Ideas for a community led approach to enable areas such as Devonshire Quarter, Wellington Street and the Wicker to reach their full potential have been unveiled by Urban Design students.
University of Sheffield, School of Architecture students have been working on projects in five sites of Sheffield City Centre to propose strategies for a different kind of development. Each site has areas or buildings which are underused and the students have focussed on the idea of Community Land Trusts - local organisations set up and run by ordinary people to develop and manage homes, enterprises and work spaces. Working with the Sheffield Community Land Trust, students have examined how this emerging way of developing land can be applied in Sheffield.
As a post-industrial city Sheffield has been confronted with the challenge of sustainable reuse of redundant industrial buildings and land. Over recent years regeneration of the City Centre has hit a number of stumbling blocks with large projects such as the New Retail Quarter being cancelled or stalled. Hundreds of retail units, office spaces and industrial sites are left unused and vacant.
Sheffield City Council has, through the years, adopted a number of strategies to support local economic development, but to this day many sites still go unused. Already, a number of grassroots projects have started in Sheffield because of availability of space and start-up support for both creative and social enterprise projects. Vacant spaces have been turned into workspace and arts studios alike. Bottom up initiatives are also emerging in response to the stalling of the Retail Quarter project and are proposing community led development of a retail strategy.
“We think that community led regeneration is a viable alternative to the prevailing retail led models and has a lot of potential in Sheffield, where a large number of bottom up initiatives are emerging. We are working with Sheffield Community Land Trust because we believe in the potential of this model to deliver affordable housing in a fair, sustainable and equitable way.”
University of Sheffield, School of Architecture
The students will publicly present their proposals on Tuesday 17 May at various sites around the city including an exhibition at Sheffield Train station. They are inviting members of the public to view their work and share their ideas and opinions.
Please find the map with all locations and times here.
Please find the map with all locations and times here.
More diversity, less isolation
What is the place of diversity in Sheffield City Centre?
S3 7UQ (near Stokes tiles), 12pm-2pm
In the Devonshire Quarter students have explored how a diverse range of people and groups can come together to form a community. This community-led approach will focus on mixed-income housing and historic heritage regeneration in the short term, and achieving diversity of functions, stakeholders and activities in the long term.
Wellington Street: Dynamic, Energetic, Collective
What about Wellington Street?
Devonshire Green (near the skate park), 2pm-5pm
This interactive and informative event will our proposal for community led development in the heart of the city, and we’d love to hear, see and discuss your ideas!. The project is exploring the ways a Community Land Trust could enable Wellington Street to fulfil its potential as a vibrant street with its own unique identity, within a city centre Sheffield is proud of.
“Live & work”
Would you like to live and work in the heart of the city centre?
At the intersection of Fargate and High Street, 11am-5pm
This project focuses on a considerable number of vacant spaces on the upper floor of Fargate, which is at the heart of Sheffield. Based on a series of community-led strategies, students propose a ‘Live & Work’ pattern to re-appropriate the vacant spaces in Fargate Court. The proposals aim to provide flexible spaces for graduates to live and work in Sheffield City Centre.
Community led Housing in Wicker
What if the Wicker was developed by the community into a cohesive neighborhood and a new gateway to the City Centre?
River Don Footbridge, Wicker, Nursery St, 10am-1pm
Corner of Wicker and Willey Street, S3 8JB, 2pm-5pm
Corner of Wicker and Willey Street, S3 8JB, 2pm-5pm
The Wicker has been missing good affordable housing for decades. Students are proposing a ten-year community led housing strategy in the Wicker Riverside area.
5 steps towards women-led urban development
What if the neighbourhood’s living places were built and improved by a women-led community land trust?
Tour: Wicker Arches, 11:30am to 12:00pm (tbc)
Exhibition: Tesco (near Spital Hill), 3pm-5pm
Exhibition: Tesco (near Spital Hill), 3pm-5pm
This project proposes strategies to establish a community land trust, which builds houses and public spaces in the borders of Burngreave, Wicker and Darnall, on both sides of the railway. It considers the community's women as the starting point of the organisation, reinterpreting their roles in the public spaces.
