small steps and a bike ride of course

We met up! In a socially distanced kind of way, but in real life, none the less.

The aim was to visit the site, and understand the context of YoCo from a less virtual perspective. The group met at Millennium Gardens, at the water end side, just next to the railway line. The sheer scale of the site on the journey from the city centre really hits you when you finally get to the Poppleton Road school end.

We came together to discuss the next steps of the YoCo project, and to throw some ideas around that didn’t require unmuting or pixelated 2D faces. We discussed the importance of being out in the open, and what in meant to be physically in a space together, and how we might attempt to talk to people who spend time in this space, and who know it as their locality. We know that community led housing, and the concept of participation can be a bit of a barrier in itself, and we understand that the virtual world and the workshops we have run so far have only been attended by a particular demographic. We want to create ways for people to get involved in the conversation in different ways, and so, the conversation led to thinking about what we might be able to do, within the constraints of the social distancing measures, and with a limited budget.

Public engagement can be exciting, creative and hands on, there are many different ways and means of developing meaningful and authentic conversations - but every time we run a workshop, the conversation always leads to something we can all come together around - and that’s food. The group discussed how we might bring new people into the project by gathering around food, and discussed the idea of inviting local residents to picnic together, at the community orchard off Leeman Road. The next event will be an opportunity for really informal exchange of ideas over a BYOP (Bring your own picnic), and we look forward to seeing how we can open up the thinking and draw new perspectives to move forward in a post COVID world with small and considered steps, into a different space.