It’s now eight years on since My Castle Gateway launched in 2017. It was born out of conversations between Andy Kerr, then CYC project manager and Phil Bixby and Helen Graham where we shared a hope that public engagement could be something better than tick boxes and disappointment.
Since then My Castle Gateway has evolved into a collaboration with a wider CYC team – with a special mention to Katherine Atkinson and Sally Cawthorn who have been working alongside us interacting on social media, writing blogs on the designs and grappling with gazebos. They’ve also grappled with a more labour-intensive approach to prompting and recording conversations, involving some four and a half thousand Post-It notes and screenshotted comments.
Since the My Castle Gateway launch in 2017 there have been midnight walks with otters, frozen conversations in Tower Gardens, the occupation of a Spark York shipping container, pondering what makes the best bus stop in York as well as many walks around the Castle Gateway area in shine, snow and, more than once, very heavy rain.
As revised plans are summitted to the City of York Council’s planning committee, we reflect on the My Castle Gateway approach, the changing contexts for the area’s regeneration and take a close look at how the new plans respond to the My Castle Gateway Open Briefs.
Open Conversations, Exploring Challenges, Making Change Together
The intention of My Castle Gateway was to explore a way of engaging people in shaping the future of the area – in ways that were creative, made room for different knowledges and experiences and allowed for ideas to be tested and evolve.
While that was what we were positively seeking to achieve, we were also conscious of the past contention around this part of York, and wanted to avoid the regular traps of public consultation. Too often people are engaged too late to make any difference and asked – for example – what colour they’d like the paving slabs to be rather than what they’d like to use the area to do or what the area means to them. All this does is to solidify opposition and anger, and fuel cynicism around local democracy.
By beginning before decisions had been made – setting out with a blank sheet of paper and questions carefully shaped via collaboration with Coaching York – we could enable dialogue and mutual learning, and position change as a collaborative and shared endeavour.
With the support of the council, we created public engagement which was a process of living democracy; where everyone participated in shaping a long-term discussion, rather than simply ticking a box.
The My Castle Gateway approach evolved to have three interconnected phases. The first was to use open conversations.
The second was to draw out the complex and contentious issues so they could be properly explored – recognising this as an important part of developing public understanding of complex local issues, rather than an inconvenience for clever designers to resolve later in the process. ‘Open conversations’ and ‘exploring challenges’ then informed Open Briefs to which the design team responded.
The third and final step – which we are finally upon and will return to in the conclusion to this blog – is ‘making change together’. This recognises that places thrive on people living there, working there, organising events there or simply coming along to spend time – whatever is built is just a container or stage for this life brought by local people.
Open Conversations
The most remarkable thing about My Castle Gateway has been what happens when we come together to talk about where we live. We used open questions, we imagined the place differently, we experienced – usually by walking and looking – and then discussed. A lot of our events have been small scale. Usually twenty or so people at a time. This offers the chance for a lot of thinking out loud, of experiencing a place together, of seeing familiar buildings or spaces afresh. Sometimes being exposed to other people’s views and hearing counter arguments.
Everything was noted; every note photographed, added to Flickr, tagged to make it searchable and help us see the patterns of developing discussion, and then used in blogs.
Our use of “My” in My Castle Gateway (rather than “Our”) was carefully considered, but sometimes misunderstood. Our aim was to encourage the personal – what does this place mean to you, what do you want to do here? We wanted to avoid “most people…” or “nobody wants…” – views on behalf of or speaking for others. Engagement processes that claim an ‘our’ or a ‘we’ too easily are definitely brushing a lot of difference under the carpet.
Diverse opinions can be inconvenient, but they reflect the reality of varied life experience – which would sometimes take centre stage on a walk – suddenly it’s clear some people love cars and car parking! Recognising “my” view is no more “right” than anyone’s opens the door to understanding and meaningful dialogue.
Explore Challenges
These resulting open conversations made it clear where the contentions and challenges were, and once identified it meant we could look in greater depth at trees, flooding, shared space, ownership and values.
In the ‘explore challenges’ events we kept a spirit of inquiry, always asking what else we might need to know and how could we experiment with ideas to get a sense of what might work. This, again, was all about creating space for ideas to evolve and minimise the chance for conflict to become unnecessarily dug in. Together with the open conversations, these more in-depth and focused events then fed into the Open Brief.
A lot has changed since 2017
The contexts of My Castle Gateway have significantly shifted since 2017. National governments have come and gone – and with those changes, changed also were the potential regeneration funding streams. City of York Council has changed political hands – bringing different priorities. York Museums Trust decided not to pursue a more complex scheme for the Castle Museum. We’ve had the pandemic. There has been the need to incorporate hostile vehicle measures and to respond to the impact of this on Blue Badge Parking provision. Piccadilly has not stood still as new hotels and housing has been developed.
This has meant that over the years a series of designs have been developed in response to the Open Briefs developed for the Castle and Eye of York area: My Castle Gateway Open Brief (2018) and the New Public Spaces Open Brief (2020).
What has stayed consistent in the Open Briefs and can be seen in the most recent plans are:
- Spending time without spending money
- Understanding the layers of history
- Remembering the people who died in the area
- Spaces for playing
- Getting close to the Foss
- Moving through the area easily on foot
- Places for people to gather when visiting Clifford’s Tower or the Castle Museum
- Green, biodiverse area with mature trees
There has been a consistent focus on movement through the area, navigating and making more legible the histories of the area, and the wish to make it a place which – in stark contrast to the current car park – works as a place for all ages to enjoy. But not everything in that initial vision has endured.
What was hoped for in the Open Briefs and won’t be delivered by the most recent plans:
- No fountains – in the end we just couldn’t afford them, but play is still central and focuses on inclusive play features, such as sensory play, quiet spaces for storytelling and accessible opportunities for people in wheelchairs.
- Events – in the end it was decided that other parts of the city centre would be better suited to large and community events. For example, the large new public square on the York Central site. Whilst the soft landscaping in the revised designs will not sustain large scale events (due to seasonality/ maintenance), there is still an opportunity for smaller scale and trail type events that link this space in with the wider city centre programme of activities. The design also includes electric points that could support small scale pop-up and community uses.
- Cafes – there won’t be any new cafes or places to eat or drink. This means there won’t be any routine evening activity to animate the area.
- There won’t be any new toilets. The public toilets at the rear of the nearby Coppergate centre will remain in place and options to create an accessible toilet are being explored.
- Skateable architecture is not being designed in. There remains a dedicated concrete plaza skatepark in Rowntree Park.
- All weathers – shelter in wet weather is not specifically provided for in the scheme due to the budget available.
The design proposals have responded to the changed circumstances – and especially the reduced budget – by focusing on a reduced scope and ensuring it works well.
New plans submitted – Making Change Together?
The new plans have now been submitted. If they are approved then we are hoping to open up a new phase in the My Castle Gateway project to undertake the third step in our method – ‘making change together’. We would like to ask: How can those who live, work and want to spend time in the area come together to bring new life to the Castle and Eye of York?