The Project
The Changing Places project is a future heritage project supported by Shape East, the architecture and built environment centre for the Eastern Region of England. The project involved three groups of young people from Peterborough and Cambridge aged between 12 and 17. The two cities are experiencing rapid population growth and all the concomitant problems of assimilating new communities alongside existing ones. The project brought together young people from these environments to share personal histories and record their attitudes to the developing neighbourhoods in which they lived. Working with a professional filmmaker, Sarah Gibson Yates, the young people recorded memories, feelings, and hopes for the future in a series of original, imaginative, and thought-provoking films.

The project was devised by Shape East in partnership with Cambridge City Council's Children and Young People Participation Service and Peterborough City Council's Youth Services Team and Neighbourhood Investment Team. It was funded through the Heritage Lottery Fund’s Young Roots scheme and CABE.

Sarah Gibson Yates developed a programme of activities enabling participants to lead project development under her guidance. They undertook a variety of activities starting with exploring and neighbourhood mapping to develop initial ideas and basic filmmaking techniques before starting to shoot and edit their films. Participants were responsible for all aspects of the filmmaking: from deciding concepts to developing narrative; from creating storyboards to filming and editing. In each film the groups guide viewers around their chosen locality, sometimes behind the camera and sometimes in front. The results illustrate the difference in experience of place between these young people and adults. For example, they are consistently shot from below adult eye level producing a sense of claustrophobia and constraint in ordinary shopping precincts that an adult might feel merely a bit run-down. Without exception the groups found green spaces as a retreat—not apparently with any nostalgic pastoral yearnings—merely as a place to achieve a bit of space and freedom.

Project Outcomes
Between the three groups five short films were produced: ‘The Overview’, ‘Changing Orton’, ‘Hunt and Hide’, ‘Developing Hampton’ and ‘Arbury Park News Desk’. A premier screening of the films was held at the John Clare Theatre in Peterborough Central Library on Thursday 11 September.

All the participants were invited and the three groups came together for the first time for a 30-minute session before the guests arrived. After initial discussion the groups worked together to devise a joint presentation to introduce the project and films to the guests.

At the premier the groups took to the stage and jointly delivered an articulate and witty introduction to the screenings. The 40-strong audience included representatives from the three Council areas featured as well as teachers, parents, and youth workers. Subsequently there has been a screening at the newly opened community centre at one location and a screening planned prior to a full Council meeting at Cambridge this December. The films are available to view online at www.youtube.com/user/ShapeEast.

Each of the participants—along with the project partners and the schools involved—were presented with a certificate of participation and a DVD of all the films. The young people involved got a chance to exchange ideas about community and place. Seventy-five percent of them said that working on Changing Places made them think differently about the place they live. Seventy-five percent of participants felt they had met new people by working on the project.

They all reported that they had learnt new skills. The aspects they found enjoyable were mainly those linked to learning how to use new and different equipment and building their filmmaking skills. They all achieved the confidence to stand at the front of the theatre at the launch event and present the project and their films. They took unscripted questions from the floor and responded with thought and insight.

Next Steps
The project was initiated as a pilot and following its success Peterborough’s Neighbourhood Investment Team is interested in using it as a model for future consultations with young people on local developments. Shape East is looking for funding to take forward the methods developed here: to continue to develop the three groups formed for the project, to develop new projects, and to continue to promote the idea and experiment with formats in which decision-makers can experience the insights of their constituents.

The Sponsor
Shape East is the architecture and built environment centre for the Eastern Region of England. It is a registered charity whose mission is to “help people make better places”. One of a UK-wide national network of centres funded by the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment, Shape delivers its mission through educational outreach work in village halls, Council Chambers, schools, and communities across the region. Education work ranges from formal seminar sessions with local authority politicians and officers to “Making Neighbourhoods” planning and model-making sessions with young people and adults from 7-year-olds upwards.

Shape’s objectives are to:
• Inspire and excite people about the built environment and help them see it through fresh eyes
• Increase understanding of the importance of good planning, urban design, architecture, and construction
• Encourage people to participate in planning and other processes that shape change in their communities
• Prepare the ground for the future by engaging children and young people in built environment issues

More information about Shape East and the project can be found at www.shape-east.org.uk/community/changing_places.html.

Hannah Guthrie or Frances Downie at Shape East on 01233 462 606 at hannah(at)shape-east.org.uk or director(at)shape-east.org.uk