‘Spaces of Hope: People’s Plans’ is producing the first sustained history of community-led planning in the UK, documenting the diverse and often hidden ways in which people have come together to care for the future of their local environments since the 1960s. We are also exploring what their efforts mean for contemporary approaches to planning and participatory place-making.
Existing academic work has tended to focus on how citizens have influenced official processes of public participation in planning. Alongside this formal system, however, runs a rich history of informal community organising around planning issues which has not been subject to sustained research. Given the contemporary significance of community action around urban and environmental issues this gap limits our understood of the roles citizen activism have played in planning and place-making.
You can find out more about the project and who’s involved using the links below:
