Output details

Public Realm Design Projects.

Diverse in visual appearance, materials and processes; as well as in the four sites themselves (a mental hospital, community greenspace, poorly used alleyway and a main shopping street); these public realm designs share a central research question: namely how large-scale and complex creative projects can be integrated into the financial and management structures of the regeneration sector. A secondary, related, question concerns the poential for meaninngful public engagement/consultation with public art and design within that regeneration context. The existence of three completed sites (Cockermouth still being in progress) results from the careful definition of design responses capable of securing support and funding.

The process of investigation was common to all four sites – to map the construction programme and structure for the wider capital scheme, define best practice methodology for community engagement within that design process, and reconcile these often conflicting demands through a creative intervention. The insights from each site informed the next, and were captured through ‘Lessons Learnt’ logs, feedback reports, evaluation meetings and anecdotal evidence. The two primary areas of focus were:

• The need for art/design concepts of sufficient quality and aspiration to draw the necessary political support for project delivery

• The need for detailed understanding of delivery models, allowing for advocacy or mediation at specific points within that process.

Research has been disseminated through events such as the ‘What's art got to do with it? Creativity in housing and public realm development’ and Living Streets conferences, but also through subsequent consultancy work for government agencies and local authorities. In the case of The Old Bakery Garden project the research impact lies in its role as an exemplar (both methodology and output) for vast numbers of gap sites created through regeneration activity under the labour government’s Housing Market Renewal programme.