Good design of a building or a public space should be concerned as much with what it allows to happen as with what it looks like. The Places from Spaces project demonstrated how an understanding of good design can turn thinking about a space into development of a place.

More details of how the project was run and structured, with downloadable project resources is at placesfromspaces.org.uk

Attractive, safe and accessible public spaces are a vital element of any city, contributing not only to quality of life but also to such things as community cohesion, economic vitality and the identity of a city.  A carefully targeted programme brought together officers and members of the local authorities in Brighton, Portsmouth and Southampton with the universities in each city to explore the future development of public space in the cities.  The culmination of the project was the unveiling of architectural students’ ideas for a temporary design experiment in the three cities. The Hard in Portsmouth, Valley Gardens in Brighton and Queens Park in Southampton all have proud histories but all now are underused and each local authority wants to look at ideas for revitalising them in the future.  Each project went live for a week when the ideas were tested with the local community to gain research feedback to the Councils to help them with long term planning, showing how creativity and design can add value. 
Valley Gardens in Brighton was transformed by over 700 trees in large pots which were placed to create a temporary woodland and new environment to entice the public to visit or revisit the area. Visitors were able to complete questionnaires that asked them to think about the way the space is used now and possibilities for its future.  Following the project, the trees will be permanently planted in East Park in Brighton on the Autumn.

In Southampton, an altered soundscape was installed in Queen's Park, reproducing background sounds such as children playing, a water feature, bird song and a busker.  People were able move chairs around the park and were then interviewed about their impressions of the park and how this was affected by the sounds from the hidden loudspeakers.  The results will help to decide what facilities could be put in the park to make it more attractive to people to use in the future.

 Portsmouth students located a series of beach huts, large colourful figuresand colured lines on pavements to mark out a number routes from The Hard to the city centre, the historic dockyard and the waterfront. The week-long experiment supported Portsmouth City Council's current masterplanning for regeneration of The Hard.  The project encouraged local people who visited the site to give their views on the design experiment and the future of the site, with the aim of capturing a broad range of opinion.
  

"The students involved have all found the experience to be extremely valuable for their professional development," explains project manager Phil Smith. "Many work with local authorities, where they will have to understand the logistics of development and how it fits in with the political and strategic context. They get the benefit of a real-life project while knowledge is shared between the local authorities and universities. It also offers an opportunity for the councils to take creative risks in how they approach these ideas."

Places from Spaces Press Releases