On October 5th, 2024, Cambridge Curiosity and Imagination attended the inaugural Engaging New and Emerging Communities Conference at Storey’s Field, Eddington.
The aim of this conference, collaboratively produced by Urban&Civic, Cambridgeshire County Council, South Cambridgeshire District Council, and Cambridge City Council, was to encourage best practice in community building in large-scale developments. The conference featured a keynote address from Cormac Russell, emphasising the value of investing in local communities, and brought together delegates from across many sectors, including planners, developers, designers, community development professionals, charities and residents associations.
A rapidly changing landscape
Cambridgeshire is one of the fastest growing regions in the country. New communities are being planned and delivered across the county. The county council have recognised the importance of early engagement with the broad range of stakeholders involved in supporting development. Strengthening relationships across sectors can help identify key considerations, spark complementary partnerships, and promote strengthened outcomes for new and existing residents in the region.
Can we improve the future of these new developments if we put the communities at the centre of decision making? Would we have kinder, safer, greener and more attractive places to live?
The conference began with opening words from Cllr Brian Milnes, Deputy Leader of South Cambridgeshire District Council, and then continued on to the keynote address from Cormac Russell on ways to align institutions and communities. A workshop then made these themes more concrete with delegates, highlighting different elements that can be brought together to galvanise local communities. The afternoon then began with Ashraf Ahmed, Migration Policy and Partnership Manager, Cambridgeshire County Council and Fiona Bryant, Director of Enterprise & Sustainable Development for Cambridge City Council. Delegates were then invited to participate in two half hour workshops, from four possible selections from Cambridge Curiosity and Imagination, Cambridge City Council, Cambridgeshire County Council, and Greater Cambridge Shared Planning.
Engaging young people in new and developing communities
Over 50 delegates registered to participate in Hilary Cox Condron’s immersive guided meditation. Curating a mix of film, audio and material props, participants were invited to travel through and in space, beginning on their own doorsteps, travelling across communities both real and imagined, slowing down to notice and reflect on the sights, sounds, and emotions of belonging and contributing to one’s own community, and ending in an imagined, greener, more connected, and fairer future.
Children need the opportunity to explore their neighbourhoods, to dream up their next adventure, to build dens, to feel free in nature, to overcome physical and emotional challenges. It’s vital that the cities we build give children a chance to do these things, all else we all lose out. Tim Jarvis, Arup consultant
Cambridge Curiosity and Imagination were delighted to address the importance of involving young people when imagining community-powered growth, drawing on our experience of working with young people across our county to emphasise the need to nurture young people’s nature connection, environmental awareness and social activism. The young people we work with have clear principles when thinking about communities. For young people, nature and social justice are integral parts of the community. As they have explained to us, ‘it’s not like we are going into nature, we are nature.’
Conferences, and partnerships, can offer the opportunity to brainstorm together and get inspired by diverse perspectives and approaches to the future of our county, and ultimately join up to effect change.
Together, we can continue to build community-first neighbourhoods where diversity and connection flourish. Cllr Firouz Thompson, delegate at the New and Emerging Communities Conference 2024.
Thank you to all the organisers and teams involved in producing the conference, to TOWN for inviting us to share our practice, and a special thank you to Hilary Cox Condron for bringing local chalk streams and young people to the heart of the conversation.