Cockmuir Place street design project report - Sustrans

4design workshops
32 adults
6 children
Communities are at the heart of street design projects. Involving people in
decisions about their street is a powerful and effective way of developing a
successful design, reflecting the people who live there.
Sustrans worked in an integrated way with Glasgow artist Nicola Atkinson
who specialises in community engagement and collaborative design. The
design workshops were where ideas were debated, compromises reached and
decisions made about the design of the street. Throughout this process, ideas
were presented back to the community for comment and adjustment. This
open form of engagement helps to ensure that there are no surprises once the
building phase gets underway.
total attendance at all
design workshops
“
From the start (the team)
listened to everything the
people wanted
”
- Resident
At the beginning, the design
workshops concentrated on
what residents liked about their
street and what they wanted
to see improved. The residents
made a list of the problems and
maps were used to mark where
particular issues occured.
Residents voted for their
priorities from the list
of problems and these
underpinned the design
process from then on.
A huge map of Cockmuir Place
allowed residents to experiment
with a range of ideas following
themes of movement, safety,
greenery, parking and other
functions of the street.
Foam, wood, plastercine,
mini trees and other similar
objects were used to
visualise the ideas. These
were photographed and then
incorporated into the designs.
Between each design workshop,
residents were given the
opportunity to review and
comment on designs and
suggest changes.
This allowed the designs to
reach a level of refinement that
balanced the views of residents
with one another, while matching
budgetary constraints, standards
and engineering limitations.
2. COMMUNITY - DESIGN WORKSHOPS