Presentation given by Nick Wates at the NGBK gallery in Berlin on 3 August 2010 with the title 'Strategies for the street: The work of art after the age of Mechanical reproduction'. Compares London's Tolmers Square squatting community in the 1970s with a recent community planning programme in Castleford, Yorkshire.

1. Strategies for the street
The work of art after the age of
Mechanical reproduction
Nick Wates
Housing activist /community planning consultant
NGBK, Berlin, 3 August 2010

2. 1974

3. Bexhill Lap arrow
2009

4. Tea and cakes
1974
1974

5. 1974

6. 2009

7. For me, this was the birthplace of community
1974 architecture and community planning.

8. 2003

9. The Castleford Project
2003
9

10. Regeneration centre
2003
10

11. Regeneration centre
 Focus for regeneration
effort
 Hub for meetings,
workshops, art and
heritage exhibitions
11

12. Open house interactive exhibition
12

13. Designers Day
 Designers presented
 Community asked questions
and later voted to select
designers for each project
13

14. Visioning the big picture event
 5 towns including
Pontefract and Castleford
 Held in marquee – 5 days
 Set overall agenda
14

15. Visioning project 1: The Green
 Tired 19th century park
 Vandalised and underused
 Workshop with post it boards
with school children
15

18. Visioning project 2: Riverside
 Underused river and
canal through town
 pub workshop
 walkabout
18

22. Visioning project 3: Cutsyke
 Peripheral
residential area
 Playpark
 Workshop in local
community centre
22

25. Visioning project 4: Town centre
 Retail hub
 Market
 Pedestrian underpass
 Street survey
 Street stall
25

29. Visioning project 5: Fryston
 Isolated residential
community
 Potential for new housing
 Planning for Real
29

32. Visioning project 6: Wilson St
 Central area Victorian terraces
 Mapping
 Workshop in working men’s club
32

34. Lol Coxhill in a skip
Concept Simon Thackray. Produced by The Shed. Photo: Tony Bartholomew

35. Reconnaissance for designers
2003

36. 1970s

37. 1970s

38. 1970s

39. 1970s

40. 1970s

41. 1970s

42. 1970s

43. 1970s

44. 1970s

45. 1970s

46. Definition
Community Planning =
‘Planning carried out with
the active participation of
the end users.’
(Community Planning Website)
46

47. Definition
Community Planning =
‘Planning carried out with
the active participation of
the end users.’
(Community Planning Handbook, 2000)
47

48. Global resource
Launched 2001 48

49. Thoughts
• Housing activism to community
planning
• Not revolutionary but interesting
historical evolution
• The art of activism –
communicating what you believe
and immediately

50. Thanks for
organising this
Thanks for
invi,ng me here
Thanks for
listening
Nick Wates Associates
Crea@ve Media Centre, 45
Robertson Street, Has@ngs TN34
1HL
01424 205446
nick@nickwates.co.uk
www.nickwates.co.uk
www.communityplanning.net
50