Marmalade Festival: people, power and place

“In creating value for our places we risk gentrifying them. How do we sit with these contradictions of the politics of space?“ Juliet Can, Stour Trust

On Wednesday 2nd April the Footwork team were out and about in sunny Oxford for Marmalade, a festival which seeks to bring people together to discuss and debate systems change through the lens of people, power and place. 

Footwork's People and Place peers past and present including Tim Oshodi, Alex Lui and Amahra Spence took to the stage alongside friends and colleagues Rebecca Trevalyan, Juliet Can, Victoria Barrow Williams, Alex Towler, Dr Jess Steele, OBE and Andy Edwards.

He’s a flavour of the day's discussions...

Tim Oshodi during the 'Reimagining Housing in the UK' panel, image courtesy of Footwork.

Reimagining housing in the UK, radical soultions & reflecting from the margins

In the 10 years since Transition by Design’s event ‘House of the Commons’, the gap between homeowners and those in housing need feels wider than ever. However, community-led housing is gaining momentum, offering real alternatives to developer-led housing, even tackling difficult sites that wouldn’t otherwise be viable. At the heart of it all? Empowering local people with the confidence to embark on community-led housing projects. 

 “Community-led housing is much more than just a really nice house … it’s ordinary people wanting to improve their lives, but also meeting a group need and creating community” Tim Oshodi, Community-led regeneration consultant

Amahra Spence during the 'Community Developers Dinner', image courtesy of Footwork

Community Developers Dinner

During Amahra Spence’s generous Dinner we heard from three remarkable local people including Alex Lui who are all “in a dance with the notion of who gets to develop a place.” Through the conversation we explored the intersectionality of people who create value in place - from community organisers, asset developers, activists, cultural workers and residents. Bringing joy and playfulness to the mundane and boring - yes HR or ‘Human Flourishing,’ accounting and governance!

“Hardwork is the heartwork, heartwork is the hardwork” Amahra Spence, Hood Ventures / MAIA

From left to right, Bex Trevelyan, Juliet Can, Victoria Barrow-Williams, Jess Steele and Andy Edwards during the

Towards Spatial Justice Panel, by Makespace Oxford

Towards Spatial Justice, Building the Oxfordshire Commons

What would it look like if Oxfordshire was an ecologically safe and socially just space for all, for generations to come? A panel facilitated by Andy Edwards of Makespace Oxford, featuring insights from Hastings Commons on incremental community led regeneration, People Dem Collective on fighting for creative, cultural spaces for Black and Brown diaspora in Margate. Stour Trust on the building of a spatial justice hub and evolving from meanwhile use to 999-year leases(!) held in Trust in East London to Platform Places on building Local Property Partnerships and weaving a mycelial network of Community Asset Developers raising £00s millions for community led regeneration.

There’s a growing sense that we don’t have to accept the status quo. From Oxford to Margate to Hastings, communities are carving out space for justice, joy and belonging - on their own terms, and in collaboration with one another.