Prosocial Place and PLACED delivered a workshop on Saturday 14th December 2019 with a group of young people from the PLACED Academy to explore what approach they would take to improve Lark Lane.
Through the session, we wanted to explore if there were differences in how the males and females in the group approached the project. This feeds into a wider study which Prosocial and PLACED are developing, exploring gender differences in approaches to design in the built environment.
The session included a guided walk through the area, reflecting on their feelings about Lark Lane individually and through discussion and working in groups to develop their ideas through drawing and modelling.
The groups took a variety of approaches to respond to Lark Lane, including green routes, pedestrianised roads, community centres and better car parking.
Our analysis in brief is that the female groups were largely more focused on the broader sense of the place, ideas and design concepts both during the site analysis and through the design process. In contrast, the male groups were focused on detail and individual aspects of design. However, there was an awareness of the local community and who uses the area from both males and females in the group, which may have been influenced through our community-focussed PLACED workshops throughout the Academy programme.
Many thanks to Graham and Rhiannon from Prosocial Place for devising and facilitating this session with us.