Love Easton

Shankari Raj of Love Easton approached the Glass-House prior to embarking on a month-long consultation project aimed at creating a community driven vision for Easton. The group were looking for input on how to involve the community in a variety of ways: how their proposed regeneration document would fit in with Bristol Council policy and comments on their engagement, and the resulting document and exhibition. 6 students from Sheffield University worked with the group to develop and run the engagement activities, and to develop the final document and exhibition setting forth a vision for Easton. The exhibition was initially hosted by the Bristol Architecture Centre and has since been shown in other venues in Easton.

A broad variety of ethnic groups live in Easton.  The area has several streets with good local shops and services, but a large number of unused shops too. An increasing pressure for new build and re-development of Easton is occurring due to its proximity to the city centre, and a group of residents meets monthly to comment on planning applications in the area. The group aims to take an active interest in the future of the area, and is developing a vision for Easton based on community needs. This will feed into any future developments in the area.

The Glass-House visited Love Easton in the early stages of their month-long community engagement process, discussing the types of consultation that were planned, and acting as a sounding board for the group. After the consultation period, the Glass-House held a brief workshop to help the group pull together the important points that were raised while engaging with the community. The group worked in smaller groups to explore any issues raised and actions, needed and brought these together to set out a way forward.

Since October 2009, students from Sheffield University Architecture Department have been working alongside community members on the project, as they have technical expertise in the fields of Urban Design, Regeneration, Master-Planning and Community Consultation. During this time an intensive consultation process was undertaken, allowing residents to share their stories and experiences of the area and helping to create a shared vision of the future of Easton.

The consultation process and workshop were a first step in the direction of a community-based vision and plan for Easton.

Neighbourhoods

Urban regeneration

Consultation

Workshop

A first step in the direction of a community-based vision and plan for Easton