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)!