The People’s Plan for the Westway

Long-time resident and activist, Adam Ritchie, reflects on one of the most significant episodes of community-led planning in London, focussed on the Westway road in North Kensington. The Times Newspaper concluded that every mile of Westway cost the moving or eviction of 5000 families. North Kensington, over which it passed, had 64% of its houses overcrowdedContinue reading “The People’s Plan for the Westway”

The Communityplanning.net journey

by Dr Nick Wates The Community Planning Website, or Communityplanning.net as it is more helpfully called, was born in 1998 at the offices of the Department for International Development (DFID) in Central London. A steering group meeting of a project which produced The Community Planning Handbook; how people can shape their cities, towns & villagesContinue reading The Communityplanning.net journey

Putting Women in the Centre: women’s community planning in Birmingham

Report by Debbie Humphry. Thanks to the participants who are quoted. It took painstaking detective work to unearth women’s histories of community-led planning in Birmingham from the 1960s.  After scouring archives, texts, exhibitions and films and sending out dozens of speculative emails, I was eventually rewarded with 12 online interviews with women who had beenContinue reading “Putting Women in the Centre: women’s community planning in Birmingham”

From Network to Movement: Community Enterprises in Gwynedd, Wales – Newyddion o Gymru: Rhwydwai

Report by Debbie Humphry. Quotations are all from the participants involved in the Community Enterprises (CEs) unless otherwise indicated. Link to the Map  Spaces of Hope – Map (peoplesplans.org) Back in July 2022, we visited one of our case study sites in Gwynedd, north west Wales, receiving a generous welcome from eleven of the manyContinue reading “From Network to Movement: Community Enterprises in Gwynedd, Wales – Newyddion o Gymru: Rhwydwai”

Planning for People in Brum

Spaces of Hope/PeoplesPlans is conducting research on the histories of community-led planning. We have spoken to people who worked with communities to create the spaces and places needed in Birmingham since the 1960s and we are bringing people into conversation together through a free online workshop event on Friday 2nd December 2022 1-3pm. The aim is to share and compareContinue reading “Planning for People in Brum”

Beyond tokenism: What lessons can we learn from the TCPA’s experience of delivering Planning Aid?

The “Spaces of Hope” project is researching and preserving the history of a period when local communities demanded more say in planning decisions. In this guest blogpost, Jack Dangerfield recounts how the Town and Country Planning Association (TCPA) adopted a radical approach to helping people make sense of the planning system. Over fifty years hasContinue reading “Beyond tokenism: What lessons can we learn from the TCPA’s experience of delivering Planning Aid?”