Engaging Communities To Bring A New Park In Stockport

Stockport Council wanted a town centre park with a real identity which benefits everyone. They asked us to engage Stockport communities to inform the design of a park on the roof of the new Stockport Transport Interchange.

Objectives were to:

• Tell Stockport communities about the plans for the park.
• Engage and excite communities in the conversation about the park.
• Gain feedback on the proposals which reflect voices across all demographics including those who are typically seldom heard.
• Summarise feedback to inform a design brief for the park.

Our work included four stages:

• Understanding the local community. We assessed the local demographic profile and identified key priority groups for engagement. This included identifying seldom heard groups. We defined relevant approaches for engaging different groups.
• Start the conversation. We engaged selected priority groups through interactive in-person and online sessions. This included: focus groups with older residents, disabled people and ethnically diverse people; art tutorials for families; and workshops with primary school children and college students. We also built a website for capturing feedback.
• Events programme. We continued the conversation with the wider community through a series of pop-ups and other events in key locations across Stockport.
• Engagement feedback. Our report highlighted feedback from the community engagement. This informed a design brief for the park.

Following this, Stockport Council asked us to provide a shortlist of names for the park reflecting its identity and one that benefits all Stockport communities.

Our key objective here was to gather ideas and gain feedback on prospective names reflecting voices across all demographics including those who are typically seldom heard. We engaged seven different communities through interactive in-person workshops. This included groups of older residents, disabled people, young mothers, ethnically diverse people, young girls, a male support group and members of ‘Culture Stockport’.