What’s on the future regenerative horizon for Chichester?
Jenny Andersson returns to the Festival of Chichester to talk about Centres For Life, with an important session on July 1 at 18:00 in the Old Court Room at the Council House, North Street, PO19 1LQ.
Tickets are available on https://www.trybooking.com/uk/events/landing/110299
Jenny, of Really Regenerative CIC, will help us explore how Centres For Life can help revitalise, regenerate and renew vibrancy in urban and rural places.
“What are Centres For Life? Why are they important? What’s their role in shaping the future? How do they form? What do they look like? Do we have any in Chichester that can energise our culture, economy and ecology? All these questions and more will be explored.”
Jenny will talk about her study for Joseph Rowntree Foundation – Enabling Conditions for Place-Based Community-Led Regeneration, followed by a collective exploration with attendees of what’s on the future regenerative horizon for Chichester.
“We’ll work in groups to explore key questions about the future. What Centres do we need, do we want and how can we bring them to life? What do we already have that we could build on? How ready are we in Chichester to bring these Centres to life; what strengths do we have, what’s missing from our capabilities, what are our best opportunities and what other projects could inspire us? How could such Centres be funded, financed and supported?
“Join us for a vitalising exploration of how Centres For Life underpin the potential for regenerative futures in Chichester.”
As Jenny explains: “Centres for Life are two things, two essentially-different things that work together. They are social movements for change and they are lighthouse demonstrations for the future. One is very relational and one is very physical.”
She cites an example in Arles in France “where there is a 13-year project that is philanthropically funded that acquired a large old site that used to be used for building railway carriages. You have now got ateliers and small businesses looking at how to renovate the site using only natural materials from the future. It is an example of what a Centre for Life can be, something that is focused on transforming the local economy through innovation and through local materials. It is also a lighthouse demonstration for the future.”
Centre for Life is Jenny's own phrasing: “It is a kind of centre that enables a living-systems future to happen. Living systems are the core principles by which life on earth has sustained itself.”
It needs to be nested and relational: “Every living system relates to something else. Everything is nested and dynamic and always moving. A city is always changing and it's about how we look to work with that relationship dynamic.”