Design by Consensus

Date: 1st November 2011 - 31st March 2012

Venue:

Fee: Free

Are you working with a number of interest groups in your area to develop a shared vision for building, space or neighbourhood?

Would you like to have a free workshop delivered in your neighbourhood to help bring together local people and groups to build a shared vision for your project? 

What is Design by Consensus?

Design by Consensus is a full-day workshop that focuses specifically on your project to develop or regenerate a building, space or neighbourhood. Through this interactive and hands-on session, The Glass-House team can help you work with a broad range of stakeholders and local people to create a shared vision. You will also explore how an inclusive design process can help you create places that welcome, support, inspire and delight local people and that bring positive and lasting change to your area.

As well as giving you a very simple and manageable method for working with a range of local people and organisations, this process can help you demonstrate to partners and funders that you are serious about inclusion and sustainability. 

Design by Consensus workshops in the London / Milton Keynes area may also benefit from the participation of academics from Open University, University of Kent and University of Birmingham who are involved in a research study that looks at collaborative design and how communities can be supported in shaping their neighbourhoods. This will add the rare opportunity to capture your experience and progress and to document how this process has supported a more collaborative and informed approach to your project. 

Who is it for?

• Locally based groups/forums that are bringing together a range of local organisations, interest groups, businesses and people to develop a project for a shared building, space or neighbourhood.
• Groups that are in the very early stages of their project who would like help in developing a clear vision and in exploring the impact of design on the success and sustainability of their project.

What happens at the workshop?

You gather 12 to 25 people representing various interests/activities in the area including:

• Local residents (of diverse ages, social and ethnic backgrounds, both home-owners and tenants)
• Community/voluntary organisations and civic societies
• Social enterprises
• Local businesses 
• Local authority officers (including those involved in planning, regeneration, housing, policy, etc)
• Local service providers (education, healthcare, leisure, etc)
• Police, fire service, maintenance services, waste collection etc
• Arts and cultural organisations
• Local artists and designers

We work with you to help you develop a vision for your building, space or neighbourhood.  This will include discussion, debate and hands-on workshop sessions to explore what it could be like to work, study and play in the place being developed / regenerated and what impact design can have on how the place works, looks, and feels.

What does it cost? 

We will bring this workshop to you at no charge. 

Where is it?

In your neighbourhood.  You will need to be able to identify, and if possible provide, a workshop space that is large enough to comfortably accommodate all of the participants.  More specific information on the requirements of the space will be available on application.

How do I get Design by Consensus in my neighbourhood?

If you would like to have a Design by Consensus workshop in your neighbourhood, please contact us  with a brief description of your project and a list of the stakeholders likely to take part in the workshop. Please reference your email with Design by Consensus.  If you would like to speak to us about the workshop, please contact us on 0207 490 4583.

If you are in the London / Milton Keynes area and are interested in taking part in the research study, please be sure to mention this when you are contacting us.

The Building Community Consortium

This Glass-House workshop is being delivered as part of the Building Community Consortium programme, funded by the Department for Communities and Local Government through the Supporting Communities and Neighbourhoods in Planning fund.

Click here for more information on the Building Community programme. 

AHRC Support

This workshop is also being delivered as part of a project called “The Role of Complexity in the Creative Economy: connecting people, ideas and practice” with funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) under the Connected Communities programme.

* Data Protection Disclaimer: By submitting information to us you agree that The Glass-House and our partners in the Building Community Consortium may use the data you have provided. Wherever your personal information may be held by us, we will take reasonable and appropriate steps to ensure the information you share with us is protected from unauthorised access or disclosure. If you would like to discuss how your information is stored and used by The Glass-House and our partners in the Building Community Consortium please contact louise@theglasshouse.org.uk.