aesthetic elements.
- Green spaces can be vertical too; you don’t just travel to or even through them, you live in them.
- ‘Blue spaces’ such as canals, brooks and reservoirs can be a fascinating example of what is possible: something that brings value because it is used as both a destination and as an important part of the wider urban fabric (ie: a route from one area to another).
- Councils are often land poor, but do own roads and pavements which connect parks. A more strategic planning approach should take advantage of this fact.
- Massive scale developments often fail to provide anything for 14-25 year olds.
- Young people are often designed out of public spaces as they are viewed as a nuisance, but this simply concentrates them in the dwindling number of spaces available to them.
- Spaces for teenagers are often Multi Use Game Areas (MUGAs), skate parks and BMX tracks, yet research shows the most highly valued and desired facility are swings (which scored as highly for boys and girls).
- VR headsets can be used to view spaces digitally, representing both an important technological innovation and an important tool to draw in younger people.
- Community engagement is a specific and often ignored skill – architects and developers are often left to manage it, but often just want to focus on their projects.
- Policymakers and designers should begin by asking their communities ‘what is the problem we are trying to address?’, and work with them to identify and deliver the solution.