Uploaded on 2017-03-09 by Julie Winrow

Module 10 - Compulsory Exercise 6 Community gardens and allotments The Citizen Design Science project I am proposing is for community allotments or gardens. The proposed scheme could make use of land that is currently standing empty or un-used, improve streets by adding more plants or make use of flat roofs for roof gardens. There are some interesting projects in New York where roof gardens are being used to grow food. There are also quite a few examples in Holland where community gardens have worked well.Photo attached roof top gardens Rotterdam. An interesting community allotment scheme in the uk:- The Wigan Growing Network is a project based in Wigan and Leigh. It is a community garden project where they help people to get growing themselves by developing new sites and also running workshops, courses and volunteer opportunities on topics from how to grow vegetables to how to keep honey bees. They hope to help to bring people together. http://www.wiganallotmentnetwork.org.uk/ Wigan Allotment Network - Wigan Growing Network www.wiganallotmentnetwork.org.uk My proposal for planning a community garden scheme:- Initial involvement with the residents to understand what they would like to achieve- • Surveys would be produced to see what ideas the residents have. Then there would be a community meeting to gain further understanding of their comments. • An ideas competition could be held to design areas of the community space, involving local schools. There could also be categories for adult’s designs. Survey questions:- • How could the town or cities be made more attractive and a nice place to live in terms of the public spaces? • Would you be interested in attending a community meet to discuss your ideas and give feedback on proposals? • What do you think could be done to give people more sense of pride in their area? • What could be done to improve the existing community and green areas within the town/ city. The survey information would then be collated to produce Guidelines/ what the project hopes to achieve.Examples of these could be:- • Create more inclusive public areas. • Create a pleasant place to live. • Make people from the local area feel involved and invested in the success of the changes/ proposals. 1. The residents could be involved at specific stages of the project. Firstly with a survey and community meeting, to get a wide variety of ideas and help write a brief to what they would hope the project would achieve in relation to the liveability of their area. 2. The designers and other professionals would then use this information to develop some different options for the scheme, based on what is within the budget and can realistically be achieved. These ideas would then be discussed with the town or city council to get their comments. 3. Then these viable proposals would be discussed at a community meeting of residents and they could vote on and discuss the proposals and see which they think would work best for their area. Building Planning application process in England and Wales With regards to public consultation in England and Wales when a planning application is submitted to the local council, they post the information on their website and also put a poster up at the site. From the date of submitting the application there is 8 weeks were people can comment on the application and make objections, these comments are taken into consideration when the planning officials are making a decision about the scheme. Also on the planning application form you are encouraged to fill in a section stating that you have spoken to neighbours and those close to the site regarding your building proposal.