Summary Overview of the Engagement Tool/Innovation:
These gardens are generally located in public spaces, without an official prior authorization for their installation. They are the fruit of community mobilization, so people living in the neighbourhood come together to produce in the gardens through social media or territorially based outreach.
This mobilisation helps shape new and strong relations among urban gardening communities. Therefore, the process of raising awareness, empowerment and building social and political capital are present in their actions, transforming the space and evolving towards common achievement of more support to develop their activities.
Role in decision-making:
These are community led projects which would be independent from UGN, however, the charity could provide help along the way, via sharing expertise or providing resources and volunteers.
Consulting: UGN would consult with local communities, helping them in their projects
Empowering: these are public led and orientated projects set up from outside of local governments and organisations
Hard to reach groups: groups who tend to participate seem to be from low-income communities
Suitable for:
This tool would be suitable for small scale projects, which can be easily managed by local communities and groups. It would also be good for community engagement and relationship building, as UGN would not be the leading force in the project, instead they would be working under the community leading the project.
HOW TO DO IT:
UGN would find local community projects and get in touch with those running them. From here they will cooperate with those in charge, finding out what kind of support they would require from the charity. Once this is confirmed, UGN would be able to help with the planning, designing and implementation of the project (dependent on what the group requires)
Once this support is finalised, UGN would work with the group as if they were any other volunteer group working on the project, sending staff or volunteers to help.
Format:
In person – UGN would go to local community meetings as well as work on the projects alongside the groups responsible for its creation.
Groups who would benefit:
This project would greatly help hard to reach groups, as UGN could prioritise working on their projects and ensuring that they build better relationships with them. Aside from this, the tool would benefit most groups in Newcastle as it would give them more autonomy to create what they want in their local green spaces.
Would only be need if UGN decided to help in this way, therefore resources could differ from project to project
Time would not be an issue as this project would be carried out separate from UGN
UGN could send staff to volunteer to provide either manual labour or expertise for planning and implementing
ADVANTAGES
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Low cost
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Community engagement
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Relationship building
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Encourages the building of more green spaces
CHALLENGES
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Local groups may not want UGN to participate
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UGN may not have the resources or staff available to commit to the projects
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Would have to consider the long-term maintenance of the site – who would be responsible?
