SPACES OF HOPE is exploring the often-overlooked ways in which local people and organisations have come together to improve their physical and social environments. Since the 1960s a rich but hidden history has emerged of communities drawing up their own land-use plans, owning, occupying and developing sites, initiating community projects and using art and others forms of media to communicate ideas. Bringing together universities, artists and archivists and working in partnership with the TCPA, HOPE is an AHRC-funded research project that aims to reveal these histories and spark debate about how lessons can be applied to current community place-shaping.