Harriet Devoy – The Chase

The Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment wanted a ‘call for action’ to inspire local authorities, youth workers, community groups and architects to get involved in developing local public spaces.

The idea behind the cover of the brochure was prompted by the question Cabe posed to the audience: ‘What would you do with this space?’ But our main inspiration came from thoughts of children taking part in a series of workshops the commission set up with youth groups across the country, often on underused patches of green land, to explore what they would do if they had the opportunity to design a park.

The comments, written on postcards, ranged from being completely surreal to being really quite funny. We thought they were great, but a little bit hard to read in the current format, so we took the quotes (spelling mistakes, bad grammar and all) and used them as an introduction to the document. We brought the words to life using really graphic illustrations over the bleak green space used on the cover.

The rest of the document highlights case studies of parks and open spaces where children have been involved in the design and development of projects around the country.