Graduation....

Feels great to graduate with my MRes in Urban Research, plain packages hide big things!

Progress...

Still here, but the reading list keeps getting longer.....

Wider Reading....

That point at the start of your PhD when you realize you need to start reading more in depth as well as breadth....

Getting started...

Starting to get my ideas together...

PhD Research Commences

So, after a break for a few weeks to get settled into my new office and prepare for my teaching commitments, I will again be updating this blog with news from my project. It feels good to be starting on the road to PhD, so watch this space!  

At the beginning...

The tentative, first 85 words of what I (hope) will become my PhD thesis in 3 years time. It has been a big change for me in getting this far, there are no guarantees in what I am doing, but change is possible... I will be providing regular updates as things progress through this blog.  

Homelessness: Far from Fixed

 Shelter Scotland's current homelessness campaigning: http://scotland.shelter.org.uk/get_involved/campaigning/homelessness_far_from_fixed


What I would add as a professional: 


Should a home not be a basic human right? 

Should everyone having a safe, comfortable home not be the key political goal of any society? 

Should that society's planning and development professions not work constantly and transparently toward this end? 

Research Bulletin 7

So, the dissertation is finally handed in! Overall a very interesting piece of work which has given me a foundation of data for future studies. I am of course grateful to all who took part.  

Research Bulletin 6

In that tense period now where a draft of the whole dissertation encompassing my current research is with my supervisor, will wait to see what comments he has to make. 

Looking back on the research process so far, there are a few points which stand out; 

1. Be prepared earlier for conducting interviews and setting up which events to attend as an observer. 
2. Have a better idea of who to talk to and how to gain access to them. 
3. Never underestimate the time required for writing up and editing. 

Hope for the best!

Winner takes it all?

I came across a very interesting article in the Guardian today, considering my research agenda and own, limited experience, in volunteering for third sector organisations. 

'Soups' are a US import where local groups are given a brief pitch to gain the funding to take their ideas forward. There is plenty of evidence for the effectiveness of these settings; many social connections made, much social capital carried and of course many success stories as featured in the full article: https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/aug/01/soup-revolution-changing-cities-over-dinner-detroit-liverpool 

What of the loser's however? While I haven't been to a soup before, I have seen a number of similar contests, including one at a major planning and environmental conference. Not for the first time, we are trying to put the spirit of entrepreneurialism back into deprived communities. However, in contrast to the structured initiatives and funding systems of the recent past, can the merits of a project or idea really be assessed on the basis of something akin to an 'elevator' pitch?

Image: kind courtesy of FoodiesFeed: https://foodiesfeed.com

We considered ourselves to be a powerful culture....

This place is a message and part of a system of messages.

Sending this message was important to us.

We considered ourselves to be a powerful culture...

So is written the message to the year 12,000 intended to grace the US Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP): an experimental site intended to be the destination of dangerous waste from the nuclear industry. 

Beyond the obvious lessons planners just learn for how we deal with nuclear wast in future, the WIPP project also has something to say; strangely about the place making process. 

As planners, architects, designers; urbanists, we aim to design the most pleasant and welcoming places for people. The successes and failures toward this goal are the subject of endless debate in the literature and wider media. However, what would the results be of creating a place that is designed to be as perpetually unpleasant  and unwelcoming as possible?

This was just the challenge which confronted one WIPP working party on how to send an enduring message up to 10, 000 years into the future; the limit of the radioactivity of the site's dangerous repository. 

With personnel including those who had previously worked on the golden record designed to communicate some of earth's culture to alien civilisations, as attached to the Voyager space probes, the ideas put forward were bound to be highly conceptual. 

Most interesting among the proposals were the physical markers; the 'field of thorns' and 'menacing blocks' as shown in more detail on the project homepage at: 

http://www.wipp.energy.gov/picsprog/articles/wipp%20exhibit%20message%20to%2012,000%20a_d.htm

What does this say about the places we hope to leave for the future? What will whomever or whatever who encounters these markers in 12, 000 A.D make of our culture? I leave these questions up to the reader to consider....

Photo, “Vessels used for keeping the used radioactive waste.” is copyright (c) 2014 D5481026: User:OgreBot/Uploads by new users/2014 November 07 12:00 and made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.

By D5481026 (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Research Bulletin 5

I finally have a (very rough) first draft of the entire research dissertation which feels good. Just a matter of refining things now (as if that were easy)!

Creating a scene, making a game...

Yesterday, I attended the annual Central Scotland Green Network Forum which for this year was held at the Reed Building at the Glasgow School of Art. 

A highlight of the exhibition was the link to this year's design degree show many of the exhibits of which were creative 'design' (as in product design) approaches to engagement. 

Particularly exciting were the symbolic approach through the 'Creatures of Govanhill and the 'Our Land' game. Considering the strengths and weaknesses of the charrette approach, it is vital to have something visual that the community can coalesce around. The specifically local nature of these two solutions is also of interest; this being one of the strengths of the participatory action approach where practitioners set up shop within and taylor practice specifically to the needs of a certain community. 

I hope to be able to work with many creative people like exhibitors Lizzie and Eloise in the forthcoming PhD!  

Research Bulletin 4

One of the most interesting things to come out of my research in both of the PAS charrettes I attended recently was the new locality planning approach. This is a duty through the 2015 Community Empowerment Act on Community Planning Partnership to deliver a plan designed to reduce inequalities between their most deprived areas. 

The locality planing approach is very new; for a good introduction check out the latest guidance from SURF  : more detail is still forthcoming from the Scottish Government! However, the research has highlighted the intriguing view that the comprehensiveness of the planning approach represents a return to the spirit of the 'regeneration' ethos of the past twenty or thirty years; at least in terms of creating engagement...but will the money for implementing change be forthcoming too? 

Research Bulletin 3

Yesterday I was undertaking fieldwork at the PAS Fauldhouse Focus event in West Lothian. Some interesting proposals have come out of the engagement and their was a real sense the events created a brand and sense of interest to move forward with. Another interesting feature was a 'sign up hub' which allowed participants to register for a number of existing and proposed voluntary groups in the area. A nice way to hopefully gain some social capital....

Research Bulletin 2

This morning I was able to create a (very rough, very tentative) first draft of the third sector research. Some interesting key themes are emerging although they will need a lot of revision and will likely be added to substantially;

• Third sector organisations, being neither public nor private are uniquely placed to establish a rapport with communities. However, third sector organisations need to be adequately supported in order to bring members of the community to an engagement setting. 

• The research data suggest the third sector approach is successful in  bringing together these actors and setting an agenda for future development. 

• Regardless of who is leading planning engagement, it is clear that best practice requires developed ‘soft skills’ or social acumen on the part of the facilitation staff.  

II would hope that the coming month would add to the interview component of the

rresearch further and allow me to provide a lot more detail in time! 

Research Bulletin 1

Today I have managed to firm up a (very rough) first draft literature review for my third sector organisation in community engagement research. I should hopefully be able to see how this stacks up against some of the observation and interview data I've been gathering the past few months. 

Its too early to say definitively, but I feel the literature review is leading me towards considering the communicative and 'social capital' implications of the involvement of third sector organisations in planning and place making engagement. Hope to have some stronger perspectives from the data soon!    

Place making engagement: hitting the street or setting up shop?

Having had the time to think about last week's GoGarnock Charrette event, one thing that's become clear is that the days of expecting people to come to you in engagement may be numbered. Faced with a very low turnout at some of the key workshops over the three days and different host towns, the volunteers needed to hit the streets in starting conversations with the public about their place.


This requires a certain bearing and skills on the part of the volunteer. However, the more active approach did seem to make it easier to reach a broader cross section of people. Unsurprisingly, my most in depth conversations about place with local people were in the comfortable setting of one of the local coffee shops. Considering my previous posts on 'sustainable engagement' and advocating the benefits of long term dialogue over an event based model, I cant help but wonder whether planners should themselves be 'setting up shop' in  the places which have the most difficult place shaping challenges.


Are the days of engagement in the town hall or sports centre becoming numbered?

Go!...Garnock

I will be heading to Kilburnie for GoGarnock http://gogarnock.com later this week as a volunteer facilitator. Hope to find some more interesting issues for my research as well as helping out in the community of course!

Fauldhouse Focus

Getting ready to go to the Fauldhouse Focus event, operated by PAS tonight as one of the case studies for my research on third sector involvement in facilitating community engagement in the planning system.

The engagement agenda?

As my current research into the role of third sector organisations in facilitating planning engagement continues,  my interview data has so far highlighted the role of the charrette event in providing a focus to bring people together and set their minds to what their 'place' could become. While the long term planning issues may take years to see conversion into physical development, what is indicated is that the initial engagement setting provides a catalyst for short and medium term actions in the community and, most importantly, the social connections to facilitate this. 

While the large scale regeneration and development projects of the recent past may now be a memory, perhaps a new space for planning has been created. Nick Wright, RTPI Scotland convenor in a recent journal article and blog piece has noted the convergence of spatial and community planning in recent years and the expanded opportunities this creates for 'place shaping'. In practice, I would be the first to  admit that many of these non spatial issues can often confuse discussion or result in the response 'not my department'. However, the connections made in the wake of a charrette are potentially a way for communities to take action on a broad front, unburdened by this red tape and the silos which can so often hamper public professionals.

While some well off communities are more than equipped to take these actions forward, many others do not have the knowledge or perhaps more importantly; the language, to engage with these issues and to negotiate change. I see a clear place for Local Government Planners, of whom I was one for many years, to assist in this regard, considering their professional knowledge and political experience. Much of the recent canvassing for the forthcoming Scottish Elections has focussed upon ending austerity and public sector cuts. On Election Day, I would therefore ask whomever forms the new government to consider how the public sector can support local people in creating meaningful change in place and providing the resources to bring this about. 

Do cities have limits?

After last weeks interesting Do Cities have Limits Conference at the University of Glasgow, I have been thinking about some of the connections the event brought together. 

Particularly evident, considering the event was hosted by the Engineering Department was the split between the more positivist view of cities (and their limits) and the more intepretivist vision I felt. 

Perhaps this hints at something more fundamental; the more design based, functional language spoken by architects and engineers v (not versus) the 'messier' social issues and focus  that planners and urban designers take? 

Thoughts?....

Sunny start....

The sun did shine on Leith today; hopefully a good sign for the start of the interview phase of my third sector organisations in planning research project. Leith itself appears to be full of tourists and well worth a visit. Although by no means fully implemented it does seem to offer more of a vision of what Glasgow's own waterfront regeneration could have looked like had the obstacles been overcome and the connections been made!

Competitive advantage for cities?

Proof of the writings of Glaeser, Florida et al?: http://www.wsj.com/articles/companies-flock-to-cities-with-top-talent-1460482766

Sustaining Engagement?

Community ‘engagement and empowerment’ are very hot contemporary topics for planning professionals, local governments and of course; local people. The vision is for a world where communities are placed at the forefront of the planning decision making process has come to light most recently through the provisions of the Localism Act in rUK and Community Empowerment Act in Scotland. The advent of these measures in popular politics has come in the wake of one of the worst world recessions and has consequently been articulated within a context where local authority budgets have been significantly atrophied. Questions are thus raised as to how the momentum of these reforms may be sustained.

The core concepts in the debate are not particularly novel. The notion of a communicative turn in planning theory was popularised by commentators such as John Forrester and Patsy Healey in the 1980’s and 1990’s. Early attempts at community engagement were a feature of the area renewal campaigns of the 1970’s in the UK as faith in the ability of the modernist and technocratic planning system of the immediate postwar years faded.

It was precisely through these campaigns, allied to what were at the time, comprehensively enabled and often politically heavyweight regional governments and development agencies, that a particular conception of engagement arose. This focused, on putting down roots within communities, connecting people into local government structures through measures such as setting up shop in the affected neighbourhoods and having a single ‘go to’ person within the authorities, able to take concerns between departments.

The era of state driven urban ‘renewal’ has long passed to be replaced with ‘community led regeneration’. Likewise, the focus of engagement has shifted toward the intensive event, as seen in the charrette, instead of the longer term prospect of these earlier measures. The seemingly intractable development problems within the City of Glasgow where I live and work shed much critical light on the achievements of redevelopment in creating sustainable new homes and jobs. However, if we focus on the processes of engagement within; can we see a positive direction in having the infrastructure for a continuous rather than an event based dialogue?

My voluntary work with communities highlights a great reserve of initiative and drive to bring about local change within planning and development issues. However, in an era of austerity and continued local government cutbacks, it must be recongised that communities cannot bring about these transformations on their own. Finding balance across these issues will be a key concern of my forthcoming research. While at first I imagined the project to be a very current one, I realise now that it will be necessary to learn from the past in placing current engagement practice within its historical context. 

Photo, “Design Charrette #FutureWall 37320” is copyright (c) 2014 Ted Eytan: https://www.flickr.com/photos/taedc/12456680724 and made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.