Who gets to imagine and create the futures of our town?

Who gets to imagine and create the futures of our town?

What happens when communities are encouraged to nurture the conditions to imagine new and future possibilities?

Dudley has been allocated £20million by the government for investment in a Long Term Plan for the town and surrounding neighbourhoods. The Dudley Town Board are seeking wide and deep engagement with local communities to gain insight into the priorities that shape the Plan. What might we do together to create the conditions for local communities to imagine and create possibilities?

This is a question which we’ve been exploring in Dudley since 2020 with a network of creatives that we call Time Rebels, and through our work on Dudley Creates. In this session we’ll look at the Imagination Sundial and share knowledges and experiences on unlocking imagination in our local communities. We’ll also draw together observations, insights and learning from the Dudley Creates Winter Gathering and what is being gathered through from Urban Room activities and conversations.

This is the fourth in a series of sessions in which we’re exploring how might Urban Rooms in Dudley support wider and deeper participation in the shaping of possible futures for our town and neighbourhoods?

Urban Rooms are spaces where people can go to understand, debate and get involved in the past, present and future of where they live, work and play. We’re experimenting with two Urban Rooms in Dudley:

• Urban Room Dudley will be located in Provision House on Dudley High Street. It will be open 5 days a week, Monday to Friday, from early/mid December 2024. A range of free creative activities will take place in and around the Urban Room between December 2024 and March 2025.
• Urban Room Unbound activities will take place in the CoLab Dudley space on Dudley High Street. This will be used mostly for evening and weekend activities.

ACCESSIBILITY LIMITATIONS

Our activities are hosted in numerous indoor and outdoor spaces across Dudley Borough. This activity is taking place in the CoLab Dudley space on Dudley High Street, which is a rented unit in the Trident Shopping Centre. While the main space is at street level and fully accessible, the toilet is on the first floor up steep stairs. Sadly, there has been no way to adapt the space for accessible toilets. Which means this particular activity isn’t fully accessible for people with mobility impairments. Please contact Lorna Prescott ([email protected]) if you would like to get involved in this project but require us to book a fully accessible venue.

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