RE:IGNITE Creating Connections
As part of our trilogy to support community co-creation in the city, thirty seven of us came together to RE:IGNITE Wolverhampton, building on our earlier RE:IMAGINE session a few weeks earlier. At the previous session, people had identified seven themes that they were interested in putting energy into developing further. We shared examples of how similar ideas have been ignited around the world and, in themed breakout rooms, sparked ideas for how we can make this happen in Wolverhampton. This blog is part of a series sharing what happened in each room.
My chosen theme from our RE:IMAGINE Wolverhampton event, was all about how we might create more space for people to create more and more authentic connection with others in the city. Whether this be an opportunity for different generations to find pleasure and learning from forming relationships or more opportunities for people to ‘bump’ into each other when out and about, perhaps sit and talk to each other, or planned meet-ups in inspiring spaces or finally, making connections where there are signs left for one another. Humans are created for connecting with each other. I am curious about how, together, we might re-ignite a plethora of opportunities for connection to be made between people in Wolverhampton. I believe that we can make our city kinder and better connected and when we have opportunities to dream together we will build an even more amazing city.
Camerados! If you have not yet heard of this fabulous organisation, then I hope this will make you curious enough to delve a little deeper. They describe themselves on their website like this: ‘Camerados is a growing movement of people from Baltimore to Blackpool who get through tough times by looking out for each other’.
One way they support communities to ‘look out for each other’ is by sending a Public Living Room in a box, here is what they say about this:
Although being a camerado is a mindset thing that you can carry with you everywhere, some folk like to meet up with others in their neighbourhood. We call these places Public Living Rooms. For some it’s a relief to have somewhere to go on a tough day where nobody is trying to sell you something and nobody is trying to fix you. You can go and just “be” and get out of your troubles by being good company to someone else. Public Living Rooms come in all shapes and sizes depending on what local folk want to do. Some Camerados meet regularly around a table in a friendly cafe once a week while others have spaces fully dedicated 24/7, do whatever suits you and your community.
Public Living Rooms have popped up in a variety of places from parks to hospitals, university buildings to libraries — there is even one in a box in Wolverhampton which was going to be pop-up in Wolverhampton for Everyone’s ‘We Make Our City Fest’ in March. We can’t wait for another opportunity to unpack it and set it free! Read more about Camerados.
At our RE:IMAGINE gathering, people had dreamt about having more intergenerational activities in the city. We like to say that everything Wolverhampton for Everyone does is, well, for everyone (guess the clue is in the name!). We recognise that for many years, perhaps decades, traditional services have generally segregated people into cohorts in order to provide their service. Then, once segregated, cohorts of people are targeted and offered services according to their age, gender, disease or issue. This is looking through a simplified lens and of course in reality providing services for people can be complex and oftentimes people may prefer services delivered in this way. One of the downsides to this way of delivering services is that often help and support has become more‘professionalised’ and we have become reliant on services rather than support coming from within families, communities, neighbours and friends. Occasionally, it helps to put a bit of extra effort into supporting certain activities that don’t seem to happen as naturally they used to. One way that seems to gaining some energy is the idea of having some of the youngest members of our community enjoying their activities amongst some of our elders. A great example of this is Apples and Honey, a nursery in London, UK that opened a branch in Nightingales residential home for elders.
United for All Ages has set-up as a consultancy which they describe as a ‘think-do tank’ to support others who may be thinking about setting up a similar project.
Setting up a nursery in a residential home for elders may be quite a feat. However, I can imagine ways that we could increase opportunities for younger and older members of society to meet-up and enjoy each other’s company. Perhaps a parent and toddler group setting-up in a room in a residential care home, or a forest school learning in the grounds of a care home. If we can imagine it, we can make it happen.
Finally, for this theme, we looked at places and spaces for serendipitous meeting and connecting with others.
It is difficult to build community without spaces and places where people can meet, both informally and formally. We know that people feel more lonely than ever before and increasingly we have withdrawn places where people can connect and build relationships. Neighbourhoods are more often than not planned around people being able to drive their cars directly to and from their house or flat with little or no opportunity to interact with their neighbours. In 2020, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, more people began walking in their local area, using public green spaces and some worked from home rather than commuted into an office in a central area. This helped many to appreciate the need for local spaces, places, services and shops. That neighbourhoods were more than places where houses were built. They were the centre of local civil society and we could make more of our neighbourhoods with more opportunities for people to create local connection with each other.
How many people do you meet, say hello to, or have a conversation with, during an average day? Where do you meet or see them? Do you take part in any activities together? These places, wherever they may be, are more important than we often imagine. They have been described as bumping spaces, the places where people come together to meet, share ideas or local knowledge, relate to one another, get comfort, feel connected and have the potential to co-create a vibrant world. Where could we create more opportunities for serendipitous meetings and bumping spaces in Wolverhampton?
It’s where the magic happens.
Here are a couple of ways we might create opportunities for creating kinder and more connected neighbourhoods.
Playing Out is a fabulous parent and resident led movement and campaign group who have created resources to help other people make their streets a place to play.
Wolverhampton for Everyone has been working with City of Wolverhampton Council to make this easier to do in Wolverhampton. We even ran a pilot together in Whitmore Reans and spent a brilliant few hours with the road, mainly, closed to traffic where children and adults chalked, skipped and shared refreshments. The idea is a fairly simple one, speak to your neighbours, agree a day and for how long you would like to close your street, apply through the Council’s website and make it happen! Children and adults get to know their neighbours, play and exercise in fresh air, join together and get to know each other.
Another opportunity for connection is with a pop-up parklet. Parklets are what happens when parking spaces are transformed into a community space — eg with benches, seats, planters, etc. They challenge the idea that kerbside space is only for car storage. A residential parklet can be used both as a resting point for people, and a play area for children. This is how Living Streets describe parklets, they might be semi-permanent or pop-up for a couple of days.
Living Streets go on to say that residential parklets are not just symbolic reclamations of space. They offer solutions to identifiable issues when it comes to the way our streets are designed.
They provide resting points, making it possible for people with mobility issues to walk double the distance they would normally do.
There have been many books written on the issue of walking that say that the following make a better walking environment
- having points of interest along the route
- having greenery and planting along a route
- rest points including shelter from weather
- chance of social encounter along the route
Parklets in neighbourhoods could provide all of these and more!
Wolverhampton for Everyone is very keen to help people create parklets in their neighbourhoods, so please get in touch if you are interested and we could work together.
