We are recruiting a Research Assistant (post-doc) for our new project: #refugeeswelcome in parks.  If you are interested and have the skills please do check out the full details here. ​ www.sheffield.ac.uk/jobs
(you will need to use search terms, either 'landscape' or 'refugees' will do). It is 60% time for nine months.  Closing date is 07/02/17.  

Job Overview:
This post-doctoral role is an appointment to “#refugeeswelcome in parks: Wellbeing and Inclusion in Public Open Space”. This is an AHRC (Arts and Humanities Research Council) funded research project within the Connected Communities programme. The #refugeeswelcome in parks project focuses on embedding awareness of the potential of spending time in urban public open space to improve refugee wellbeing and inclusion, with specific attention to addressing existing barriers and improving the integration of initiatives between refugee welfare and public space management. The Research Assistant will be based in Sheffield and support the delivery of the project objectives with a primary focus on the local Sheffield context and the UK national context, with some contextual work scoping existing practice in a range of European countries. The key tasks of the job are focused on stakeholder engagement, including qualitative interviews with government and third sector professionals, and with refugees in Sheffield.  The post-holder will have responsibility for shaping these new engagements into a meaningful accessible narrative which can support strategic initiatives at a national level.

We are delighted to announce that we have gained 'follow-on' funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council to develop some of the findings from the Bench Project. 

In the Bench Project we concluded that sitting outside in urban public spaces has positive outcomes for wellbeing and inclusion, and that this was more significant for people commonly marginalized by society.

The new project is called #Refugeeswelcome in Parks: Wellbeing and Inclusion in Public Open Space. This project focuses on embedding awareness of the potential of spending time in urban public open space to improve refugee wellbeing and inclusion, with specific attention to addressing existing barriers and improving the integration of initiatives between refugee welfare and public space management. 

Though the refugee experience is complex and varied, circumstances of under-employment, poor living conditions, limited social opportunities and mental health pressures are commonly reported. We suggest that parks and squares can be conceived as a resource for people at a time of foothold and new belongings; that a pleasant place to sit outside can support fluid social networks, improve local awareness, allow for an inclusive egalitarian positioning (the right to sit), and provide mentally restorative interludes.
 
However, there are challenges. The public realm can be a place where refugees feel uncertain about local norms, feel unwelcome, uncomfortable or are vulnerable to hate crime. Longstanding residents of a local area may react negatively to changing patterns of use of public spaces, especially when ‘hanging out’ is perceived as idle loitering, threatening, or fundamentally changing the ethos of a loved place. An increase in hostile architecture and management practice (implicitly acting against street sleeping) also impacts on destitute refugees.
 
#Refugeeswelcome in parks is focused on exploring relevance of previous research findings for practice and policy. We are conducting a two country, cross-sector investigation and knowledge exchange, with some broader baseline information gathering good practice and innovation stories across northern Europe. The German experience in particular is relevant due to high numbers of new refugees, and the combination of grass-root initiatives and strategic, integrated infrastructure to address wellbeing and integration. Local level scoping work with stakeholder organisations and refugees will take place in Berlin and will be contrasted with experiences in Sheffield and London.
 
#Refugeeswelcome in parks was initiated by Clare Rishbeth and Radhika Bynon from the origional Bench Project team, and is a collaboration between the University of Sheffield, the University of Manchester, The Young Foundation and Minor (Berlin). 

​Esther has created a four minute edit of the original Alone Togther film which focuses on the stories of the Nepali women as they sit in Gordon square. We glimpse the brightness of lungi fabric against long cold granite benches. A group of older women chat and laugh as they spend time here, amongst a busy mix of commuters and school kids, pigeons and dogs. 

See the film here on 'NOWNESS'

​The Ghurkha settlement of 2009 gave ex-Gurkhas and their wives or widows the right to live in the UK. Many chose to move to Woolwich, to join the small Nepali community that already lived here on account of military connections with the Woolwich Arsenal. What is it like to be an older migrant, to move in your later years from a village in rural Nepal to Woolwich London? How do you cope when you can’t speak English, your housing is crowded, and you are beyond the age of finding work?
 
The women talk about finding company and relaxation by sitting outside in Gordon Square. Many come here on a daily basis though the summer months, both men and women gathering in large groups, sharing news, discussing problems, passing the time of day and watching the rolling news or sport on the ‘big telly’. “When I sit at home it’s lonely, there are worries I think of”. A park is a new kind of social space for them, “there are no such places in Nepal... if there is empty land then people talk about farming there”, but they appreciate the openness, the flowers and trees, and the long benches which allow them to move in and out of conversations of varying group sizes.
 
Gordon Square is a place that includes rather than excludes. The Nepali elders are not tucked away in a hall or community centre, but a visible and engaged presence within the diverse mix of Woolwich residents. People of all ages and backgrounds hang out here, it’s big enough for small children, teenagers and older people all to take up space without too much bother, but small enough that people make incidental connections. “Some people are nice, they say ‘Morning’ when they pass us. So we say ‘Morning’ as well. If we knew how to speak English, we could be friends with others”.
 
It’s difficult to make new friends when you don’t have a language in common. But Gordon Square – and similar public spaces in other cities - offers something slightly different: the chance to belong within the urban flow, the chance to enjoy the sunshine, and to fashion your own peaceful place.

For information on the full Alone Together film
Jasper's discussion of how the Bench Project worked with the Nepali elders 
Samprada's discussion on the different ways in which the Nepali community use public space in Woolwich

Radhika Bynon argues that bench provision and bench use are underpinned by a civil tradition of public space that reflects core egalitarian and democratic values.  Radhika is a Programme Leader at The Young Foundation and co-investigator on The Bench Project.

“This place is absolutely marvellous. It really gives you hope for the future. Just look around, how many different cultures you see here. I think it’s brilliant. People actually mix – you see them in their little groups and you see them saying ‘hi’ and ‘hi’ to people walking past. It’s a start.” Madge

“When I sit at home, it’s lonely. There are worries I think of. But when I come here I watch the cars passing by, or people walking, and I forget about issues at home”. Till Sana Rana

Madge comes to General Gordon Square in Woolwich several times a week with her adult daughter who is profoundly deaf. They spend hours here, watching the world go by, enjoying the bustle and the activity of the busy town centre. Till Sana Rana comes daily. She is Nepali and has very little English so meeting up with other Nepali elders in the Square is the centre of her social life.

For them and for many people we interviewed in Woolwich and Sutton over several months, the availability of public benches is crucial to for building community and supporting wellbeing.

A bench is an open gesture of welcome, an invitation to linger, however briefly. Benches create the opportunity for recognition through nodding and smiling that is fundamental to friendly communities. People enjoy mingling in public space, loosely interacting with others, and that these casual encounters foster a sense of belonging. This is particularly important because we found that, while all social groups use benches, the heaviest users are people with mental health problems, carers, older people, and those who are unemployed. Seen in this light, the availability of benches becomes an issue of inclusion, an important way of providing equal access to public space to more vulnerable members of the community. For these groups cafes as an alternative meeting place are simply too expensive and homes are often too small and too crowded.

Benches allow people to enjoy the outdoors, and provide respite from the stresses of life. Phil sits in the park to “sort my day out”, Colin told us “when women drive you mad, you come out, sit, get over it”, Margaret brings her autistic daughter out saying “I think outdoors is better for her – it makes them calm” and a busy mother talked about spending long periods of time sitting on the benches as “bringing my senses alive, it’s the only time they come alive really”.

Part of our motivation for this study was a realisation that benches are increasingly under threat. Sometimes they are made deliberately uncomfortable to discourage “extended sitting” (in Dover, Guardian 10/4/ 2014). They are often removed to deter “anti-social behaviour” (Canterbury Times, 1/6/2015) or “drug dealing” (Manchester Evening News, 15/7/2015). Increasingly, benches appear to be seen less as a symbol of a civic invitation and more as a magnet for anti-social behaviour.

We argue that bench eradication is a disproportionate response to a specific local concern and this approach denies many groups the opportunity to enjoy outdoor space. Given that benches are heavily used by those who are at greatest risk of social isolation, we would urge a more thoughtful approach. The sites we studied feel safer due to movement through – some people just passing by, some people sitting for a while – dog walkers, those heading to bus stops, school children, shoppers. This mix guards against a bench becoming the territory of one particular group. Furthermore, by encouraging more people to sit, more benches would provide more ‘eyes on the street’. People sitting on benches like watching people, which in turn improves the overall safety of an area.
​
Benches are part of a proud civic tradition of free access to public space for all. They speak to democratic values – and we need more, not fewer of them.

This blog was initially published by LGIU blog on Nov 18th 2015. Link to original post.

In this article, Jasber Singh from Greenwich Inclusion Project (GrIP) and Co-Investigator on the Bench Project discusses the potential of photography as community research and a way for minoritized communities to communicate to wider society without using English. 

In Woolwich GrIP worked with Nepalese elders and users of Gordon’s Square for the social life of benches project. This research process has shown the limits of GrIP’s framed research questions; how using photography tackles these limitations; how it can be used as a way to coproduce research with a community of elders; and provides an opportunity for minoritized community who can’t speak English to be able to tell their story to wider society and institutions. 

The research process
 
GrIP has relationships with elders who attend ESOL classes in our training room, and we created a series of workshops with them to understand their views about living in the area. But many elders in Woolwich do not go to these classes. So we also extended the research to groups of elders who did not attend these lessons. 

We knew that some female elders meet at Winn Common for their daily walks; so we went there to make contact with them. Samprada started to have conversation with them on benches in a children’s playground. Through these conversations, we created workshops with them in the common to identify what was going well and things that they would like to change about their experiences of Woolwich. We learned a lot from each other, including their experiences of housing, not having toilets to use at the Common and the problems associated with that, barriers to reporting crime and other services because of language, and their experiences of racism. We exchanged our knowledge on how to report a crime and we recently held a workshop with them on housing rights issues with a local NGO.  We will be doing something similar with them around policing and crime.
 
The limits of our research process and using photography to address it
 
However, there was something missing. We did not feel that we were connecting deeply with the elders. We could also see that our questions and conversations were limited. We talked about some of our questions, and we left enough space so that the conversations could emerge organically.  So we scratched our heads and thought about how the elders could tell their story in a way that was not limited by our questions.
 
We were also concerned that our questions could minimise the elder’s worldview and tunnel their conversations towards a Eurocentric perspective. For example, if we ask questions around what is going well and what needs to change in the area it could reduce their overall experiences to specifics: the bench, housing, hate crime and the like. Our logic was to extend the possibilities for the elders, through photography, so that they could also speak about their world-view and how that was negotiated in Woolwich and related to specifics such as the bench, the home, and the outdoors.  We felt that this was a way in which the elders could drive the research process and generate their community knowledge and express their ways of being/world views from their eyes. For example, some of their photo’s showed that they visited parks to view flowers and animals and these experiences were ways in which connected them to their spirituality (puja and offerings) and memories of agrarian ways of being.
 
We bought some digital cameras and conducted photography workshops with elders in the ESOL classes and Winn Common. Many of elders have never used cameras before, and it was inspiring to watch them learn about photography, such as lighting, taking pictures, and framing a subject with additional support from photographer Rehmat Rayaat. Through the workshops we learned a few extra English words, did a few role plays, and practiced taking pictures. In effect, we merged the ESOL class with photography. We also discussed if the elders would like to show their photo’s to other people, through an exhibition. However, it was not so easy translating exhibition into Nepalese.

​We organised two groups of elders and we went to a Royal Geography Society to view the Travel Photography of the Year exhibition. During the journey, we found out that for many it was the first time that they used a tube or visited an exhibition. At the exhibition we discussed what we liked about the pictures. One picture of a bees and honey production in a cave in Nepal attracted many of elders as it triggered memories. The spiritual pictures they also strongly connected with.  We rested in the garden and drank tea and ate home made snacks and discussed the exhibition and just chatted generally.  We went on to have conversations about if they would like to do something similar in Woolwich with their photo’s: an exhibition. And the answer was an overwhelming yes.
 
After the exhibition, many of the elders started to take more pictures about their lives. We viewed them on a laptop, discussed them, and asked them to choose three photos from their collection for printing. We were struck by how spirituality was a central defining feature of many of their pictures. Furthermore, there were many pictures that represented friendship, being together to reverse isolation and strengthen sisterhood, of their home, and of memories of Nepal, their spirituality, and agrarian societies. Their photo’s allowed for a textures view of their lives, in a way that had meaning for them.  It also explained, in a holistic way, why many of them used the benches so much.
 
Challenges
 
The photography process has been insightful, fun, creative but also challenging. Coordinating the photography process has increased the workload, costing and intensified the chaos of community participation processes. For example, recruiting a photographer, training the elders, and selecting pictures, printing them out, and mounting them on card has increased the work load and costing of the project; much more than expected. Doing this in Winn Common was even harder! Furthermore, the exhibition at the launch has not been as well attended as we wished, as reaching a wide audience takes a big effort.
 
We are hoping to host another exhibition in January and hope to attract more people. The exhibition also requires careful marketing to attract the right audience and to get numbers at the event, and again, this all takes time and human resources; a sparse commodity at Grip.  This will remain to be a key challenge and arguably for other participatory photography projects. Processes take time.
 
The photo’s are currently mounted in Grip’s office space, near the training room, and many people are exposed to them as a result. So in a small way, the elders do still get to speak about their lives to a wider community, even though there is no busy public space for an exhibition.  For example, 70 people attended our AGM and they all viewed the photo’s and learned more about the elder’s stories.
 
Final reflections
 
The photography process has shown the rich, diverse, spiritual and layered narratives of the Nepalese elders and how these are negotiated with their experiences of Woolwich and through use of public space. It helped us understand the importance of social connections within this group, how spending time outside is important because it provides connections with wider society, diverse communities, nature and vitally provides opportunities to recharge. It has shown how photography provides a platform for miniortized communities to communicate to wider society and institutions without having to speak English. The challenge is that all this takes a lot of time and hard work. A further challenge moving forward it to ensure ongoing participation with elders to activate change within society, organisations and the authorities.  
 
By Jasber Singh; Greenwich Inclusion Project (GrIP)

Contact GrIP:
twitter @GrIPInclusion
Facebook: ​https://www.facebook.com/www.griproject.org.uk
Or telephone: 020 3 7479862

Our fieldworker, Diana Coman, reflects on some personal connections to benches shared at the Sutton film screening and report launch on 11 November 2015.  

As part of the celebrations we asked guests on each table to consider one of four questions: 


Are benches important to you and if so why?
Do you have a story about a bench? 
When was the last time you sat on a bench and where was it? 
What’s the most interesting view your’ve seen from a bench?



It was an opportunity to encourage guests to think about some of the issues that would be revealed through the research and to get the table talking about benches and the role they has play in our lives. 

‘Watching Niagara Falls whilst an Elvis impersonator was singing (badly) in the background” was revealed as the most interesting view from a bench.  Other experiences of benches were closer to home. 

During the panel discussion we held after the film screening, a local open space Oaks Park, was mentioned by guests as a place where there are many memorial benches, so it was perhaps not surprising that only the day before the launch one of the guests has sat on a bench in Oaks Park. 

During the course of the research we found people talking about the bench as a landmark.  In the following example it has family significance because when it is referred to as the bench, everyone know’s where that is, but the bench with a form of geographical status.  “There is a bench outside St George’s Primary School in Beckenham, where I pick my wife up if she’s at a late meeting … pick me up at the bench .. she says”. 

The second story talks to the bench as a time for reflection and for memories.  “I still occasionally go to a bench in a park where I grew up, where I used to sit with my very first girlfriend - and that was over 50 years ago”.  The bench provides an opportunity to connect with the past, reflect on happy moments and perhaps even consider their own life journey since. 

Benches were seen as places for rest: at shops; in the garden; in the high street; in parks, at the seafront,  or in places where you needed to wait, like at bus shelters.  

One guest said they had complained about the lack of benches at Tesco and then one was provided.  I welcome the supermarket bench as I now leave my father on the seat whilst my mother and I go off and do the shopping.  Only this week he sat with another man, also waiting for his wife to finish the shopping, and they chatted together for some time about something and nothing.  

One contributor used the bench as a place of work and found that it released their creativity, another said they relax, let the world go by or just meditate. 

Whilst the bench can provide an opportunity for a serendipitous connection and conversation, it also provides an opportunity to take in a view with one guest identifying Leith Hill as a good spot.  And perhaps while reflecting and people-watching you could enjoy a doughnut or two, and for one guest Brighton Pier was the place to be for that. 

I know when I started working on this project and I explained to friends and colleagues what I was doing, I did get a few odd looks, but as I talked about what the research was revealing I saw people being drawn-in and lovely stories were shared about moments and memories all associated with the humble bench. 

​A mother and her disabled daughter, Janet and Leanne, often came to the square when the weather was good. Janet talked positively about the mix of people, how a smile and a wave from a passer-by you knew by sight could be a blessing. She and Leanne usually stayed for about three hours, bringing their own seating rather than using the benches. Janet enjoyed what she described as peaceful low-key interaction between people of ‘different cultures’ and, perhaps mindful of the significance of the date, emphasized that the square could bring hope to the world in troubled times. Janet had lived in Woolwich for 37 years after moving down from Edinburgh. She would bring her daughters to the square and meet with friends here before the recent improvements but she came more frequently now. She emphasized how wonderful it had been to watch the Wimbledon final on the big screen two years ago when Andy Murray won. The square had been packed.
 
Janet talked about how Leanne was being assessed to see if it was suitable for her to move out and live independently. She emphasized the square’s positive effect on Leanne, enabling her to be calmer, and even to do some independent shopping for food – ‘she knows everyone in the shops’. Samprada and I asked whether they had a garden. Janet said they had but that sitting there could be lonely and that’s why they came here. Leanne interjected that they sat in the garden sometimes. She went on to tell us that she had recently made a cake for her sister’s birthday, and had given her a card and other things to celebrate. She sounded pleased to have achieved all that.
 
Later, at about 4pm, Samprada and I were sitting on the back of the bench reflecting on our conversation with Janet and Leanne. While we sat there we witnessed a boy in school uniform (one of a group of boys who were passing) swearing as he passed an older man, probably in his 60s, who was sitting with other men of a similar age, all drinking beer from 99p cans. The man shouted after the boy, who looked about 14 was and with a group of friends the same age. A couple of minutes later the boys came back and the boy who had shouted apologised and shook hands with the man. The man accepted the apology, gently tugging the boy's tie and telling him he could not wear a posh school uniform like this and go around doing things like that.
 
A few minutes later, the man, Brian, started to talk to Samprada and I. He seemed a bit drunk and held his can in his hand. He asked us where we were from and was excited to learn that I lived in Brighton. It turned out he had grown up there and had run for the city’s athletics club before leaving when he joined the Royal navy in 1967. One of Brian’s companions, Tony, said he was here often 'unfortunately' as he was out of work - he came to the square to socialise. Tony liked the title of our project very much and seemed to take ownership of it, waving our photo consent form at his friends and saying that I needed to photograph them too as they were all 'bench men'. By the time Samprada left and I was chatting with Brian, Tony and the other men with them, I felt completely relaxed and accepted in the square. I could have stayed for hours.  
 
While corporate developers rapidly transform London’s housing to bring new choices for the rich, and while existing residents are socially cleansed from areas of redevelopment, the process around Woolwich’s General Gordon Square may be slower. Meanwhile people not part of the developers’ pristine visions, people unlikely to turn them a profit, are finding moments of ease and connecting with others on the benches of this newly designed urban space.

Today we are proud to launch our report published with the Young Foundation, ‘Benches for Everyone: solitude in public, sociability for free’, include the Manifesto for The Good Bench. It was important to the research team that the project did not end with careful listening and the sharing of stories, but worked out what this means in practice. This report outlines the context, presents the evidence, and defines clear points for action.
 
Report view here
Report for download
Manifesto and points for action
 
Summary
A project focused on benches runs the risk of sounding whimsical, peripheral to the main concerns of life. Sutton and Woolwich, though very different, typify some of the social and political pressures on London: austerity politics, corporate-led regeneration, the housing crisis, precarious employment and various processes of displacement and inequality.

​This report makes a strong case for the potential to enjoy public space as one means available that supports resilience and human connections at the local level. Benches do not exist in isolation; their presence is related to broader issues of public space for sociability and accessibility. Our research highlights the role of benches in giving the choice to stay longer, with links to wellbeing and inclusion, and the importance of good landscape design for supporting this. We found broad appreciation across different sectors of the community for interest-rich places with a range of recreational facilities and the restorative qualities of contact with natural elements. Our conclusion is resoundingly pro-bench. In the vast majority of outdoor public places, we recommend comfortable benches, longer benches, and simply more of them.

Fieldworker Samprada Mukhia writes:

Through my fieldwork, I initially discovered that elderly Nepalese men and women often sit on benches in open spaces such as Winn’s Common at Plumstead and General Gordon Square at Woolwich. The Nepalese have settled in this part of London largely due to the historic connection with the army barracks. Most of them are fairly recent migrants, and find it hard to make connections with other local people, mainly due to language barriers.
 
We conducted photography workshops with the elderly Nepalese to find out what was important to them about hanging around in these places. So through community based research practice, we wanted to raise their voice through photography and find out more about the joys and challenges of their life in Woolwich.
 
The photography workshops helped me discover how important Winn’s Common and General Gordon Square are for the elderly Nepalese. They like to walk around the huge plain fields at Winn’s Common and believe that walking in the fresh air is good for them. They stated that most of them have high blood pressure and/or diabetes and are advised to do a bit of exercise. They see walking around at Winn’s Common as beneficial to their health. They also like spending time at the Winn’s Common playground, which they refer to as ‘Khalta’. Khalta means ‘hole’, but they simply call the playground khalta because it is enclosed circularly at a lower gradient. It’s certainly not the most attractive part of the Common, but there are large number of benches, so it’s possible for many of them to meet up, in groups sizes of up to thirty at a time.
 
They use the benches and space in the playground at Winn’s Common to spend time with other elderly Nepalese. Winn’s Common is a place where they can bond with others who have similar backgrounds and relatable experiences. They also use the space to share information, talk about good and bad memories, and especially for the elderly Nepalese women, Winn’s Common has become a place where they can cherish their sisterhood. Some of the elderly Nepalese women talked about how they feel closer to their friends at Winn’s Common than some of their own family members. Prior to their sisterhood, loneliness was a constant lingering feeling. Ganga Devi recalled her memory of being at Winn’s Common for the first time. It had only been a few days since she had come to the UK. She remembered sitting on one of the benches and having a smoke all alone and thinking to herself ‘where have I come?’.
 
Devi Rana recalled sitting on one of the benches at Winn’s Common and thinking about her old days. She said sitting on a bench at Winn’s Common helps her think and recall memories – good and bad. For CK Thapa, a tree at the playground reminded her of her childhood. She recalled the feeling of joy she felt while sitting on the branch of a tree in her hometown and being blown by the wind from side to side. An open space such as Winn’s Common has formed an important part of the elderly Nepalese’s lives and some of them stated how they will take photos of Winn’s Common and show it to their extended family members in Nepal.
 
General Gordon Square is another open space where some elderly Nepalese spend long periods of time. It is a place where they usually meet and discuss about their plans for the day or the week ahead. They also like to sit in large groups and talk to each other and watch the news on the ‘big telly’. The fact that bus stops, different shops/markets and public toilets surround the square also influences their decision to spend time in this location. CK Thapa talked about how General Gordon Square provides her the opportunity to distract herself from all her worries. She also said that ‘seeing a thousand faces a day is good for you’ and that she enjoys seeing different people here. Till Rana stated how lonely and restless she feels sitting alone at home and that being in the square helps her feel relaxed and at peace.
 
In one of the photography workshops, we covered the topic of home life where the elderly Nepalese shared a lot of their memories of back home and their lifestyle in Nepal. Bilkumari Gurung went into extensive detail about her agrarian lifestyle and told us how she could not even afford to spend a minute doing nothing in her hometown. She said that she always had something to do whether it was crafting, farming or home chores. However, in the UK, it is completely different. The elderly Nepalese cannot lead the same lifestyle because of their age, and it will not be wrong to say that most of their skills have become obsolete. Hence, they have a lot of time to spare. Open spaces like General Gordon Square have become a place where they can ‘pass time’.
 
Through the findings, it is apparent that being able to use open spaces has a positive effect in the lives of the elderly Nepalese. A few factors are important. They spend long periods of time outside so being able to sit on benches is vital. Because they like to socialise in large groups, being able to use long benches, or benches clustered together, is more important than a beautiful view. The need for safety: they appreciate the town wardens in General Gordon Square, and on the common they generally walk around in groups after some bad experiences. In common with most elderly people, they need nearby toilets, and the lack of public toilets in Winn Common was frequently mentioned as a problem. They appreciate planting and contact with nature, even in the designed precincts of General Gordon Square. This helps them feel at home and peaceful and gives them a sense of delight.

Clare Rishbeth writes:

There aren’t any commemorative plaques on benches in either Gordon Square or St Helier Open space, maybe they’re just not ‘heritage’ enough locations, or don’t have the kind of classic view that a mourning relative would choose as a reflective space. But when talking to people about benches it’s surprising how often people talk about liking commemorative plaques, either they know one which has a personal memory for them, or they like the sense of being surrounded by hints of stories of people past.
 









But two different stories about bench plaques came my way recently; both with a more irreverent take, which suggests that there can be more to bench plaques than meets the eye. Are subversive bench plaques now ‘a thing’?
 
The first is from that authority of urban wisdom, Buzzfeed.

It shows a photo of a plaque on a wooden bench that reads:
In memory of Roger Bucklesby
Who hated this park,
And everyone in it.
 
The question posed was ‘was it real’?
​
Apparently, due to the powers of photoshop, the vast majority of witty bench plaques are simply photoshopped. Disappointing. 
 
The conclusion of the Roger Bucklesby plaque came to a ‘half-real’ conclusion. It is an actual physical plaque installed on a bench, somewhere in a park in north London. But the name and persona of Roger Bucklesby is a fiction, made up by author Jamie Maslin before emigrating to Australia. Leaving a story behind him.
 
That was a couple of years ago. But last month a bench-fake-plaque story broke in the town of Chester, with a far more pointed intention.  

One plaque states: “If you shut your eyes for more than ten seconds whilst on this bench, you may be deemed asleep, and risk facing an ASBO. By Order of Public Space Protection Orders under the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014.”
 
Another says "This bench is dedicated to the young, beautiful and affluent. If you are old, ugly or poor please sit elsewhere."
 
The plaques were installed illicitly by a group of anonymous artists, protesting against a proposed Public Space Protection Order  under consultation for the central zone of Chester. The order is specific in prohibiting certain activities (including rough sleeping and street drinking) with fines if people continue after being asked to stop. The protesters are concerned that this could be used to target and move on vulnerable and homeless people as a broader move to ‘tidy up’ the town for tourists.

These plaques were moved fairly promptly by the council, though not before the photos were circulated by social media and caught the attention of the national news.
 
Why are bench plaques the perfect form of protest? You don’t need the artistic talent of Banksy to carry this off. The small brass rectangle is unassuming. Bring your small screwdriver. Their undercover nature is attractive; it could be days or weeks before anyone even notices. By hacking the urban bench, you ally yourself with the humble, the mundane, the sociable, the inclusive.

Make a short point, a tweet-worth of words. 

Please join us for our Open House London event on Saturday 19th September.  We will be meeting in General Gordon Square in Woolwich at 10.30am and looking at the design and social uses of the square. 

Multiple perspectives of the square will be given by members of The Bench Project team. Jasber Singh, Greenwich Inclusion Project, will give an overview of civic spaces in Woolwich and dynamics of inclusion and exclusion in this part of London. Clare Rishbeth (University of Sheffield) will discuss the design of the square, talking through the importance of affordances and visual permeability, reflecting both on the design intentions of the Landscape Architects, Gustafson Porter, and how these have been adapted and subject to different management actions. Samprada Mukhia, fieldworker on The Bench Project will share what she has learnt about patterns of sitting and moving in this place, and in particular the experience of elder Nepali residents, mostly recent migrants, who enjoy using the square. 

The tour will conclude with a 'pre-launch' showing of the 18 minute film made by documentary filmmaker Esther Johnson within The Bench Project, reflecting the pleasures, interactions and memories of sitting outside in General Gordon Square and an Open Space in St Helier, Sutton. This will take place in the nearby offices of Greenwich Inclusion Project, with time for further discussion on the importance and challenges of sitting outside in London, and the relationship between design, management and social wellbeing. The event will be finished by 12.00... in time for Woolwich Carnival! 

No booking required. More details on the Open House London website. 

Over the last couple of weeks, Esther and her support crew have been out in St Helier Open Space and General Gordon Square, Woolwich shooting The Bench Project film. Not blessed with great weather, they dodged the downpours and got some great clips. Here's an insight into life on set.

The Sutton fieldworker, Diana Coman, who works on various projects with 
The Young Foundation, writes:


I became involved in the Bench Project because it became part of The U work in Sutton.   The U has been in Sutton for over three years and I have a good network across the borough. 

Rather than talking about why I am involved, perhaps it is worth reflecting on what being involved has meant to the work I do in Sutton for The U and how I now see my community.

I notice benches more - where they are located and who is on them, their style and outlook. 

The act of observation has made me more observant generally - I think I watch the community more - notice the rhythm of an area or a group of people and pick up on the sounds and smells. 

It has made me reflect on the spaces that are excluded from groups or other venues, or who have seen spaces they used to go to disappear - local pubs for example -  who are using the public benches as areas to escape to, places to meet fellow drinkers or neighbours.

The project provides us with an opportunity to show the social action/innovation/research aspects of The Young Foundation/The U.  In Sutton The U is probably known more for its sessions and this project provides us with an opportunity to show a different side to The U and what it can offer Sutton.

Esther Johnson, filmmaker on the project writes:

Film can be a tool for social change and challenge opinion and preconceived views in order to break barriers of understanding and encourage discussion between communities and societies.

As part of this research project I'll be making a film that will express the views and memories of several frequent users of the two areas of research – Gordon Square, Woolwich and St Helier Open Space, Sutton. 

The film aims to initiate dialogue around the uses of such public space, highlight thoughts around the design and illuminate memories and stories that have occurred in these places. On meeting contributors for the project, I have discussed how they use the respective spaces; how frequently they visit; how the space makes them feel, both in the past and present; what they think about whilst sitting; and potential changes for the future they feel could improve these locations.

The humble bench will be the micro-loci for the film. The bench can be a site where one can find a practical and welcome respite from exhausting activity and a peaceful place of contemplation. The bench can also act as a meeting place for friends, or an unexpected stranger of which a new friendship or foe can originate. Public benches can also provide a poignant memory of a loved one through a memorial via the engraved plaque. 

Principally, the film will reveal personal stories of bench users; stories that if one was a passerby in either of the research locations, one would potentially have no idea that the bench user had such tales to tell. The film will act like that stranger who joins you on a bench to ‘watch the world go by’ and break the ice by starting a conversation with their fellow bench user.

Our Sutton fieldworker, Diana Coman, writes: 
 
One of the benches at St Helier Open Space has an interesting mix of people using it. It is the one nearest the Hospital.

I’ve met two women there – both in their 30s/40s, both drinking.  One was on crutches and had come  from physio treatment at the hospital.

The local safer transport team were there doing their bike checks.  

The bench is also used by the ambulance crews for a quick fag break during their shifts.

Last week I observed a woman (20s) sitting there who was clearly upset, having a massive row with someone on the phone about an infidelity.   She was joined by two other women who sat with her for some time clearly talking through the problem/issue.

So for me the bench is a ‘coping’ bench.  

The women drinking were dealing with stress and physical problems, partly by taking time out and having a drink outside of the hospital walls.  The young woman distressed about a relationship breakdown was trying to cope with what had happened to her.  The ambulance crews are taking time out – maybe having had to handle a difficult event.  They are using the space as a place to get away from the work area for a short time.  The police were there to help the community cope with problems over bike theft.

It's a bench that is the venue for many stories.