Paper short abstract:

I examine the citizen-led co-design of an urban garden in a highly diverse yet deprived periphery of Leicester. In it, local NGOs, low-income youth, and a team of young researchers and architects are collectively producing an urban garden to enhance skills, knowledge and employment opportunities.

Paper long abstract:

This intervention will examine the process of citizen-led collective design of a micro-scale public garden in Beaumont Leys, a highly deprived periphery of Leicester, United Kingdom. Beaumont Leys was a sewage farm at the turn of the twentieth century, a contested site for residential development in the 1970s, and is home to a diverse population today. Having largely arrived to the UK from Commonwealth countries (a legacy of the former British Empire), residents are economically disadvantaged, geographically far from the city centre resources, and largely stigmatised, hindering their access to employment.

Seeking to counter these challenges, a network of local non-government organisations led by NGO E2 has initiated the collective transformation of a derelict plot into a space where residents can raise honeybees, harvest rainwater, plant small crops and create an orchard. This initiative targets young residents and intends to not only provide a new green space but also to co-produce knowledge and skills, strengthening mutual connections and enhancing young residents' chances for upward social mobility.

In collaboration with these NGOs, a small group of architecture students, young researchers and I are contributing to the co-design of The Urban Garden by giving detail to their initial layout and preparing a set of information boards on the environmental history of the area. These contributions follow the lead and request made by participants, and will incorporate their feedback through a co-design workshop. The Urban Garden will open next summer, giving material form to this process of citizen-led knowledge and design co-production.