The People’s Plans project recently invited four members of a community-led planning project in Dundee to a reunion – and to roll back the years. In the 1980s, Laurie Bidwell, Bob Barnham, Steve Gillon and Jimmy Black and were at the forefront of several pioneering community projects in Dundee. On 1st August 2023, they gotContinue reading “DICNAC Reunion”
Author Archives: glyn
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“
Black Environmental Justice: From urban studies to radical rurals in England
Debbie Humphry (Oxford Brookes University) interviews Julian Agyeman, founder of the Black Environment Network (9th July 2022) Debbie Humphry: Could you just tell me briefly about your involvement in community led planning, situated in a broader context of the idea of a Black environmental justice movement? Julian Agyeman: I started out as a high schoolContinue reading “Black Environmental Justice: From urban studies to radical rurals in England”
Insights from a London Community Planner
Michael Parkes has worked as a planner since 1967 in public, private and community sectors in GB, the Middle East, Europe and Africa. Here he reflects on his work (1985 – 2010) in London as an independent Community Planner, both self employed; as Co-ordinator of Planning Aid for London, and then as a member ofContinue reading “Insights from a London Community Planner”
City Farms, not roads!
John Le Corney, a south Londoner who’s kept his accent, moved to the Heeley area of Sheffield in 1975. As he recalled, in an interview for the Spaces of Hope project on 23rd November, he “more or less put a pin in the map”. Almost 50 years later, as John looks out over Heeley CityContinue reading “City Farms, not roads!”
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?”