Response to Review of
Design and Landscape for People:
New Approaches to Renewal
Clare Cumberlidge
Lucy Musgrave
General Public Agency
Citation: Cumberlidge, Clare and Lucy Musgrave. (2007). "Response to Review of Design and Landscape for People:
New Approaches to Renewal." Children, Youth and Environments 17 (4). Retrieved [date] from http://www.colorado.edu/journals/cye/
Thank you for your thorough and considered review of Design and Landscape. In responding to the review we have offered information to clarify our processes or intentions.
Our overall aim with the publication was two-fold: to begin to identify what we instinctively feel is a new area of practice, and to provide inspiration through showcasing projects with strategic replicable elements. We wanted the debate and inspiration to reach an audience beyond professionals and we therefore did not engage in lengthy critical review within the text. Our critical analysis and review of projects was part of our internal decision-making process around selection of case studies. Where we felt unable to verify concerns or where we felt that the explanations around contentious aspects may be too lengthy, we didn’t include projects.
Part of General Public Agency’s practice is to build an international research base and our database of projects has been growing since we set up in 2003. In order to go outside our field of knowledge, we also invited a number of researchers with different sectorial backgrounds to help us identify projects for this book. We established a long list of 150 potential case studies and then brought two of our researchers to the UK to work with us to bring the list down to 50 projects. We then worked through that list and began a lengthy process of agreeing on the editorial structure and final selection.
We are aware of the contestation around the Slum Networking project and fortunately it was one of the few case studies we were able to send a researcher to visit. Interestingly (for us) the lead practitioner on that project, Himanshu Parikh, has developed and refined the project in response to the problems and issues which emerged from the early iterations of Slum Networking. This ability to revise and respond within the development of a project is key to long-term thinking and practice, which we identify as a core shared principal within this new field.
We would have loved to have visited the projects to gather participants’ or users’ responses and ideas and agree that this would have added a rich layer to the book. Unfortunately, our publishing advance did not allow us to contemplate this! We were very lucky to be able to secure sponsorship to commission photographers to visit projects that otherwise could not have been included, and the experiences of our photographers would definitely support the idea that the stories of individuals could have been a very powerful and moving contribution.
Clare Cumberlidge is a curator, developing pioneering programs within creative practice and culturally-led regeneration. Lucy Musgrave is a leading practitioner on issues surrounding sustainable communities, social architecture, urban design and participative design. Together they are the co-founders of General Public Agency, a UK-based interdisciplinary consultancy firm specializing in public realm and cultural master-planning. The consultancy provides services that encompass the spatial, social and cultural integration of new development to create long-term vision, high quality spatial strategies and meaningful community.