Written by:
Sophia de Sousa
On 27 February, we were at Live Works in Sheffield, for Common Ground, the first in-person WEdesign event in this year’s series, Sharing Place. This event was a collaboration with tutors and students from the University of Sheffield’s School of Architecture and Landscape and their urban room Live Works. We explored both our understanding of common ground, and what this might mean in the context of placemaking that puts the co-existence of people and planet at its core.
We were joined by a diverse mix of participants from the local community, representing a range of ages and generations, cultural backgrounds and both lived and professional experience. There was a great vibe in the room, with people exploring challenging questions that seem more pertinent than ever given the current geopolitical situation and the divisive rhetoric filling our international news feeds. People put their heads, hearts and hands together to co-design positive propositions for change.
Once we had invited people to take their seats and welcomed them to the evening’s discussion, we started to unpick what the term common ground means and to plant the seeds for discussion and ideas generation. Our partner Leo Care from the Sheffield School of Architecture introduced how the theme of Common Ground links to his students’ studies and the work they are doing to explore both the values and physical manifestations of common ground in different parts of the world. In other words, how can shared values underpin and influence the physical spaces we share and how we design them?
Following this provocation, we asked our four tables to explore the theme of common ground through the lenses of community, ecology, education, and practice. Our student facilitators had dressed their tables, with a range of prompts including imagery, provocative questions and with a range of craft materials, and activated lively discussions.
Here are just some of the great ideas that emerged:
Safe Places To Try Things (and To Fail)
The Practice group explored both their interpretations of the word practice, and the question, “Does practice make perfect?” This led to a fascinating conversation about how work and life tend to channel us into specific areas of interest and specialism. The more experience and expertise we gain, the more pressure we place on ourselves not to fail and the harder it might feel to step sideways, and to try new things.
The group proposed creating spaces where people of all ages, and particularly adults locked into professions and the everyday challenges of life, could be exposed to new experiences and to just have a go. Modelled on the children’s venue Kidzania, which is designed to introduce children to a range of possible professions through play, the Practice group’s proposition was for Adultzania, a safe place where adults can try new things. The underlying principles that they highlighted were a childlike approach to learning (being open) and the freedom to fail. Their model included ideas for things to try, which ranged from hiking, composting, cooking, carpentry, weaving, to brewing and ballroom dancing. Members of the group noted that when brainstorming ideas for things to try, they were struck by how few hobbies they themselves had and practiced regularly.
“Don’t be afraid to try something new. Commit! Learn! Have fun!”
Using Nature to Connect Indoors & Outdoors
The Ecology group began their conversation exploring people’s perceptions of their relationship with natural ecologies, with a particular focus on how we connect with nature inside our homes. This led to them working together to unpick the layers and scales of our connectivity with nature. They advocated for connections that go far beyond the obligatory green spaces within cities, inviting us to bring plants into the home not just to decorate, but to improve our health and wellbeing, to produce oxygen and a sense of calm. Using natural materials in the home, such as wooden floors, and the myriad of colours that nature offers us, can also transform our relationship with our home. Views from our windows should also connect us to nature not only nearby, but reveal the multiple layers of geological features that surround us. We should be connecting with nature using all of our senses, unlocking sensory and emotional links between our built and natural environment.
Their model, which began as a series of 2D images and sketches, came together magically in the last minutes of the task to reveal a multilayered landscape of ecological experience, complete with a series of connections and views.
“I hope we have a future where we are more in tune with the rhythms and connections of the ecology system”
Learning Can Be Chaotic
The Education group spanned ages and experiences of both formal and informal education and learning. Very quickly, they came to the conclusion that connectivity across generations, intergenerational collaboration and knowledge exchange, could contribute enormously to both collective and individual learning, and to better placemaking. They challenged traditional education systems that tend to be prescriptive, linear and exam-based and that celebrate success and condemn failure. They stressed the importance of the freedom to get confused, to fail, and to find learning opportunities though coming through the chaos and finding moments of clarity. They advocated learning through more multigenerational interaction, outside traditional spaces, and for people to bring their individual learning together to find common ground and to work towards common good.
The Education group model sought to illustrate that learning is a journey that can be messy, even chaotic, but that this can lead to new knowledge, innovation and most importantly, to exchange.
“It’s okay to fail at something. It’s how you grow”.
Shared Responsibility for Collaboration
The Community group brought together a mix of people working within their communities in different ways, and within different types of groups and organisations. Noting a shared frustration with how they respectively worked with their local authority, they sought to co-design strategies for better communication and collaboration between councils and their communities. They noted that communities were complex, that there are many different groups operating in any community with a variety of missions and objectives, but that there are always shared points of interest, common ground, and that many of these are also shared by local authorities. Though there may be barriers to overcome, we have a shared responsibility to step over that hurdle, and to forge connections and relationships.
The Community model sought to illustrate both the barriers that we face, and the things that bind us together, our common ground and shared responsibility for successfully shaping our places. They stressed that through creating opportunities for connection and collaboration, many communities could become one.
“Interdependence of different stakeholders for a positive and healthy environment.”
Key Themes & Takeaways
The conversation that followed illustrated that despite starting from different lenses at the various tables, there were some key shared values and principles emerging across the groups:
- Permission to fail: fear of failure can be stifling, and we should embrace a culture of experimentation and learning from failure or simply unexpected outcomes.
- Learning is messy and great things can come from confusion and chaos: sometimes, we need to allow things to get messy, to muddle through and to find solutions in unexpected places and through unpredictable journeys.
- Diverse communities have more in common than not: through conversation, and when given the space to expose and explore our differences, we also find that we have more in common than not.
- Spaces for connection and conversation are vital to collaboration: we need to create safe spaces and the time for conversation in order to forge meaningful relationships and collaborations.
- We share responsibility for collaborative action: in order to activate and sustain collaborative action, we must all contribute to breaking down barriers and to taking steps outside our familiar spaces and ways of working in order to bridge gaps.
Before we closed the event, we asked participants to note down one key takeaway or point of action that they would take away with them. Here adjust a few:
“Inclusive learning and design requires compassion, care & joy.”
“Free thinking students give me hope. – older guy”
“Through having a conversation, you begin to see the intersections of values and ideas.”
“The importance of communication between generations”
“Encourage imperfection + empower action”
We were encouraged to see that our event had planted seeds of thought, but also motivation to take action, to connect with others and to try new things. There was a consensus in the room that we had all benefitted from speaking across generations and experiences, and that in the end, we shared a good deal of common ground.
In closing, I would like to express our enormous thanks to our partners, The University of Sheffield’s School of Architecture and Landscape and Live Works, Leo Care, our talented student facilitators and our wonderful mix of participants.