Sue Brownill’s vast experience in regeneration, the London docklands and in academia have provided excellent stewardship as head of module for this project. Her way of teaching complex theory and implementation of regeneration alongside a real-life site has been doubly effective.
The docks provide an opportunity to observe the result of regeneration approaches, particularly limited transparency public-private partnerships in and around the Royals and onto Canary Wharf, while the RAD itself has served as a testing bed for alternative methods of regeneration. In my case, I have pursued a holistic method; employed by the public sector but working with the community as a core stakeholder.
PLAN5010 did not deal strictly with regeneration. The module staff provided a wealth of content – including on heritage, tactical urbanism, and community mobilisation - which I feel inspired crucial elements of our group and individual proposals.
The RAD was a new site for this module, and so provided a few teething issues for this year’s cohort. Changes in brief regarding masterplanning, and limited precedence due to differing past work meant that we were the first to undertake this project. That said, this does have the benefit of spurring self-sufficiency and creativity in our final proposals.
PLAN5010 has taught totally new skills in website creation and organisation - a medium of presentation we had to get to grips with alongside developing our proposals. Through the consistent opportunities for feedback offered by the module, the importance of structuring a website to effectively communicate a mesage was impressed upon me. I have endeavoured to achieve that in this website.
I would like to extend my thanks to Fran Ryan from the Oxfordshire Community Land Trust for providing her thoughts on the viability and suitability of CLTs for this project, and suggestion of thought-provoking case studies for use. I am aware that employing a CLT in this instance is only viable as the public sector has the means to transfer ownership; if in the hands of the private sector, it would be quite likely deemed cost prohibitive. Herein lies the barrier for community autonomy!
Comments