Shieling Programme
The Shieling Programme is responsible for the public realm aspects of Dwellbeing’s work, including food growing, creating and sustaining community spaces and public realm improvements, as well as building community knowledge and engagement around the issues of food security, sustainable and participatory forms of building, land, planning and urban development. It is run by a working group of residents alongside Shieldfield Art Works.
One theory about the name ‘Shieldfield’ is that it was once a shieling ground, where people would come and graze their livestock in the summer months. Shielings were specific to the location in which they were built - created using local knowledge, skills and materials. For Dwellbeing, Shieling is a concept and action - a powerful tool to use to think about community use of Shieldfield’s public spaces and creating new community spaces that are built from the ground up, using Shieldfield’s natural ecology and drawing upon its people, materiality and histories.
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Events coming up
Shieldfield Grows
Shieldfield Grows is a programme of activity that seeks to promote sustainable food production, fair land usage and community flourishing. Developed as a collaboration between Dwellbeing Shieldfield & Shieldfield Art Works (SAW), Shieldfield Grows is also a part of Shieling, a programme of activity about growing and public space improvements initiated by Dwellbeing. Shieldfield Grows enables people to grow vegetables, fruit and herbs in their homes, on balconies, gardens and allotments. Together we are also developing part of SAW’s garden as a space for growing. The Shieldfield Grows programme is led by the Shieling working group.
Growing our own produce is a huge part of community autonomy and resilience especially in times of economic downturn and hardship. We want to be part of this movement which empowers our communities to have good quality, nutritious food for our bodies, minds and souls.
For more information and to get involved text, WhatsApp or call Kaltouma on 07761 909 669 or write to k.communitybee@gmail.com
Find out about upcoming Shieldfield Grows activities and events on our What’s On page.
Read what the Growers have been up to on SAW’s blog page.
Public Realm Improvements
During the last ten years Shieldfield has seen rapid, generic development in the form of large blocks of student accommodation. This has affected the character and social mix of the neighbourhood, alongside further social pressures due to austerity policies which have contributed to a dilapidated and underused spaces within the neighbourhood.
As part of Shieling we have worked closely with HarperPerry Architects and a community trainee, who gained first-hand experience of urban planning and architecture, to create a new public space strategy for Shieldfield. We launched this in August 2022. The strategy uses existing place-based knowledge for new improvements to the neighbourhood, as well as building new collective knowledge about the urban planning process so that the community is not side-lined in future development in Shieldfield.
We want to use the strategy to shape the physical future of the neighbourhood using local skills and knowledges and drawing upon the materials, forms and histories of the neighbourhood to create spaces which reflect people and place, as opposed to the generic architecture of recent years.
Check out this map of Shieldfield, which has some ideas for improvements in the neighbourhood. Feel free to add your own comments.
