This is the second log by SIA for the Wingrove project. This week we met with Nigel Todd who is a local resident and City Councillor, as well as Chair of the Greening Wingrove CIC and Secretary of the WEA Green Branch. The WEA Green Branch undertakes activities such as courses and workshops that can help community groups understand sustainability and work better as a community. With his various roles, Nigel gave us a greater insight into the project and helped us understand what aims and goals the WEA Green Branch has for the task.
This week we made a mind map that discusses all the different stakeholders involved in the project and the various links between them.
Mind map:
We began by naming the main stakeholders such as families, local residents, community organisations and WEA Green Branch, then branching off from these, connecting in other local groups. We discovered that the WEA Green Branch would have a link with the Greening Wingrove Community Interest Company and also with investors (who provide grants for events and developments). Volunteers and students from Newcastle University were also interlinked within this group as they would help provide support for many of the events done by WEA and Greening Wingrove. Another connection was found between the WEA and schools in the area, as education centres are a central hub for community connection. We felt having schools as one of the key stakeholders would help disburse information more effectively. Lastly, from schools there comes a link with families, the police, businesses and the council, therefore creating a bridge between the different interest groups within the area.
Stakeholder Groups:
Below are the three main stakeholder groups (the council, local residents and community organisations) we have found for the project:
In order for the project to be a success, each group’s wants and needs must be taken into consideration. Therefore communication with the three will be very important when working on the project.
Indicative Project Aims:
After speaking with Nigel, we found that the primary focus of the project was to develop ideas for community uses of the new buildings on Arthurs Hill Terrace. He mentioned existing ideas included a café, offices and potential for a music studio in part of the building. There was also a plan for rooms in the building to hold children’s activities and youth projects. However, the council and community organisations were open to any new/different ideas. Finding ways of enabling neighbours to get to know each other and feel comfortable about interacting is another of the key project aims. From the talk with Nigel it is clear that finding an appropriate use for the building will be a key stepping stone in creating public togetherness and community cohesion in the area.
There was also discussion of creating a digital platform for locals to interact with each other and finding a platform (such as an app, website, etc.) that would be suitable for everyone.
Next steps:
During the discussion, questions of how we could involve as many people as possible in the project arose, as it is unlikely every user or stakeholder group will agree on the outcome of the renovation idea or digital platform. Nigel himself did hold some reservations towards a larger digital platform, as different groups in the community may exploit it by uploading or sharing inappropriate or negatively opinionated content. At this stage with his hesitance, collecting user research from the local residents would be a natural progression.
Therefore, out initial next steps are to visit the Arthurs Hill Terrace building and the area of Wingrove in general. We are planning on going to the open day at the Arthurs Hill Terrace building on the 16th February where the future use of the building will be discussed. Visiting the area and building will help us collect user research on possible uses of the building and find out which digital platforms locals would be interested in for information distribution and social connections. It will also enable us to get a better insight into the project as a whole, understanding the people and area we are working with.
Thanks for your second post – some very productive and mature reflections. Good to hear how meeting Nigel has helped you to identify several links within the community, but you did a good job of establishing many of these yourself anyway. I like your take on schools as gateways to the community and it would be great to hear more about this as your project develops. Will be interested to hear how you make use of these (or if you choose not to, which is also fine!) You also have a clear site in mind which is excellent at this stage. I think if you keep a site like this as your focus throughout it will help to keep things a lot more manageable, particularly if your project partner is interested in reaching a broad section of the community (which is hard to do in any case). Finally, good use of images and diagrams. Keep up the good work!
This post is very informative and reflective – thanks very much. You made very good use of the mapping activity to provide a well detailed exploration of key local stakeholders and you have started to prioritise those local stakeholders already. In this sense, I second Sean’s comments with regard to possibly interesting stakeholders, such as schools that could play a role in your project.
In terms of the key aims you note that Nigel wants a way to influence the Arthur Hill Community space; however, if you think of that as only one of the projects that may need feedback from local residents, perhaps this gives you a different way of thinking about what other projects and activities there may be that the group & local residents find interesting? This might be something to explore further through your research program. It also seems really key to find out how that local-area-related communication currently happens? Which tools are used? Where do local residents get their info from? What other aspirations have they got to prioritise local events, activities, and voice ideas for projects, such as the community space? Onwards.