A team of local young people are designing and building a new community space at Flanders Way, Hackney.

The project will help challenge negative stereotypes of young people, bring together people of different ages, improve a neglected public space, and give young people genuine power over change in their local community.

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Read Daniel’s blog here.

The story so far

13.05.19 – The young people began by creating messages for the community, conveying what they wanted to tell people about the space.

They were keen to create a habitable and clean space, that everyone in the community could use.

29.05.19 – The team then learnt about the trees on the site, how to design around them and got enthusiastic about creating a space for their community.

30.05.19 – They were able to create different designs, and experiment with their ideas for the space.

31.05.19 – The young people presented their design ideas for the site to the council. They discussed their ambition to create an area for all local members of the community to enjoy.

Location

Flanders Way, Hackney (at the junction of Morning Lane and Wick Road, E9 5AQ).

The Team

Young people from Berger Primary School, Cardinal Pole Secondary School and Hackney Quest are leading the project, with the support of Build Up (a specialist youth construction charity) and Hackney Quest’s (a local youth & community charity) staff.

About the project

This project has been set up in response to the Hackney Wick Through Young Eyes; a report based on conversations with 400 young people about their experiences growing up in Hackney. Read it here.

Build Up Hackney has been made possible thanks to crowd-funded donations by local people, Wick Award (a local community development organisation run by local residents), and the Mayor of London.