Published inCoLab Dudley·May 18Stories of Place as compost and social imagination practiceWinters are good for pauses. It gives us a chance to compost the learning we’ve harvested in autumn, and use this to nurture ideas and activity emerging in the spring. Stories of Place is a monthly and seasonal gathering of curious people to explore the stories that have been found…Regenerative8 min readRegenerative8 min read
Jan 27“So, what’s your PhD about?”Join me on a journey of confusion and self-doubt towards an explanation of my research that sparks, not kills, curiosity and conversation. In September 2022, I hung up my site boots to start a PhD. In collaboration with Birmingham School of Architecture and Design, CoLab Dudley and CIVIC SQUARE, I…Regenerative5 min readRegenerative5 min read
Published inCoLab Dudley·Sep 27, 2022Stories of Place as Regenerative Design PracticeOn Dudley High Street, we invite people to come together to reveal hidden stories and experiment with ideas for flourishing futures. …Regenerative Design14 min readRegenerative Design14 min read
Published inAPEC Architects·Sep 23, 2022Journeys with participatory architectureAs I embark on a new research adventure, I wanted to share APEC Architects’ journey in participatory architecture with key lessons for others to build on. — My 11 years with APEC have imbued me with the value of creating conditions for meaningful participation with people in their built environment. The people-focused foundations created by APEC’s founding partners have enabled wisdom from experimentation to be passed down through each APEC generation. This culture of curiosity and learning…Participation11 min readParticipation11 min read
Published inCoLab Dudley·Sep 1, 2022Virtual exhibition — What is more possible now?As described in our previous lab notes, during the Spring and Summer of 2022 the CoLab Dudley team and a constellation of Time Rebels have engaged in a shared enquiry through a range of joyful and searching collective reflection and sensemaking moments. …Dudley2 min readDudley2 min read
Published inCoLab Dudley·Feb 6, 2022Co-creation of stories of place‘The local and regional scale is not only the scale at which we can act most effectively to preserve biological diversity, it is also the scale at which we can preserve cultural diversity and indigenous, local wisdom as expressions of living in long-term connection with the uniqueness of any given…Dudley7 min readDudley7 min read
Published inAPEC Architects·Dec 17, 2021Prototyping GUIDEing Principles for architectural practiceIn our work with social labs, CoLab Dudley and Wolverhampton for Everyone, the APEC Architects team has been learning the value of having principles that guide and inspire our everyday actions and learning. …Principles6 min readPrinciples6 min read
Published inWolverhampton for Everyone·Nov 27, 2021Co-creating a people-powered city.In March 2020, in the last Wolverhampton for Everyone (WE) pre-Covid face-to-face partnership gathering, we identified systems rooted in individualism and short-termism that lead to disconnected service provision (doing for), rather than an abundant system of collective, long-term, collaborative co-creation (doing with). We were, at the time, in the process…Wolverhampton6 min readWolverhampton6 min read
Published inWolverhampton for Everyone·Nov 17, 2021Learning from We Make Our CityAs our first in-person event since Covid-19, our hopes for We Make Our City were to: Help to create a feeling of kindness and connection in the city Create a space for people to come together after so much isolation, and to do so safely and in a way that…Wolverhampton11 min readWolverhampton11 min read
Published inCoLab Dudley·Oct 5, 2021Prototyping Street DetectorismFollowing on from our Lab Note Introducing Street Detectorism, we revisit our intentions for street detectorism (highlighted throughout this lab note with 💭), and share how it has since evolved. …Dudley15 min readDudley15 min read
