50 ideas for pride in place
Welcome to the 3rd in our 50 Ideas series
Several years ago, we were inspired by a book called ’100 Ideas for a progressive Florida’ by Marco Rubio. What captured our imagination was the concept that lots of little ideas could have a big impact.
So, for 6 months we travelled around finding every group we could find to sit down and workshop their small ideas. Our methodology was simple. We would ask the room for ideas on how to transform their community. There were no rules, other than they must be small enough to be achievable (we aren’t reforming global capitalism, for example), and they must be big enough to make a difference. We would make a long list and keep a record of every idea given to us.
Several themes emerged, but the strongest?
Place Matters.
Everyone has pride in their local areas. But across the country in our towns and high streets, everyone can see the problems emerging.
And the people best placed to fix these hyper-local problems? Local people themselves.
This huge test of faith from Government is one of the most exciting policy positions in a very long time. Give a long-term commitment from national government (10 years!), almost unheard of in policy development, and then let communities lead from the front.
This edition of 50 Ideas pulls together what we think are the most relevant ideas from our work.
Next, we plan a series of smaller guides to individual concepts which may prove useful to Pride in Place boards. We are looking at subjects like:
· Income generation
· Place-making on high streets
· How to move the needle on local economic development
· How to build a music eco-system
· What is a nightlife economy?
· High Streets in a Box (how to move away from retail)
...and more to come...
This has been, and is, a passion project funded by us personally and with a small grant from the RSA. Any book purchases simply go towards the cost of printing/publishing.
We are also very grateful to everyone who has given time either in a workshop or with advice.
If you want to ask questions, make suggestions, make a pre-order, or just say hello then please email tris@northern-rose.co.uk
Patrick and Tris
50 Ideas for the North
For hundreds of years, the people of the North have led the way in making England a more prosperous place, a more enjoyable place, and a more interesting place to live. We gave the world the canals of the Industrial Revolution and railways of Stephenson’s Rocket. Merseybeat and stainless steel. Newcastle’s Lit and Phil library and the Rochdale Pioneers. Rugby League and the Manchester School of liberalism. Things with nothing in common apart from the fact they all came from the north of England.
50 Ideas For The North is our best go at showing how innovative and exciting and welcoming and positive the North can be. It’s our way of highlighting some of the most interesting new ideas coming out of the region and giving a glimpse of an even better future for the North. We don’t endorse every idea that we discuss here, and we platform them in the full knowledge that some are more quixotic and unviable than others, but we do endorse the notion that we’d all benefit from a bit more of the ingenuity and enthusiasm we saw on our tour of the North.
Another 50 Ideas for the North
Following the success of our original book, 50 Ideas for the North, we are back with another compilation of inspiring and exciting innovations, created by the people of the North of England themselves.
As project authors, Patrick Hurley and Tris Brown travelled the North of England with a simple question – what one thing would you do to transform your community? The result is a simple but refreshing compilation of small yet powerful ideas you wish you had thought of.
The second book continues this journey, giving a voice to the communities of the North who just want to be heard, empowered and given the opportunity to transform their area.
