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<strong>Fenham</strong> <strong>Pocket</strong> <strong>Park</strong><br />
Design Activism: A Catalyst for Communities of Practice<br />
Daniel Mallo & Armelle Tardiveau<br />
Design and Creative Practice Research Folios<br />
School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape
Content<br />
300-word summary<br />
300-word summary<br />
3<br />
<strong>Fenham</strong> <strong>Pocket</strong> <strong>Park</strong> is a creative practice-<br />
Initiated in 2015, this ongoing research project has<br />
led research that sought to stimulate community<br />
unfolded in three phases:<br />
Research Overview<br />
4<br />
action and bring about community-led change in<br />
the neighbourhood of <strong>Fenham</strong>, Newcastle upon<br />
Phase 1 (2015), developed alongside<br />
Research Context<br />
6<br />
Tyne. The project is critically underscored by a<br />
sustainable transport charity Sustrans, comprised<br />
characterisation of design activism as a process<br />
a series of temporal and experimental design<br />
Research Process<br />
10<br />
and a practice: the process aims to promote<br />
interventions drawn from a design activist approach<br />
experimentation and test alternative urban<br />
that emerges from an ethnographic curiosity, a rich<br />
Conclusion:<br />
30<br />
experiences, while the practice, embedded in<br />
immersion in the everyday that allows an alternative<br />
The Rippling Effects of Design Activism<br />
everyday life, seeks to catalyse and nurture other<br />
appreciation of the familiar environment.<br />
‘communities of practice’ in the neighbourhood.<br />
Phase 2 (2016) sees the transition of<br />
Dissemination<br />
34<br />
It is concerned with the largely under-researched<br />
local residents into a ‘community of practitioners/<br />
long-term transformative effect of design activism<br />
makers’ leading the transformation of a nondescript<br />
Appendices<br />
37<br />
on everyday urban environments and socio-spatial<br />
grass area into a <strong>Pocket</strong> <strong>Park</strong> and the creation of a<br />
dynamics. Through the research, a group of local<br />
formalised community group, ‘Friends of <strong>Fenham</strong><br />
A - Refereed Supporting Publication<br />
39<br />
residents of <strong>Fenham</strong> became key actors in the<br />
<strong>Pocket</strong> <strong>Park</strong>’, including 5–10 key actors who<br />
B - Publications / Conference Presentations<br />
40<br />
transformation of a disused urban space into a<br />
manage and maintain the park, and have secured<br />
C - Citations<br />
41<br />
<strong>Pocket</strong> <strong>Park</strong>.<br />
over £40,000 from multiple grants.<br />
D - Funding sources during REF period<br />
42<br />
Phase 3 (2019 to date) widens the scope<br />
E - Exhibition Poster<br />
43<br />
of the project with an extension to the initial park<br />
(currently under construction).<br />
Over this elongated period, the research<br />
reveals design activism as necessarily intertwined<br />
with other everyday practices – such as gardening,<br />
celebrating, playing – that coalesce around a shared<br />
sense of citizenship. It also advances the role of<br />
design activism in forging communities of practice:<br />
mutually supportive and self-sustaining groups<br />
emerging out of the personal relations sustained<br />
and organised around a practice of place-making.<br />
<strong>Fenham</strong> <strong>Pocket</strong> <strong>Park</strong><br />
Daniel Mallo & Armelle Tardiveau<br />
3
Research Overview<br />
The research set out to explore design<br />
activism as a means to stimulate life in the public<br />
realm and shed light on the social formations and<br />
collective practices catalysed through the activist<br />
impulse. Through a series of open-ended design<br />
workshops, street trials and events that brought<br />
about the creation of a community-led <strong>Pocket</strong> <strong>Park</strong>,<br />
the project sought to:<br />
• Understand the realities of people and gain<br />
insights of existing settings from an insider<br />
perspective (Mallo et al., 2016a) through a<br />
design activist process of experimentation<br />
situated within the ordinary preoccupations of<br />
everyday life.<br />
• Explore an open-ended and inspirational<br />
approach, using designed prompts and<br />
temporary interventions, which enabled the<br />
establishment of a new, shared language<br />
between participants. Such an approach helped<br />
activate dialogue and opened up aspirations,<br />
thus challenging closed briefs and agendas prior<br />
to engaging with community groups (Vigar and<br />
Varna, 2019).<br />
• Debunk the myth around the activist designer<br />
and shift the emphasis from designer to<br />
‘practices’, thus moving away from a central<br />
position of design activism and placing it<br />
in a constellation of practices – gardening,<br />
celebrating and playing (Mallo et al., 2020a).<br />
• Deploy a theoretical framework drawn<br />
from social practice theory to expand the<br />
conceptualisation of design activism as<br />
‘constituted in practice’ through performance<br />
or action. In particular, we adapt Elizabeth<br />
Shove, Mika Pantzar and Matt Watson’s (2012)<br />
characterisation of social practice as constituted<br />
by iterative actions integrating three elements,<br />
namely ‘materials’ (physical entities, artefacts,<br />
urban spaces), ‘competence’ (skills, knowhow<br />
of both communities and designers) and<br />
‘meanings’ (motivations, affects). The theoretical<br />
underpinning of the project is elaborated in<br />
the refereed supporting publication: ‘Design<br />
Activism: Catalysing Communities of Practice’<br />
(Mallo et al., 2020a) - full text in Appendix A.<br />
The creative practice enquiry is articulated around a<br />
two-fold question:<br />
• RQ 1: How does socially engaged design<br />
practice catalyse democratic place-making and<br />
stimulate public life in the urban realm?<br />
• RQ 2: How does design activism contribute<br />
to the long-term sustainability of co-produced<br />
design projects? How does design activism<br />
permeate socio-spatial spheres, contribute to<br />
and sustain community-led projects?<br />
References:<br />
Mallo D, Parsons R and Tardiveau A. (2016a) ‘Participatory<br />
design methods in the co-production practice of urban space’.<br />
In: Challenges and Best Practice in Co-Production. Sheffield:<br />
University of Sheffield<br />
Mallo D, Tardiveau A and Parsons R. (2020a) ‘Design Activism:<br />
Catalysing Communities of Practice’. Architectural Research<br />
Quarterly, vol.24, no.2, 100–116.<br />
Vigar,G. and Varna,G., F, (2019) Connecting places, placing<br />
connections: towards a participatory ordinary urbanism. In<br />
Doherty,I and Shaw,J., (eds.), Transport Matters, Bristol: Policy<br />
Press<br />
Shove, E., Pantzar, M. and Watson, M. (2012) The dynamics<br />
of social practice: Everyday life and how it changes. Sage<br />
Publications.<br />
A process of experimentation situated within the ordinary preoccupations of everyday life.<br />
Temporary intervention collage by Kieran McSherry, October 2015<br />
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Research Context<br />
In recent years, design activism has<br />
come to the fore with numerous collectives<br />
whose actions have distinct emphases and foci.<br />
In the context of this research, design activism<br />
builds on temporary narratives of intensification,<br />
speculation or demonstration. Our research aligns<br />
with practices including Rebar (San Francisco),<br />
known for initiating a yearly global design action<br />
with the aim of transforming parking spaces into<br />
temporary parks; Santiago Cirugeda (Seville),<br />
whose ‘urban prescriptions’ (recetas urbanas)<br />
projects identify gaps in urban regulations to<br />
create spaces for emancipation and subversion<br />
without breaking the law; in turn, aaa’s work (atelier<br />
d’architecture autogérée, founded by Petrescu &<br />
Petcou, Paris) is seminal in experimenting with<br />
temporary appropriations of urban space to intensify<br />
community and ecology; while the emerging<br />
collective YA+K’s (Paris) work explores the notion of<br />
‘urban bricolage’ in the tradition of citizen-led or DIY<br />
urbanism.<br />
While these activist practices point at the<br />
temporal, spatial and experimental nature of design<br />
activism, our research expands on the practice and<br />
its conceptualisation and focuses on the long-term<br />
effect of design activism. It investigates how design<br />
activism influences socio-spatial dynamics and can<br />
lead to enduring social formations described as<br />
‘communities of practice’, putting the emphasis on<br />
social relations that revolve around processes of<br />
making, learning and negotiating (Wenger, 1999).<br />
<strong>Fenham</strong> Hall Drive: temporary narratives of intensification. Intervention, April 2015<br />
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As such, the research employs an<br />
inspirational and open-ended approach that<br />
harnesses social capital and brings to the fore the<br />
role of citizens in the place-making process. The<br />
exploratory approach is underpinned and adapted<br />
from previous research by the authors in the field<br />
of socially engaged design practice – past projects<br />
include:<br />
Action Research in Gateshead, 2010-2011<br />
Funded by the European research network<br />
SPINDUS, this project examined the role of<br />
temporary interventions in revealing socio-spatial<br />
struggles in the semi-private outdoor space of<br />
a deprived social housing estate. The research<br />
mobilises the concept of ‘habitus’ as a means to<br />
unpack personal and collective dispositions as well<br />
as challenge the socio-spatial status quo embedded<br />
in a contested open space (Tardiveau and Mallo,<br />
2014). By deploying site-specific temporary<br />
settings, the project aims to understand the social<br />
dimensions of a disused space.<br />
Urban Action, Gateshead. Interventions, 2010-2011<br />
‘From non-place to place in post-suburbia’, an<br />
exploration of city-edge office parks as loci for<br />
nature-based micro-interventions, 2014-2020<br />
This study attends to possibilities inherent in<br />
micro-level, bottom-up interventions in the context of<br />
city-edge office parks. The exploratory approach is<br />
inspired by sensory ethnography as well as socially<br />
driven design practice; in particular, it calls for openended,<br />
provocative engagement. The research is<br />
infused with an inspirational, imaginative sensibility<br />
in order to intensify and open up opportunities for<br />
conversation, reflection and engagement. Tapping<br />
into the rich biodiversity of the office park setting of<br />
the case study, the authors adopted an approach<br />
that reframes the problematic of ‘placelessness’<br />
and brings to the fore the lack of interaction of park<br />
denizens with the natural environment (Mallo et al.,<br />
2020b).<br />
Top: “A wild walk”, plant identification activity with office park<br />
workers. Bottom: “What if...” provocative scenarios: a flower<br />
meadow or parking space? Engagement, 2014<br />
References:<br />
Urban Action, Gateshead. Interventions, 2010-2011<br />
Mallo, D., Schoneboom, A., Tardiveau, A., and Vigar, G. (2020b)<br />
From non-place to place in post-suburbia: city-edge office<br />
parks as loci for nature-based micro-interventions. Journal of<br />
Environmental Planning and Management. 63(13): 2446-2463.<br />
Tardiveau, A. and Mallo, D. (2014) Unpacking and challenging<br />
habitus: an approach to temporary urbanism as a socially<br />
engaged practice. Journal of Urban Design 19(4): 456-472.<br />
Wenger, E. (1999). Communities of practice: Learning,<br />
meaning, and identity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.<br />
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Research Process<br />
The research focused on <strong>Fenham</strong> Hall<br />
Drive, a car-dominated street, where parking<br />
on pavements occurs and where public space<br />
is scarce. Along the street stand two key civic<br />
institutions for local residents and neighbouring<br />
communities: the local library and the community<br />
pool, perceived as civic hubs. The area is a socially<br />
mixed area with pockets of low-income council<br />
households with a high rate of dependence on state<br />
benefits. The project unfolded in three phases over<br />
a period of five years (2015 to date).<br />
Phase 1:<br />
Revisiting <strong>Fenham</strong> Hall Drive (2015)<br />
Embedded in the everyday realities of the<br />
life of the street, the research adopted an openended<br />
approach to gain insights into the use and<br />
perception of the existing settings and to create a<br />
new shared urban experience in common for all<br />
participants and community actors. Multi-layered<br />
methods using a variety of design prompts in<br />
temporary interventions augmented the experience<br />
of the area, thus provoking an opportunity for a new<br />
reading of a familiar environment (Tardiveau and<br />
Mallo, 2014).The creative practice methods were<br />
structured around three thematic areas: unpacking<br />
affects, meanings and desires through sensory<br />
mapping methods; disrupting urban narratives<br />
through spontaneous temporary intervention<br />
methods; and enabling a new urban experience<br />
through methods of temporary intervention.<br />
An extended account of phase 1 can be found<br />
in the refereed supporting publication: ‘Design<br />
Activism: Catalysing Communities of Practice’ (Mallo<br />
et al., 2020a) - full text in Appendix A.<br />
Revisiting <strong>Fenham</strong> Hall Drive. Intervention, March 2015<br />
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“There are lots of old people in <strong>Fenham</strong>, could do<br />
with somewhere to sit and watch the world go by”.<br />
Local resident walking dog<br />
“A place to hang out, a sunny<br />
spot”. Elderly resident<br />
“It’s until you see things like this<br />
(bench) that you realise how dreary<br />
the environment is”.<br />
Mother sitting on bench.<br />
Sensory maping as means of unpacking affects, meanings and desires. March 2015<br />
Unpacking affects, meanings and desires:<br />
sensory mapping:<br />
Adapted from ‘cultural probes’ (Gaver et<br />
al., 1999), these designed prompts or tasks aim at<br />
enabling inspirational responses. Specifically, our<br />
method sought to map social and material assets,<br />
capturing the feelings and stories of the site.<br />
We created a physical scale model of the street,<br />
on which a provocative prompt stated: ‘Imagine<br />
<strong>Fenham</strong> Hall Drive as the best street in Britain…’,<br />
and located it on site. The model was equipped<br />
with ‘mysterious and elusive’ materials varying in<br />
textures and colours (such as tin foil, pipe cleaners,<br />
washing-up sponges and cotton wool) that were left<br />
freely as prompts for discussion or for interpretation<br />
to facilitate the sharing of perceptions, ideas and<br />
desires for the place. This sensory mapping aimed<br />
to awake existing senses and evoke an imaginary<br />
feel for the street.<br />
Spontaneous occupation of a pavement area: disrupting existing urban narratives. March 2015<br />
Disrupting urban narratives: spontaneous temporary<br />
intervention<br />
Two purpose-built mobile benches were<br />
installed along a car-dominated pavement over<br />
the course of three days. The temporary setting<br />
afforded opportunities for social interaction and<br />
activation of public space. This form of ‘provocation’<br />
was ‘not [only intended] to understand the [urban<br />
environment], but to expose both the possibilities<br />
and constraints on future design directions’<br />
(Blomberg and Karasti, 2013). This occupation<br />
of urban space, mainly pavement areas where<br />
unregulated car parking takes place, allowed for a<br />
disruptive tactic that revealed socio-spatial struggles<br />
(the permanent need among pedestrians for car-free<br />
public space) and raised awareness of alternative<br />
futures.<br />
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Enabling a new urban experience: temporary<br />
intervention<br />
Together with local residents who had<br />
engaged in previous events, we collectively<br />
envisaged a temporary intervention focusing on<br />
themes previously discussed, including positive<br />
lingering, playing and greening. Local residents<br />
conceptually conceived the design of the temporary<br />
intervention as a series of stripes that could be<br />
‘rolled’ out beyond the boundaries of the designated<br />
space. These stripes materialised as alternating<br />
bands of timber and artificial grass punctuated<br />
with furniture modules open to interpretation. The<br />
intervention, which lasted four days, transformed a<br />
grass area in between the library and the pool, an<br />
unused open space that cut through a drive leading<br />
to an allotment area located at the back of the<br />
two civic buildings. During that time, we observed<br />
that the modules, of various heights and lengths,<br />
accommodated a diversity of uses including sitting,<br />
lying in the sun, jumping or playing, as well as<br />
enabling comfortable seat heights for different age<br />
groups.<br />
Top: temporary intervention floor plan.<br />
Left and bottom: enabling a new urban experience through a temporary intervention. October 2015<br />
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“To give people that experience is so important. How can you<br />
change your viewpoint about something, by commenting on a<br />
map and a Post-it? It is not the same as sitting on a bench and<br />
believing that it can happen”.<br />
Sustrans volunteer<br />
Temporary intervention. October 2015<br />
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Phase 2:<br />
The Making of <strong>Fenham</strong> <strong>Pocket</strong> <strong>Park</strong> (2016)<br />
After almost nine months of engagement<br />
with situated design interventions, a group of<br />
local residents took on the challenge of taking<br />
the vision forward and applied for a Department<br />
for Communities and Local Government (DCLG)<br />
grant, and were successfully awarded £15,000 for<br />
the construction of a <strong>Pocket</strong> <strong>Park</strong>. The group was<br />
constituted later as ‘The Friends of <strong>Fenham</strong> <strong>Pocket</strong><br />
<strong>Park</strong>’ and have become carriers of a place-making<br />
practice.<br />
The brief for <strong>Fenham</strong> <strong>Pocket</strong> <strong>Park</strong> aimed to<br />
address the different visions that had been shared<br />
during the exploratory interventions to create a place<br />
for relaxing, playing and enhancing the presence<br />
of nature in the area. The design concept of stripes<br />
as a structuring element for the ground was taken<br />
forward: the Friends felt it allowed the statement<br />
of a clear intention in terms of potentially enlarging<br />
the park at a later stage onto the remaining unused<br />
grassed area by the library.<br />
An external contractor undertook the<br />
groundworks, and both skilled and non-skilled<br />
participants contributed to the construction of<br />
planters and benches. Residents, ward councillors,<br />
engagement officers, as well as park and allotment<br />
council officers – all in their different capacities<br />
became involved in the making of the park. Children<br />
from the local school planted flowers, fruit trees<br />
and bushes with an amateur horticulturalist from<br />
the Friends who introduced them to basic growing<br />
principles. An extended account of phase 2 can be<br />
found in the refereed supporting publication: ‘Design<br />
Activism: Catalysing Communities of Practice’ (Mallo<br />
et al., 2020a) - full text in Appendix A.<br />
Top: making of <strong>Fenham</strong> <strong>Pocket</strong> <strong>Park</strong>.<br />
Left: <strong>Fenham</strong> <strong>Pocket</strong> <strong>Park</strong> Site Plan. Bottom: <strong>Fenham</strong> <strong>Pocket</strong> <strong>Park</strong> planters. May 2016<br />
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Top: <strong>Fenham</strong> <strong>Pocket</strong> <strong>Park</strong> floorplan. Bottom: planting activity<br />
with school children (May 2016)<br />
<strong>Fenham</strong> <strong>Pocket</strong> <strong>Park</strong>. May 2016<br />
Top: planting session with school children. Bottom: opening of <strong>Fenham</strong> <strong>Pocket</strong> <strong>Park</strong>. May 2016<br />
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Opening of <strong>Fenham</strong> <strong>Pocket</strong> <strong>Park</strong>. May 2016<br />
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Phase 3:<br />
<strong>Fenham</strong> <strong>Pocket</strong> <strong>Park</strong> Extension (2019 to date)<br />
This ongoing phase converges towards the<br />
extension of the <strong>Pocket</strong> <strong>Park</strong>, but more importantly<br />
stresses the Friends’ role as a community of<br />
practitioners whose main remit consists of promoting<br />
the use of the park and ensuring maintenance. Their<br />
experience of working collectively over the last three<br />
years led them to apply for new funding in 2019 to<br />
extend the <strong>Pocket</strong> <strong>Park</strong>. The bid was successful and<br />
the group was awarded £12,000 from the Ministry<br />
of Housing Communities and Local Government<br />
(MHCLG).<br />
This opportunity marked a significant shift<br />
for the Friends’ mission to improve the public<br />
realm around the <strong>Pocket</strong> <strong>Park</strong>, as well as increase<br />
community reach. Building on Phase 1, they<br />
planned this new phase to become, not just a park<br />
extension, but rather a blank canvas on which to<br />
deploy events and design engagement sessions<br />
with the local community with a view to widen<br />
participation; a much-needed approach post-COVID<br />
pandemic.<br />
References:<br />
Tardiveau, A. & Mallo, D. (2014) Unpacking and challenging<br />
habitus: an approach to temporary urbanism as a socially<br />
engaged practice. Journal of Urban Design 19(4): 456–472.<br />
Mallo D, Tardiveau A and Parsons R. (2020a) ‘Design Activism:<br />
Catalysing Communities of Practice’. Architectural Research<br />
Quarterly, vol.24, no.2, 100–116.<br />
Gaver, B., Dunne, T. & Pacenti, E. (1999) Cultural probes.<br />
Interactions, January-February 6(1), 21–29.<br />
Blomberg, J. & Karasti, H. (2013) Ethnography: positioning<br />
ethnography within participatory design projects. In: Simonsen,<br />
J. & Robertson, T. (eds) Routledge International Handbook of<br />
Participatory Design. New York: Routledge, pp. 86–116.<br />
Top: remote project meeting during the pandemic.<br />
Bottom: a canvas for engagement and events. Sketch 2020.<br />
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Top: ehancing pedestrian flow at a time of pandemic. Sketch 2020.<br />
Bottom: external contractor undertaking groundworks. 2020.<br />
<strong>Pocket</strong> <strong>Park</strong> extension. 2020<br />
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<strong>Pocket</strong> <strong>Park</strong> extension. 2020<br />
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Conclusion: The Rippling Effects of Design Activism<br />
It is only through the immersion in the<br />
everyday that design activism can be responsive to<br />
the ordinary, the mundane affecting people’s lives,<br />
as well as revealing existing social practices in an<br />
area. Through the creative practice process, we shed<br />
light on the potential of design activism in forging<br />
communities of practice: mutually supportive and<br />
self-sustaining groups emerging out of the personal<br />
relations sustained and organised around a practice.<br />
The iterative and performative character of design<br />
activism has allowed socialisation and engagement;<br />
also, familiarity and trust has developed through<br />
learning and sharing.<br />
<strong>Fenham</strong> <strong>Pocket</strong> <strong>Park</strong>, in this regard, neither<br />
emerged out of a predefined plan nor happened as<br />
an unforeseen outcome; indeed, it came into being<br />
through shifts and ripple effects elicited by design<br />
activism in the sphere of social practices. As such,<br />
we contend that the significance of design activism,<br />
as a sustained and iterative process, lies primarily in<br />
the creation of settings that give rise to communities<br />
of practitioners, in our case arising around a shared<br />
sense of citizenship.<br />
Top: making, learning and negotiating - regular meeting of Friends of <strong>Fenham</strong> <strong>Pocket</strong> <strong>Park</strong>. March 2018.<br />
Bottom: regular weeding and planting event. July 2018.<br />
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Daniel Mallo & Armelle Tardiveau
Top: Christmas event organised by the Friends of <strong>Fenham</strong> <strong>Pocket</strong> <strong>Park</strong>. December 2016<br />
Top and bottom: Regular weeding and planting event. July 2018.<br />
32 Design and Creative Practice Research Folios<br />
<strong>Fenham</strong> <strong>Pocket</strong> <strong>Park</strong><br />
33<br />
School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape<br />
Daniel Mallo & Armelle Tardiveau
Dissemination<br />
Web: Design Research Port<strong>folio</strong>s<br />
A version of this port<strong>folio</strong> has been available<br />
since 2020 at https://www.ncl.ac.uk/apl/research/<br />
case-studies/creativepractice/<br />
Exhibition: Community, Design, Practice<br />
Boiler House + School of Architecture, Planning and<br />
Landscape, Newcastle University,<br />
29 March - 26 April 2019<br />
Carried out by a research team from<br />
Newcastle University’s School of Architecture,<br />
Planning and Landscape led by Daniel Mallo and<br />
Armelle Tardiveau, this exhibition gathered the<br />
creative practice material and revealed the design<br />
process that led to the making of <strong>Fenham</strong> <strong>Pocket</strong><br />
<strong>Park</strong>, funded by ESRC IAA. More specifically,<br />
it showcased designed prompts as well as the<br />
temporary furniture deployed as part of the<br />
research. The commitment of the Friends of<br />
<strong>Fenham</strong> <strong>Pocket</strong> <strong>Park</strong> was documented with large<br />
social portraits by photographer Damien Wootten.<br />
The exhibition was an opportunity to<br />
celebrate the work and bring together all those<br />
involved in the project including local stakeholders,<br />
community actors, ward councillors and <strong>Fenham</strong><br />
residents. Visitors stated their interest in<br />
understanding the process that led to the <strong>Pocket</strong><br />
<strong>Park</strong> as an urban space shaped by local residents.<br />
ISBN 978-0-7017-0268-7<br />
<strong>Fenham</strong> <strong>Pocket</strong> <strong>Park</strong>: Stories, Practices and Processes<br />
<strong>Fenham</strong> <strong>Pocket</strong> <strong>Park</strong><br />
Stories, Practices and Processes<br />
Exhibition Catalogue<br />
A publication entitled <strong>Fenham</strong> <strong>Pocket</strong> <strong>Park</strong>:<br />
Stories, Practices and Processes accompanied<br />
the exhibition. It captures the making of <strong>Fenham</strong><br />
<strong>Pocket</strong> <strong>Park</strong>: a community-led project located in<br />
the west end of Newcastle upon Tyne that saw<br />
the transformation of an unused urban space<br />
into a lively park. The research highlights the<br />
transformative power of socially engaged design<br />
practice, an approach process that enhances the<br />
role of community members in bringing about<br />
change to their everyday life urban environment.<br />
Available at: https://en.calameo.com/<br />
read/006096643d954a55eef70?page=1<br />
Top and bottom: exhibition “Community, Design, Practice” documenting the process of making <strong>Fenham</strong> <strong>Pocket</strong> <strong>Park</strong>. March 2019<br />
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Appendices<br />
A – Refereed Supporting Publication<br />
B – Publications / Conference Presentations<br />
C – Citations<br />
D – Funding sources during REF period<br />
E – Exhibition Poster<br />
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A – Refereed Supporting Publication<br />
Mallo D, Tardiveau A, Parsons R. (2020a) ‘Design Activism: Catalysing Communities of Practice’.<br />
Architectural Research Quarterly, vol.24, no.2, 100–116.<br />
Abstract<br />
Over the last decade, we have witnessed<br />
renewed interest in design as a socially engaged<br />
practice. Much of the debates around ‘social design’<br />
point towards myriad approaches and disciplinary<br />
fields interwoven with grass-roots initiatives and<br />
social movements. Among these, design activism<br />
has gained traction as critical spatial practice<br />
that operates on the fringes of commercial and<br />
institutional spheres.<br />
The temporal, spatial and experimental<br />
nature of design activism is well delineated in<br />
scholarship but its long-term effect on everyday<br />
urban environments remains elusive. Moreover,<br />
the influence of design activism on socio-spatial<br />
dynamics is indeed largely under researched.<br />
By mobilising social practice theory, this paper<br />
proposes a novel theorisation of design activism that<br />
sheds light on the social formations and collective<br />
practices catalysed through the activist impulse.<br />
This ontological shift embraces an understanding<br />
of the socio-material world through practice. Such<br />
characterisation of design activism underscores<br />
collective moments of integration of the constitutive<br />
elements of practice, encapsulated by Shove,<br />
Pantzar and Watson as ‘material, competence and<br />
meaning’.<br />
The authors’ own empirical research,<br />
funded by the Economic and Social Research<br />
Council (ESRC) in the UK, reveals design activism<br />
as necessarily intertwined with other everyday<br />
practices – gardening, celebrating, playing – that<br />
coalesce around a shared sense of citizenship. It<br />
also advances the role of design activism in forging<br />
communities of practice: mutually supportive and<br />
self-sustaining groups emerging out of the personal<br />
relations sustained and organised around a practice<br />
of place making.<br />
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B – Publications and Conference Presentations<br />
C – Citations<br />
Paper_ Mallo D, Tardiveau A, Parsons R. (2020a)<br />
‘Design Activism: Catalysing Communities of<br />
Practice’. Architectural Research Quarterly, vol.24,<br />
no.2, 100–116.<br />
Conference paper_ Mallo, D. (2017) ‘Beyond the<br />
here and now: design activism for permanence and<br />
resilience’. In: International Conference: Making<br />
Space for Socio-Spatial and Socio-Ecological<br />
Justice in Research and Action Strategies. Lesvos,<br />
[IM1] 2019:<br />
Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local<br />
Government Press Office, Email Request for Image<br />
Use, 14 February 2019.<br />
[IM5] 2016:<br />
Sustrans News, ‘An oasis of calm in Newcastle’s<br />
West End’, Sustrans News, 10 June 2016, https://<br />
www.sustrans.org.uk/news/oasis-calm-newcastleswest-end<br />
[accessed 25 January 2019].<br />
Book chapter_ Webb D., Mallo, D., Tardiveau,<br />
A., Emmerson, C., Pardoe, M. and Talbot, M.<br />
Greece.<br />
Conference paper_ Mallo, D., Parsons, R. and<br />
[IM2] 2019:<br />
Cambridge City Council, Email Request for Image<br />
Social Media:<br />
(2020) The containment of democratic innovation:<br />
reflections from two university collaborations. In:<br />
Steer, M., Davoudi, S., Todd, L. and Shucksmith,<br />
M., ed. Social Renewal: Practical Responses to<br />
Neoliberal Austerity. Bristol: Policy Press<br />
Conference paper_ Mallo, D., Tardiveau, A. and<br />
Parsons, R. (2019) ‘Design Activism: A Catalyst of<br />
Communities of Practice in the making of Urban<br />
Space’. In: 16th Annual International Conference of<br />
the Architectural Humanities Research Association,<br />
Dundee<br />
Tardiveau, A. (2016a) ‘Participatory design methods<br />
in the co-production practice of urban space’. In:<br />
Challenges and Best Practice in Co-Production.<br />
Sheffield: University of Sheffield.<br />
Conference paper_ Mallo, D., Parsons, R. and<br />
Tardiveau, A. (2016b) ‘The Craft of Participatory<br />
Design: Inspirational Methods in the Co-Production<br />
of Urban Space’. In: Culture in Urban Space<br />
Urban Form, Cultural Landscapes, Life in the City.<br />
Copenhagen.<br />
Conference paper_ Vigar, G., Mallo, D. and<br />
Use, 8 February 2019.<br />
[IM3] 2017:<br />
Project featured on ESRC website as exemplary<br />
impact case study , ‘Participation research kickstarts<br />
Newcastle mini-park’, ESRC Impact Case<br />
Studies, November 2017, <br />
[accessed 10 December 2020]<br />
“Research on community engagement and socially engaged<br />
design was used to involve Newcastle residents in thinking<br />
[IM6] 2016:<br />
Newcastle City Council: “The Lord Mayor of<br />
Newcastle, Cllr Stephenson is switching–on the<br />
Christmas Lights at <strong>Fenham</strong> <strong>Pocket</strong> <strong>Park</strong> with Carol<br />
singing and a display of paper lanterns from young<br />
people at English Martyrs Primary School and<br />
Sacred Heart School [video].”<br />
12 December 2016 — Viewed 1,500 times, liked<br />
45 times, shared eight times and commented on 13<br />
times.<br />
https://en-gb.facebook.com/NewcastleCityCouncil/<br />
[accessed 25 January 2019]<br />
Research report_ Mallo, D. and Tardiveau, A.<br />
(2019). <strong>Fenham</strong> <strong>Pocket</strong> <strong>Park</strong>. Stories, Practices and<br />
Processes. Newcastle upon Tyne, UK: Newcastle<br />
University. ISBN: 978-0-7017-0268-7<br />
[Available at: https://en.calameo.com/<br />
read/006096643d954a55eef70?page=1] [accessed<br />
10 December 2020]<br />
Tardiveau, A. (2015) ‘Sustainable mobility,<br />
delightful neighbourhood? Creating and evaluating<br />
inspirational participation in street design’. In: Cycle<br />
City Active City Conference. Newcastle upon Tyne.<br />
News Media:<br />
beyond preconceived ideas and to transform their perception<br />
of the area. Daniel Mallo, Armelle Tardiveau and colleagues<br />
at Newcastle University arranged a series of design<br />
workshops and street trials to help people imagine how they<br />
could improve <strong>Fenham</strong> Hall Drive, a street in the Newcastle<br />
ward of <strong>Fenham</strong>.”<br />
[IM7] 2016:<br />
Charley Williams, ‘Lord Mayor of Newcastle<br />
Switches on <strong>Fenham</strong> <strong>Pocket</strong> <strong>Park</strong> Christmas Lights’,<br />
NEConnected Blog, 20 December 2016, https://<br />
neconnected.co.uk/lord-mayor-newcastle-switchesfenham-pocket-park-christmas-lights/<br />
[accessed 25<br />
January 2019].<br />
Book chapter_ Vigar, G. and Varna, G., F, (2019)<br />
Connecting places, placing connections: towards a<br />
participatory ordinary urbanism, in Doherty, I. and<br />
Shaw, J. (eds.), Transport Matters, Bristol: Policy<br />
Press<br />
[IM4] 2016<br />
Article by the Chronicle, the local newspaper on<br />
residents being awarded funding from DCLG.<br />
https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-eastnews/fenham-pocket-park-opens-thanks-11376171<br />
[IM8] 2019:<br />
Marion Talbot, Ward Councillor (testimony):<br />
“Quite a few wards have got in touch with us and<br />
asked how we did it so we could share what we did<br />
- the process, the practice, the organisations that<br />
were involved.”<br />
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Citations (cont.)<br />
D – Funding Sources<br />
During REF Period<br />
E – Exhibition poster<br />
[IM9] 2020:<br />
UK Research and Innovation (@UKRI_News Twitter<br />
43,700 followers): “ICYMI: <strong>Park</strong>s have become a life<br />
line for many to get some outdoor space right now.<br />
Find out how parks have shown to have a positive<br />
effect on the environment and building community<br />
spirit in Newcastle @ESRC: http://orlo.uk/i2D9J<br />
#ArtsAndNaturebreak”<br />
“Specially built parks or ‘pocket parks’ have also<br />
shown to have a positive effect on the environment<br />
and building community spirit. An ESRC-funded<br />
project built a pocket park in <strong>Fenham</strong> in 2016, which<br />
increased the environmental value of the area with<br />
fruit trees to attract insects and bees.”<br />
https://twitter.com/UKRI_News/<br />
status/1266006513438646274 [accessed 10 June<br />
2020].<br />
Central Government and Local Authority<br />
funding:<br />
The research has helped to leverage funds for<br />
community benefit – from the initial application to<br />
build a <strong>Pocket</strong> <strong>Park</strong> to the subsequent grants, the<br />
research was instrumental to secure funding.<br />
• £15,000 awarded from the Department for<br />
Communities and Local Government to build a<br />
<strong>Pocket</strong> <strong>Park</strong> (January 2016)<br />
• £2,058 were granted by <strong>Fenham</strong> Ward towards<br />
the construction of the park (January 2016)<br />
• £800 were granted by Blakelaw Ward towards<br />
the construction of the park (January 2016)<br />
• Friends of <strong>Fenham</strong> <strong>Pocket</strong> <strong>Park</strong> have fundraised<br />
an approximately £9,000 for on-going<br />
maintenance and seasonal community events<br />
(May 2016 to date). Grants were awarded by<br />
Communities Aid Foundation, PwC Volunteering<br />
Award, <strong>Fenham</strong> Ward, etc.<br />
• £12,500 awarded from the Ministry of Housing,<br />
Communities and Local Government to extend<br />
the <strong>Pocket</strong> <strong>Park</strong> (January 2019)<br />
• £1,000 match funding by Public Health to extend<br />
the <strong>Pocket</strong> <strong>Park</strong> (January 2019)<br />
Research funding:<br />
• ESRC IAA (Co-Production Fund – Autumn<br />
2014) BH142131: £9,930 Project title: DIY<br />
Streets (<strong>Fenham</strong>): creating and evaluating<br />
inspirational participation. PI Armelle Tardiveau<br />
[with Daniel Mallo and Geoff Vigar]<br />
• School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape,<br />
Newcastle University, Engagement Committee:<br />
£2,946.25<br />
• School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape,<br />
Newcastle University, ARC (Architecture<br />
Research Collaborative) : £500<br />
Exhibition<br />
Community, Design, Practice<br />
Boiler House + School of Architecture, Planning and<br />
Landscape, Newcastle University,<br />
29 March - 26 April 2019<br />
Community<br />
Design<br />
Practice<br />
Featuring work by:<br />
Daniel Mallo<br />
Armelle Tardiveau<br />
Abigail Schoneboom<br />
Damien Wootten<br />
42 Design and Creative Practice Research Folios<br />
<strong>Fenham</strong> <strong>Pocket</strong> <strong>Park</strong><br />
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Daniel Mallo & Armelle Tardiveau
Design and Creative Practice Research Folios<br />
School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape<br />
Content © Project Authors<br />
44 Design and Creative Practice Research Folios<br />
School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape