“Sustainability is a problematic term: it holds multiple meanings for different people in different situations, therefore creating methodological errors in its research.” (Zapata, 2018)

What If Peckham - Community consultation case study, 2022-2024

Introduction

Sustainable Peckham was a community consultation project created in 2022. It attempted to address the seismic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on local businesses and anticipate the effect of future developments in the area. This project needed to operate delicately within an environment of mistrust, and division between siloes in the community. Circulo partnered with and engaged the knowledge and contacts of community business group Pexmas, a curator of market events and small business.

Our Goal

Our partnership, combined with established relationships with the local business community through the Plastic Free Peckham campaign, aimed to find a fresh approach to gathering voices and creating community cohesion through art-based practices.

Method

A ‘listening project’ was launched in Summer 2022 in the form of a short questionnaire, distributed through known networks and publicised in the local press with an aim of garnering views on sustainability and the climate crisis. This resulted in a very low response rate and it became clear that the term sustainability was, at best, confused as to its definition and, at worst, deemed off-putting.

In response to this, we endeavoured to make spaces to think about and capture views on whether our current story in Peckham was one of social and environmental justice and what we could offer to improve that. To better understand businesses’ priorities, asks and impediments, it was clear a deeper exploration was required – and a more social format to drive attendance and engagement.

‘What If…Peckham’ was launched in early 2023 - a focused project designed to go deeper into the business community, seek out key voices and actors and engage them in a digital storytelling (DST) project; a means of exploring how to ‘humanise’ participants in group settings, via audio-visual content. A broad base of existing and ongoing research shows the method can inspire systemic and transformative change.

Results

We co-created eight short films representing different perspectives from the local business community, which was exhibited at Peckham Festival. The process was facilitated by Simon Leroux, the founder and project manager of charity Manchester Street Poem, an award-winning arts project that tells the stories of Manchester’s marginalised communities through ambitious co-produced installations.

Along with the rich and engaged conversations, we asked festival participants to use their own dreams and suggestions to create a living board of emergent themes that addressed the question of what might make Peckham’s communities more sustainable.

In response to feedback, we opened the consultation to further businesses and residents in the area, hosting an open afternoon for people to watch the stories and contribute further responses. This allowed us to cement relationships with the Copleston Centre, an integral community centre that reaches 100s of people; providing help and support to asylum seekers, organising music and art groups, and tai chi.

Conclusions

There is a need to listen and connect ALL members of the community in a more effective way: The creation of safe spaces for young people, access to sustainable and healthy food and its preparation, community-based activities based on music and arts, all facilitate better engagement. The feeling of investment in and being listened to are in urgent demand.

Circulo counts on a network of local practitioners in catering, music and arts, and youth work, and continues to explore multiple approaches to fostering connections that result in the sharing of positive human stories; a powerful force in the face of what can be an overwhelming feeling of hopelessness. The climate crisis, and its unknown but inevitable impacts, is one of massive systemic complexity. These activities contribute to a process of helping to reduce this overload, making positive change more accessible and actionable.

For the full case study click here.

‘Places, and their stories, are in a continuous process of becoming. And so, if we are truly enmeshed within a place, a new and unique part of its ongoing natural and cultural history, we’ll go on to make our own stories and we will imagine new stories about the place which are based on our own ways of experiencing it.’ Sharon Blackie, 2018