Experiments in fostering doorstep connection
If like me you’ve ever rolled your eyes in a meeting when someone’s casually said “we could get the community to maintain the planting” or “the community could run play street sessions” then you’ll want to read on.
I’ve always felt, despite over a decade of working in community engagement, ‘the community’ mentioned above doesn’t exist. It’s not a thing outside of us. You and me. Citizens. We are all part of ‘community’, whatever that means and generally, in today’s world that means very different things to different people. Some people might feel part of a work community, or a school community, a faith community, a hobby community but for a long time I’ve always been drawn to understanding a physical sense of community, rooted in the space I share with others in quite a literal sense — the street I live on. People living beside me who may or may not share my values and think similarly about the world.
So, during my maternity leave I set myself the challenge of experimenting to foster connections on my doorstep. I know for many people these were developed during the covid lockdowns.. but we weren’t living here then so I wanted to have a more intentional go at building them.
My first experiment, supported by We Can Make has been a Little Free Library kit. Super easy to put together (no tools needed!) this has been a real joy to witness as the chatter has grown around the library and I watch with glee as people browse, share and donate in an organic and connected way. Accompanying social media has promoted conversations around popular books, boosted donations and generally been a very positive thing for the street and wider neighbourhood. Initial fears of vandalism have come to nothing and now the library looks like it’s always been there — part of the street furniture and neighbourhood story, (on and offline) just like that.
A long term fan of the Playing Out movement, I have also taken the opportunity to set up a Play Street on my street, as Bradford have recently created a policy to support residents to do this so I was keen to try out the process for myself. Again, it’s been lovely to witness the joy and conversations created through the utilisation of public space for people, not just private car storage. A quietly radical act, centering children and play in a car dominated space through the temporary suspension of their use to support (car) movement and instead bigging up a streets place potential. Seeing the kids lead the play, mixing with other kids and adults outside of a formal setting, negotiating, creating and playing in a space that isn’t usually for them was hugely rewarding.
So, connections made, joy instigated, neighbourhood identity fuelled and countless community seeds sown — success right! However, I am exhausted. Not just because I have a four month old, but because making connections where there aren’t (m)any is the work. Creating a vision for a new use of a street is isolating amongst a backdrop of austerity and fear of change. Seeing the potential for new ways of doing things or being together; sharing, connecting, experimenting, playing, mixing, taking a risk… is exciting for some, plain unnecessary for others and perhaps even threatening.
Each time I door-knocked to build consensus for the inaugural play street I’d feel a heavy weight in my stomach. It’s tiring to put yourself out there, to take a risk, to try and sell a vision to others who don’t necessarily see anything wrong with how things are already. It’s scary not knowing if anyone will come, if anyone from highways will deliver the signs in time, or if someone will kick off at a steward. I know I’ve been talked/moaned about behind my back, which makes me question why am I bothering?
I’m not even sure why I am. But it’s something wired deep in me that this stuff is important. More than ever. How we rub along together, with people around us who think differently to us, how we negotiate and resolve conflict, how we understand ourselves as people living within a place, a community.
So next time you might hear the phrase “we can get the community to do x, y, z...” Maybe think about who’s taking the risk, who’s putting themselves out there, how are their energy levels? How can a policy be made super easy for someone to pick up and run with it in their area? How can these people be supported and nurtured through the everyday hurdles and obstacles that will appear? Apparently we all know that ‘community’ is a part of the answer to a lot of things. Towards the creation of a culture of ‘prevention’ to save our NHS, towards a more peaceful society with empathy at its core. How if we all felt a sense of community and a role within it we could begin to tackle our mental health crisis, how if we felt able and safe enough to walk or cycle we could get on top of our physical inactivity crisis, our loneliness epidemic … the list goes on.
But despite us all knowing this we continually avoid and shun the opportunity to build (or make it easy to build) the foundations of connection that ‘community’ rest upon. So ask yourself, what are you doing in your street where you live to contribute to citizen led shifts? And if the answer is not much, then ask how can we better resource the people we want or need to do this work so that there can become a ‘community’ to speak of.
