This meeting threw up some more interesting people, Nick Bird from ISIS and Pam who is an ethno-botanist.  Pam used to work at the Winterbourne Botanic Gardens, and is working with none other than Jon Sadler on his OPen Air Laboratories (OPAL) project.  Small world. We discussed RG and then ISIS' plans for Warwick Bar, all interspersed with more general comments on regen.  As there were fewer people this time I'll endeavour to group the things people said into distinct topics...

1. Families and long-term viability

ISIS are very concerned to attract families to their developments, as this ensures long term viability of projects.  The problem is that this requires all sorts of infrastructure that developers can't provide in isolation.  The need for good schools is perhaps one of the most intractable, and Pam has been doing some work with them in this vein.  She mentioned the work of Birmingham Futures, who have evidence that young pros would like to stay in the city centre when they have kids.  The need for long term viability is driven financially by the potential for pension funds to invest in developments that are seen as a safe long-term bet.  Assumedly ISIS are keenly aware of this because they are part-owned by the Igloo fund already.

2. The need for distinctive developments

The second key priority for ISIS is to create more distinctive developments.  The more generic developments aren't selling currently, a trend that is exacerbated by the credit crunch.  We actually discussed the kinds of things that would be useful for architects and designers to know about a place, and that RG might be able to deliver.  He was interested in local knowledge, like little stories about what buildings and what aspects of buildings matter, little routes that are used, special places and so forth.  Julia mentioned the development in Manchester that was branded and marketed around a rare water plant that was found on the site.

3. Use of emotional mapping

This is the stuff that Phil talks about in the last entry on the blog, where we sorted Steph out with a crude emotional sensor and let her loose in Eastside with a GPS.  The specifics have been covered, but it is worth noting how ISIS responded to the possibilities.  Nick could see the utility of being able to turn qualitative data into quantitative, and it was felt that if enough walks could be amalgamated to identify places that are generally liked or disliked then it would be a powerful tool to use to persuade planners to do things.  He mentioned the need to persuade them to spruce up Fazeley St.

4. Consultation over Warwick Bar

OK so this was where we first got an idea of what exactly it might be that we might do for these people.  They want to consult key stakeholders about Warwick Bar, both in general and in terms of the specific creative industry needs that the development might meet.  We now have a list of people who we need to do walking interviews with.  We discussed whether we would need to be more prescriptive about the interviewing process (e.g. confine them to Warwick Bar, tell them to focus on one or two topics), but it was felt that it would be more interesting and revealing if we stuck to the original format, and MADE followed up our work with more focused sedentary interviews.

5. Health and waterways

ISIS seemed quite interested in the idea of doing some research on how people use waterways recreationally, both on the water, and by the water on towpaths.  This started as a concern with the ways in whcih Warwick Bar is used, and developed into a discussion about the possibility of a more general nationwide research project.  in terms of Warwick Bar, Nick mentioned that Birmingham is Britain's 'canal city'.  Recreation and waterways also keys into a load of government research priorities - sustainable transport and climate change, fitness and obesity.  ISIS have projects in Manchester that they would be keen to get us involved with too.

There are a number of angles that could be taken on this research, ranging from description of usage to identifying motivations for use, to design issues that may be used to encourage use.  Then there are the different user categories, ranging from cyclists and joggers to fishermen and canal boaters.  Myself and Phil had a very brief chat afterwards about the possible ways to package the research.  A CASE studentship springs to mind, but I felt a more heavyweight project may be possible.  Either way, ISIS would be a great partner given the topic.  Note to self - email nick sketching some possibilities...

6.What to do for the Lab if we get no funding!

In general, do less for a shorter period of time! I need to talk to Dan about the portraits.  Julia rightly commented that these are potentailly very important, as they are like 'a personal invite' to participate further. She also mooted the idea of forming an artists group to liaise with the architects after the lab.  It was also suggested that Pam could provide photos of 'urban nature' from around Eastside to project at the lab, and she suggested that we could get groups of kids value mapping around Eastside.

As an aside, the book seemed to go down quite well, which has got to be a good sign too...

Busy on the technology front this week.

When we had the lunchtime meeting with MADE that James has blogged about, I mentioned a project that the World Bank have been funding in the Congo.  Essentially locals are given ruggedised handheld computers with a very simple interface whereby they can record the location of certain areas which they value in different ways.  The data gathered can then be used to inform activities in the area by outsiders (particularly logging).

I mentioned this to Julia because it occured to me that we could do something similar for the Eastside Laboratory, setting up some PDAs so that participants can go out and do some simple mapping without having to be taught how to use GIS software.

Steph from MADE had already put me onto Mediascapes and I've been playing with it a little bit.  It has the advantage of not taking up a lot of memory and being free to download and install - it even works with mobile phones if you've got a particularly flash one.  So, having spent the weekend finishing off my marking, I settled down earlier this week to play with the software.

Basically you can write your own 'mediascapes' which people then download and 'play' on their own devices.  You need a little bit of knowledge of scripting using Java which, frankly, I don't have, but figured out enough to get something basic working.  Essentially I had a little map on the screen of the Eastside area and a little man walks around the map as you walk around following you using GPS.  I programmed the mediascape to record all the GPS locations and also record every time you press the up or down button on your handheld computer.  Up and down could be used to stand for anything that you want people to record (happy/sad, safe/scared, interested/bored), but I decided to try out 'like/dislike'.

So on Thursday James & I went down to Eastside because we were hooking up with Steph who is project managing us at MADE.  We dragged Steph out of the office - since she put me onto the Mediascapes software in the first place - and made her our guineapig logging the areas she likes and dislikes in Eastside.  This map is the result of her walk around the area.



It's quite an interesting exercise, though if you only have one person doing it, it becomes a bit arbitrary.  What is it that has made one area particularly likeable and another not.  I took the log file from the Mediascape and put it into my GIS over lunch and got Steph to discuss why she'd logged in certain ways in certain areas.  Which is fair enough, but as James pointed out, it would be kinda interesting to get, say, a hundred people to do this and then you could start to identify broader patterns of likes and dislikes (or whatever else you asked people to record).

Certainly Steph reported that it was a very easy exercise to undertake.  In fact she was doing it as we were walking along talking about the project and also stopping every now and again taking decibel readings to add to our background noise map.  It would certainly be an interesting thing to do with groups wandering around.

We subsequently had another meeting with Ken Mossman and also Nick Bird from ISIS on Friday morning and showed them this exercise.  As Ken pointed out, there are issues about precisely what people are looking at when they log a particular feeling, but there are ways around this.  One could use a helmet mounted camera to record video footage of where a participant was looking, or even use a device with an inbuilt camera to ask people to take pictures of things they like/don't like.  Still, it's an interesting principle to have established and it will be quite nice to do something more with this.

**warning: long post coming up**

Those nice people at MADE set up a lunchtime meeting for us to showcase Rescue Geography to practitioners across the region. Just for the record, and because I will undoubtedly lose the piece of paper with people's names on, the people there were:

David Tittle	MADE
Ian Shepherd	D5 Architects
James Evans	Manchester University
Julia Ellis	MADE
Ken Harrison	Wyre Forest District Council
Ken Mossman	ISIS
Mark Kennedy	Turner & Townsend
Pamela Smith	Botanical Connections
Phil Jones	Birmingham University
Richard Trengrouse	Digbeth Business Association
Stephanie Basher	MADE
Vey Straker	Herefordshire Rural Media

We started off meeting people (or in the parlance of modern times, 'networking'), which was interesting as I started chatting to Ken Mossman who is project managing ISIS' involvement with the Warwick bar site.  As usual when you talk to people at the sharp end you get a different perspective on things, and he was very open and honest about their plans for the area.  Much thought had been put into how to move existing industry out of the area to free it up for development, and they appeared to have decided the overall types of uses that they want in the area.  The specifics seemed very much up for grabs at this stage, with plans for actual buildings and streetscapes out to tender with architects at the moment.

As well as reminding me what a complicated and multi-staged process development is, this also indicated that there are still many things in the redevelopment that are 'up for grabs' as it were.

Julia then gave a brief intro about MADE and their involvement in / hopes for the project, followed by me and phil doing our usual double act, accompanied by the obligatory powerpoint.  Lots of pictures, clear messages about what the project is, and a plea for help in determining what kinds of analysis we should do and how we should present it in order for it to be of any use to the development process.

The talk went down fairly well and I'll try and summarise most of the feedback here, in no particular order than that in which people spoke (I have collated all their comments into one paragraph)...

Joe: liked the way we focused on the experiential element of space, and stated the need to incorporate perceived meanings into the planning system, although he echoed our question about how to make it actually feed into the process...  'regeneration should reinforce rather than obliterate meaning'...nice...  He also noted that Michael Parkinson's report on Digbeth which included a range of people's views and memories didn't appear to be being used by Urban Initiatives in their Big Plan for Birmingham.  Could RG be brought into dialogue with the Big Plan or other methodologies?

Julia: can the technology make this a generally applicable methodology?  She also felt that the visual outputs might make more of an impact and last longer than a 'normal' public consultation, and that the lab in September could keep the work 'alive' in this sense.  Really interesting point - she thought that the walking interviews were empowering, as they allow the participant to take control (cf community mapping and local authorities).  The overall experiential focus also ties into ideas of 'cultural' sustainability' which is starting to become a priority, as even AWM begin to focus on regional identity.

Vey: the rural media company she works for have remit to empower community through different media, so even though it's rural there is a clear relevance...  She liked RG as a way to get buy-in from a community, but felt that it needed to look at the future as well as the past (which is a good point), and explore why people like certain spaces.  She told us a little about the Hereford regeneration of the Edgar St. grid, which is a massive area, and expressed some interest in pursuing RG as a possible part of their involvement in the scheme. She also felt that the next stage really needed to consider what exactly about the work is most important in terms of using it for real world applications.

Ken M: noted the problem of timing in terms of when it would feed into a development process - danger of being either too early or too late.  In terms of the bigger picture, he noted the link between identity and productivity within the quality of life agenda, and suggested that any way to evidence this would be attractive to local authorities putting together Local Development Frameworks and developers more generally.  His take-home message also related to how to use RG to inform design and help get planning permissions.  He also suggested a session with their architects and possibly AWM, which would be v. useful.

Ken H: liked the deeper approach, and noted that RG could be used in places that had been 'damaged' (by 60s architecture etc which seemed fairly well received despite Phil's protests), and that these places perhaps need rescuing.  Ken also told us about the current consultation occurring in Kidderminster, and we informally arranged to head over there for a walking tour to discuss possible ways in which RG might be used in this consultation process.

Ian: noted the need to capture uniqueness in order to understand what makes a place successful.  He also liked the idea of overlaying tracklogs to find where people tend to stop and use space.  RG as a way to build up a multi-layered appreciation of space that avoids flattening all meaning.  He sounded a note of caution, saying that it would be hard to measure the success of the method, which would be crucial to potential end users.

David: reflected on the actual process from a consultation point of view, and suggested that RG needed to incorporate more dialogue between different groups.  For example, he suggested lay and expert knowledges, inter-generational dialogue, male and female, car-user vs. pedestrian and so on.  This opens up a whole range of possibilities.  In terms of representivity he also suggested an online consultation stage to allow other interested parties to make their views heard.  He also made a point about the interpretation of distinctiveness being rather subjective, although it is widely recognised a central to the re-making of place.

So it was all very positive and as usual there are many leads to follow up, but I have run out of steam now as far as this blog is concerned, so will perhaps reflect a little more after our next meeting @ MADE.... which is..... tomorrow morning! 

Expect an update soon (ish).

Saturday saw the achievement of (drum-roll, please) the 10th walking interview, which was what we were aiming for (along with the seated and 'double' interviews).  In fact, it was a really pleasant day, with 2 interviews recorded within a few hours.  I had my doubts about whether the equipment would be up to recording 2 consecutive GPS traces (I worry less about the audio despite the early disaster), but all is quiet at the technical end of the corridor (i.e. Phil's office) so here's hoping.... 

Now we just need another 3 people to do 'double' interviews (along with 2 who 'owe' me a walking interview - 1 is already arranged) and 7 seated interviews.  If you, dear reader, know anyone who could help, it's not too late - and coffee is included.

Progress is also being made on the transcripts.  As an early birthday present (or something), Phil bought me a natty piece of kit that means I can play the audio files on the lap-top, controlling the 'play' function with a foot pedal.  It's the same as Jon has been using to transcribe - it means you can type and listen at the same time.  It also means that transcribing and checking can happen a lot quicker as Jon and I don't have to keep swapping the equipment between us.  Plus, I can do it at home in relative peace and quiet - particularly important in the last couple of weeks as they have been resurfacing the car park outside.  So, to those of you who have been interviewed: I hope to be in touch soon.  Keep checking your in-box (or snail-mail in a couple of cases) for the transcript, then please check it and return it (or comments) to me.

Thanks to all for your help so far.... x