£1.5m Public space community co-design improvements in London Borough of Newham

In 2019 Newham Council launched the Shape Newham initiative, led by architecture practice AOC. The three-year ‘place-making’ project was created to revitalise the public realm* within roughly half of the borough’s neighbourhoods.

Founding ClimateYouChange member, Celia attended a series of workshops across the borough aimed at choosing the locations and priorities for each project. She participated in discussions and decision-making with a view to encouraging the uptake of climate change mitigatory measures.

Different locations were presented to the attendees, with varying degrees of possibilities for sustainability and greening measures, amongst other potential outcomes (aesthetic improvements, civic pride, youth engagement/activities etc.). In her role representing ClimateYouChange, Celia championed for the locations within which the greatest climate change combatting opportunities exist. She urged for the climate and environmental/bio-diversity crisis to be made a priority.

Suggestions presented on behalf of ClimateYouChange included extra tree planting (ideally in-ground to improve carbon drawdown), increased public food growing offers, wildflowers and year-round pollinator-friendly plants, retainment of existing equipment/structures with repairs and refurbishment instead of replacements, re-use of existing materials in any new fabrications and improved cycling infrastructure.

After the initial public consultation events, Celia was invited to attend a series of Shape Newham Design Committee Sessions as a member working on public realm improvements within the Green Street area, close to the Upton Park tube station.

AOC architect, Francesca Merton led the process, alongside her architect colleagues. She brought forward various proposals from the previous workshops. Whilst potential locations had already been reduced, the options still required slimming down to end up with the final four.

Over subsequent committee sessions, members worked with Francesca and her colleagues to decide on physical improvement and infrastructural outcomes, followed by collaboration with local creators on the design principals and material fabrications. The sessions culminated in a presentation of public realm redesign/improvements with final weigh in from committee members.

Through collaborative idea sharing, ClimateYouChange were able to ensure a small reduction in car parking spaces (three vehicle spaces taken out of circulation). The finished designs convert the decommissioned parking spaces to two small pedestrian areas, each with a tree in a tree pit surrounded by wildflowers.

Together with a couple of other committee members we were also successful in getting cycle stands included within the final design.

We underlined the need for the architects and designers to make use of existing structures wherever possible, to reduce the use of virgin materials. As part of this, we saw existing streetlights refurbished with minimal new material added.

* This refers to all publicly accessible spaces in urban areas, including both outdoor spaces; streets, footpaths, squares, parks, waterways etc., and indoor areas, such as station platforms and shopping centres.