The Process

key to colour coding

Context

• The emergence of the concept of 'Anti-Social Behaviour' and the introduction of the UK's Crime and Disorder Act of 1998 galvanised the resolve of practitioners to deal with issues affecting their communities.


• A number of strategies were developed, particularly amongst young people. These included more use of 'youth shelters'. This led to a significant increase in the UK's manufactured youth shelter products: metal, bus-shelter-like forms, being the teenager's equivalent of playground equipment for children. On the basis that young people need at least the option of somewhere of their own to hang out in, the off-the-shelf youth shelter continues to provide a ready-made facility to address a functional need


• Government Office of The West Midlands (GOWM) Crime Reduction and Social Inclusion Unit began, in 2003, to discuss the possibility of extending the definition of what a youth shelter is and what it could become. This resulted in a dialogue with the West Midlands architecture centre MADE and a national Think-tank which convened experts from the fields of youth and community, crime prevention and urban design to interrogate the validity of the ‘youth shelter’ as a form of intervention. In conclusion, the Think-tank supported the youth shelter model with a condition that social and spatial context should always be critical components.


• GOWM then asked MADE to devise a project model and methodology to engage young people in the design and construction of youth spaces. GOWM wanted to start to measure the impact of this approach on anti-social behaviour and to assess any correlation between crime reduction and engagement. Illustrating the new breadth and complexity of the agenda, it was decided to replace the term ‘youth shelter’ with that of ‘youth space’.

Outcomes -

• Six pilot projects resulting in six very different new youth shelters, of high design quality.


• Creative involvement of many young people: A core group of 100 and a wider group of 500 -1000.


• Collaboration of many professionals and organizations: Total number of artists and Architect practices: 14. Total number of partners: 45.


• Anecdotal and statistical evidence of reduced crime and antisocial behaviour.

Dramatic and positive change in the young people taking part.

Outcomes - Shortcomings

• Unrealistic foresight into the design process and construction costs of the shelters resulting in 2 shelters being delayed and requiring further fundraising.

Parties involved

Core project

Midlands Architecture and the Designed Environment (MADE)
Overall direction and project management
www.made.org.uk

Government Office of The West Midlands (GOWM)
Main sponsor
www.go-wm.gov.uk

Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE)
MADE sponsor and specific funder of Youth Space inc. Publication and film
www.cabe.org.uk

Advisory Centre for Education (ACE)
MADE sponsor and specific funder of Youth Space inc. Publication and film www.ace-ed.org.uk

West Mercia Constabulary
Sponsor of Publication and film
www.westmercia.police.uk

Speller Metcalfe Ltd (Contractors), Malvern
Sponsor of Publication and film

Pilot project 1: Coleshill, Warwickshire

Government Office West Midlands (GOWM)
Sponsor
www.go-wm.gov.uk

Warwickshire County Council Arts Project
Sponsor

Warwickshire County Council Youth Project
Sponsor

Sabine Gollner in collaboration with Mueller Kneer Associates
Design Team - Architect

Alisha Miller
Design Team - Artist

Coleshill Young People
Design team

Coleshill School
Design team

Community Beat Officer, Coleshill Town Police
Design team

Local councillor
Design team

Form Fabrications, Birmingham
Fabricator

Pilot project 2: Hunderton, Hereford

Government Office West Midlands (GOWM)
Sponsor
www.go-wm.gov.uk

Single Regeneration Budget, South Wye
Sponsor

Landmark Consultants
Design Team - Architect

Dr Sally Payen in collaboration with Silva Productions, Hereford
Design Team - Artist

Hereford Young People
Design Team

Principal Leisure and Countryside Recreation Officer, Herefordshire Council
Design team

Herefordshire Council Youth Services
Design team

Publics Art Route CIC
Project Manager

Jenny Pickford, Hereford
Fabricator - Blacksmith

Pilot project 3: Romsley, Bromsgrove

Sabine Gollner in collaboration with Mueller Kneer Associates
Design Team - Architect

It’s About Time Productions
Design Team - Artist

Romsley Young People
Design Team

Romsley Parish Council
Design Team

Community Safety Partnerships Officer, Bromsgrove District Council
Design Team

Senior Youth Worker, Worcestershire County Council
Design team

Parks Officer, Bromsgrove District Council Design team

Pilot Project 4: Stechford, Birmingham

Government Office West Midlands (GOWM))
Sponsor
www.go-wm.gov.uk

Yardley Old Park Trust
Sponsor

Birmingham Youth Offending Service
Sponsor

SITA Trust
Sponsor

Neighbourhood Renewal Fund
Sponsor

Birmingham City Council
Sponsor

Stechford Police funded the Youth Intervention Supervisor
Sponsor

Patricia Gomez
Design Team - Architect

Carolyn Morton
Design Team - Artist

Stechford Young People
Design Team

Youth Intervention Supervisor, Stechford Police
Design team

Birmingham City Council- Landscape Dept
Design team

Form Fabrications, Birmingham
Fabricator - Blacksmith

Pilot Project 5: Warndon, Worcester

Government Office West Midlands (GOWM)
Sponsor
www.go-wm.gov.uk

South Worcestershire Community Safety Partnership
Sponsor

Garfield Weston Foundation
Sponsor

William A. Cadbury Charitable Trust
Sponsor

Worcester Community Housing
Sponsor

The Eveson Trust
Sponsor

The Elmley Foundation
Sponsor

Glazzard Architects, Worcester
Design Team - Architect

Dr Sally Payen, Hereford
Design Team - Artist

Warndon Young People
Design Team

Community Safety Manager, Worcester City Council
Design team

Youth Worker, Worcester City Council
Design team

Community Beat Officer, West Mercia Constabulary
Design team

Speller Metcalfe Ltd, Malvern
Main Contractor

FCR Fabrications, Gloucester
Fabricator - Blacksmith

Pilot Project 6: Penn Island, Wolverhampton

Government Office West Midlands (GOWM)
Sponsor
www.go-wm.gov.uk

All Saints and Blakenhall Community Development Partnership, Wolverhampton
Sponsor

Ibstock Atlas, Aldridge, West Midlands
Sponsor

Wolverhampton City Council
Sponsor

All Saints and Blakenhall Community Development Partnership, Wolverhampton
Sponsor

Wolverhampton School of Art
Sponsor

Sjolander da Cruz Architects, Birmingham
Design Team - Architect

Gwen Heeney
Design Team - Artist

Wolverhampton Young People
Design Team

Wolverhampton City Council Youth Service City Centre Team
Design team

Wolverhampton Art Gallery
Project Manager

Funding and resources

• Total funding from Government Office for The West Midlands: £137,000


• Total funding from other partners (to March 2006): £140,000

Special features

 

Documents available.

Quotes

"You feel like you can do a lot more than you ever thought you could, more self esteem. young people would feel offended if a shelter was just placed there, there would be no respect. Everybody has a right to feel comfortable in their place that they use everyday"

Young person, Coleshill Design Team

"Outside recreation facilities, or as they would put it "somewhere to chill out", are a very common need raised by the young people I work with. When I'm proposing projects like this to adults I usually get them to imagine what they would do with their free time if they had little or no disposable income, could not go to the pub, or be welcomed in a café. If they did not have their own cars, homes or gardens to relax in, where would they go? Young people are just adults without the same benefits of adulthood."

Sarah Melia, South Hereford Patch Youth Worker, Herefordshire Council

"The young people gained an understanding of the design process; an understanding of possible restraints and reasoning to why they can't always get exactly want they want. The young people felt they were able to look at things from a different angle and become more tolerant of others."

Eve Schofield, Youth Intervention Supervisor

"Students working with non teachers, that is professionals, learn a different approach, a different way of communicating and working with adults and in this particular project they have had an additional outcome - a tangible outcome."

Kate Kearney, Head teacher, Coleshill School

"Using photography as a workshop medium, resulted in a high-energy exercise which was really successful in terms of bringing the team together. These designs, inspired by the shapes and outlines of the young people, were wrapped around the shelter to encourage ownership and make the space more specific to the age group."

Dr Sally Payen, Artist

"The phrase 'youth shelter' conjures up an image of glorified play equipment, something patronising and inappropriate.but it's the process of raising their visual aspirations that's as important as any shelter that is a result of it."

Marco da Cruz, Architect

Reviews

"The new designs published by the MADE project are all very distinct and interesting. Some features are found in common, whilst others are unique to the site and the particular group of children and young people involved in their design. A bold use of colour and an astonishing variety of sculptural forms are evident. It is clear that the basic structure of the youth shelter owes much to that traditional hanging-out place of children in both rural and urban centres - the bus shelter. Protection from the rain, a bench seat, but within view of the passing world and very much part of the public domain: this is the basic architectural programme of youth shelters currently conceived."

Extract from Youth Space: Part Three, Articles, Page 22; an essay by Ken Worpole, writer on urban policy, architecture and landscape.

Contacts

MADE
122 Fazeley Street,
Birmingham
B5 5RS, UK

Tel: +44 (0)121 633 9333
email: info@made.org.uk
www.made.org.uk

Contact:
Vanessa Brothwell
vanessa@made.org.uk

Sally Robertshaw
sally@made.org.uk