Report to COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT & SERVICES Committee for decision - - PDF document

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17–397

Title:

Ryan Reynolds Presentation (Gap Filler)

Section: Performance Prepared by: Harley Dibble (Planning & Performance Manager) Meeting Date: 13 September 2017

☐ Legal ☐ Financial  Significance = low

Report to COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT & SERVICES Committee for decision

SUMMARY

The purpose of this report is to  Report on the Council funded presentations and workshops provided by Ryan Reynolds (Gap Filler) in March;  Highlight the benefits and challenges of place-making and tactical urbanism activities; and  Seek direction on any next steps. The decisions or matters in this report are considered to be of low significance in accordance with the Council’s Significance and Engagement Policy.

RECOMMENDATIONS

That the Community Development & Services Committee: 1. Notes the contents of this report. 2. Advise staff if further investigation into place-making opportunities for Gisborne is required.

Authorised by: Harley Dibble Andrew White Planning & Performance Manager Director Liveable Communities

Keywords: gap filler, placemaking, ryan Reynolds, tactical urbanism projects christchurch,

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BACKGROUND

1. Council commissioned Ryan Reynolds to hold a series of presentations and workshops for Councillors, staff and the public from the 5th to 7th of March 2017. The workshops explored Ryan’s work with Gap Filler delivering place making and tactical urbanism projects in Christchurch, and the application of similar approaches in Gisborne. 2. Ryan is co-director of Gap Filler – a charitable trust that facilitates temporary creative projects, events and installations in public spaces with the goal of urban revitalisation and

• fun. Gap Filler collaborates with the community, Council, local organisations, businesses,

and creative professionals to deliver the projects. Ryan has worked with a number of Councils in New Zealand and Australia to empower them to progress place making activities and encourage innovative community engagement. 3. Some slides from Ryan’s workshop are attached at Appendix One for your information. A full copy of the presentation can be provided on request. 4. Feedback from Councillors, staff and community members who attended the workshops was positive. Attendees expressed interest in exploring similar principles in Tairāwhiti, but with projects unique to our community and place. There was considerable pride expressed around existing community projects like the community plantings in Ruatoria and the Ka Pai Kaiti community garden for example. Written feedback has been collated and is attached. 5. Councillors who attended the workshops requested that staff report back to the Community Development and Services committee for further discussion. About Place Making and Tactical Urbanism 6. Place making is about people-centric planning – ensuring our places and spaces work for

• ur community, encouraging people into the city and public spaces, and enhancing and

enlivening our place. Importantly this planning approach recognises and values our community as the experts, enabling them to do projects that have meaning for them and therefore our place. 7. Tactical urbanism often refers to temporary, lighter, quicker and cheaper physical interventions designed to improve people’s experience of their urban environment. It can be used to trial new approaches and ideas that could become more permanent if successful. 8. Projects can be anywhere on the scale between fully community-led to Council-led, small to large budget, and temporary to more permanent. They can range from ‘pop up’ artworks, performances and events in under-utilised spaces, to environmental stewardship, educational tools (e.g. digital maps), physical improvements, community gardens, and new

• r temporary infrastructure.

9. Some examples of place making initiatives from other cities around New Zealand are

• attached. It is important to recognise that all places and communities are unique. We could

apply similar principles but for projects unique to Tairāwhiti, and still obtain the same benefits.

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DISCUSSION and OPTIONS

What is Council’s role? 10. Councils can play a number of roles depending on the type and scale of project - from enabler (through providing the space or permits for example), to funder, advocate, collaborator, facilitator or project manager. Other Councils in New Zealand have employed different structures to administer and facilitate place making activities. 11. A number of not for profit and independent groups are facilitating similar initiatives in New Zealand and worldwide – using innovative ways to generate and share ideas amongst the community and gain momentum for projects. 12. There are opportunities for Council to facilitate and support this kind of activity if desired. There are also other organisations working in this space that have indicated interest in working with Gisborne – for example Inspiring Communities. 13. Those who attended Ryan’s workshops stressed the importance of ensuring that whatever place making initiatives occur, they should embrace Gisborne’s unique needs, drivers and skills – not just recreate projects and approaches that have worked elsewhere. Benefits and Challenges 14. Potential benefits of place making activity are:  Utilising, celebrating and sharing the diverse range of skills and talent in our community.  Community pride.  Participation.  Bring fun and colour to the city centre.  Supporting innovation and entrepreneurialism.  Connecting spaces.  Better engagement with communities.  Small business resilience.  Use of under-utilised public spaces.  Disruption management.  Low cost, temporary interventions with ability to collect feedback before investing in longer term solutions.  Temporary projects have minimal ongoing maintenance and associated costs.  Good news stories. 15. Potential Challenges:  Internal resource availability to scope the concept further and manage the work if it goes ahead.  Council being able to respond and act quickly enough to allow individual projects to go ahead without losing momentum.  Having a structure in place that ensures Council and other funders remain neutral on curatorial decisions.

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Next Steps 16. There is already ‘place making’ activity happening in Gisborne – examples include the Navigations Project, Heart of Gisborne’s use of volunteers to enhance the cruise ship visitors experience, community plantings and gardens and projects funded through creative communities and Council’s community funding scheme. It is also pleasing to note that a number of attendees at the Ryan Reynolds workshops have recently held events or are planning place making initiatives. These include:

• The recently held 24hr Plastic Bag-a-Thon – a joint initiative between Kapai Kaiti and

Plastic Bag Free Tairawhiti where hundreds of free reusable shopping bags were created for people to use instead of single-use plastic bags.

• Tairawhiti Youth Council who are planning two ‘Gap Filler’ initiatives - a pop-up Library

and a bicycle exchange.

• Plans for a pop-up bicycle powered theatre to promote safe cycling in the district.
• Plans for a Seawalls Public Art Festival - artists painting murals that promote greater

protection of our Oceans. 17. Councillors are asked to advise staff if further investigation into Council’s role in place- making opportunities for Gisborne is required.

ASSESSMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE

Criteria This Report The Process Overall The effects on all or a large part of the Gisborne district Low Low The effects on individuals or specific communities Low Low The level or history of public interest in the matter or issue Low Low Inconsistency with Council’s current strategy and policy Low Low Impacts on Council’s delivery of its Financial Strategy and Long Term Plan. Low Low

• 18. The decisions or matters in this report are considered to be of low significance in accordance

with Council’s Significance and Engagement Policy.

APPENDICES

Appendix One: Slides from Ryan Reynold’s Presentation Appendix Two: Written Feedback from Ryan Reynold’s Workshops Appendix Three: Examples of place making and tactical urbanism projects from other places

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Appendix 1

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Appendix Two: Written Feedback from Ryan Reynold’s Workshops

What was the single most valuable thing you learned at the presentation? Open up my thinking and get talking and sharing, and doing Including the community is very beneficial in terms of care and maintenance, and the success in the project. See a need, fill a need. Most valuable thing I learned is that there are no silly ideas, nothing is completely out of reach. So great it's inspiring. And community is key. The value of our communities input Process matters and amazing sign offs to Gap filler projects - how projects evolve. That apathy is the devil and we just need to start doing things, BUT the most important constant throughout the process is community consultation or ensuring that the people on the ground want what you are doing and are invested in it. I really valued you sharing your decision-making process with us. But I was also really inspired by all your learnings (and rules that you have made for yourselves) along the way. Take a good look at the role or roles you are "playing", and think about how this might be restricting you. The "project" is social change - makes our own project seem less intimidating if there is no need "end-point". Part of something much larger. Tactics for linking ideas to resources to context. Make it invitational, ideas, let the space lead you to the target the magic of variety. So interesting to learn the Gap Filler spin on social change and the broad range of variety and

• ptions.

The possibilities! What would you have liked to have learned more about? How to deal with the nuts and bolts, but maybe as a progression from this one Maybe new ides that are being thought of by Gap Filler, and other communities. Great overview of Gap filler and the teams experiences. Thank you. Perhaps examples of other organisations doing similar things in other places but I suppose that’s not logical given your experiences with Gap filler in Christchurch (sp) How to go about gathering information regarding context/resources. More of Gap Fillers Projects. Funding processes? (Probably an entirely separate workshop) Project ownership, long tail effects All good, totally stoked on what I learnt. Process What would have made this presentation better for you? I thought the presentation was very well thought out and given. I thought the presentation was great how it is. Free pens? Lol jks. Was an awesome and very valuable workshop If I had eaten more and thus had more concentration capability and less restlessness. Perhaps also more workshopping ideas for our community. More workshop time, so we could have gone in the sea walls idea more. Less aircon. More vegetables. Video

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How likely is it that you would recommend Gap Filler's Place making Workshops to a friend or colleague? Likely Very likely. People ask me and my family (as Councillors) about community workshops a lot. The information and inspiration is very much appreciated. I would most likely definitely recommend Gap Fillers place making to everyone and my organisation. Very! Very likely. Positively likely. Very likely! I will. Pretty likely. Super likely. Thank you. Likely

• Definitively. Would recommend for sure.

Yes 10/10! All good, It was superb. More time. Excellent.

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Appendix Three: Examples of place making and tactical urbanism projects from other places

Wellington City Two Million Trees Project http://wellington.govt.nz/your-council/projects/two-million-trees Wellington has set a target of planting two million trees in the city by 2020. Individuals, groups, schools and businesses can contribute through various methods such as team building plantings, community plantings, sponsoring a forest, and commemorative trees. Project for Public Spaces Lighter, Quicker, Cheaper (LQC) Placemaking case studies from around the globe and how they are transforming our public spaces https://www.pps.org/places/lqc/ Place making in Adelaide “Splash Adelaide”. https://vimeo.com/63381015 Activate Auckland Initiatives For the Love of Bees https://www.fortheloveofbees.co.nz/about-for-the-love-of-bees/ For The Love of Bees is a living social sculpture that imagines Auckland as the safest city in the world for bees. Our project offers opportunities for businesses, students, individuals, schools, community gardens, brand partners and beekeepers to collaborate and produce a vision that will live on through the city of Auckland for years to come. By working in collaboration with Auckland Council Parks and Activate Auckland we are creating an ecosystem that supports thriving beehive colonies by introducing hives and focusing on the quality and quantity of flowers throughout our city. Tūrama Matariki Light Show http://ourauckland.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/articles/news/2016/10/personal-story-public- canvas-central-city-site-activation/ The Tūrama Matariki Light Show was programmed to celebrate the Maori New Year and also encourage Aucklanders to re-consider the public space between the Library and the Theatre. Artist Janine Williams and her husband Charles and digital mapper Daniel Davis created the new work, to ‘activate the site’. ‘Inner-city back yard’ A temporary public space created in a derelict empty city centre site - includes glass houses, a fridge with free food and drink (people leave food they can’t or aren’t going to eat, for others to pick up) seating / lounge space. Other community place making examples from Auckland The Ngati Manuhiri Settlement Trust created Taonga on the Move, a mobile cultural art facility for the local community, school and visitors to the Rodney Local Board area, to develop an understanding of Ngati Manuhiri culture. Urban Pantry turns wasted urban spaces into edible gardens to make cities better places to live and work. www.urbanpantry.co.nz Alfresco - An annual K’Rd Street Art Festival led by the K’Rd Business Association, which had its debut in 2013. www.allfresco.co.nz The Helensville Lions Club and Rodney Local Board funded a project to enhance a section of the Kaipara riverside walkway, behind the Helensville town centre. The project removed pest plants, created 120m of boxed gravel path and planted over 2000 native plants.

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Appendix Three: Examples of place making and tactical urbanism set ups and

• rganisations

Participatory City is a funded organisation that seeks to increase community participation in community activities and neighbourhood development projects. They are based in the UK and have a global advisory board. They have developed an excellent user friendly Participatory City Guide which you can find here. Activate Auckland Activate Auckland is an initiative designed to help Auckland through this transitional period by creating vibrant, inclusive, community-centred events and interventions within the city. A key impetus behind Activate Auckland is disruption mitigation through a period of major construction. In addition, Activate Auckland creates a wonderful opportunity for citizens to participate in shaping the city they want to live in. Activate Auckland acquires funds from a targeted special rate in Auckland Central. http://www.aucklanddesignmanual.co.nz/design-thinking/activateakl/activationguidance Panuku Development Auckland Panuku Development Auckland is a council-controlled organisation (CCO). We work closely with Auckland Council, other CCO’s and local boards to contribute to the implementation of the Auckland Plan, the roadmap to deliver on Auckland’s vision to be the world’s most liveable city. This strongly aligns with our vision of ‘shaping spaces for Aucklanders to love’. As Manager Place Making for Panuku Frith Walker works within the Place Shaping directorate on the creation of successful public space networks, supporting the programming and activation of

• ur public spaces, and championing the difference a healthy public realm can make in terms of

creating liveable cities. Inspiring Communities Inspiring communities is an organisation that catalyses locally-led change. Because this achieves sustainable, effective outcomes. We are a team of specialists in community-led development. We use our experience and expertise to mentor, broker, train and connect communities to become even better places to live, work and invest in. Inspiring Communities is a backbone organisation, we operate across many sectors at multiple

• levels. We are the reference point for community-led development in New Zealand, building on

international and local practice-based evidence to grow and share expertise. http://inspiringcommunities.org.nz/what-we-offer/ Letting Space Letting Space is managed by Helen Kirlew Smith, Mark Amery and Sophie Jerram. Curators Mark Amery and Sophie Jerram are trustees of the Wellington Independent Arts Trust, who as a trust with charitable status provide governance to Letting Space. The other trustees are producer, editor and filmmaker Jan Bieringa, leading independent filmmaker Gaylene Preston and writer, curator and artist Jo Randerson. The trust was established in 2009 to support experienced Wellington arts managers by providing an umbrella for significant independent arts projects.  Urban revitalisation through community engagement  Art and media projects that increase public space and lead to social change  Public art and revitalisation advice and planning  Help establishing collective sharing environments  Brokering the use of vacant urban space

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Focus Paihia The aim of FPCCT, on behalf of the community, is to see Paihia become an exceptional place to live, work and visit. We want to see Paihia ‘blossom’ and thrive, while retaining its friendly, village like atmosphere. To make ‘Paihia shine’, through:  clear leadership and direction by inspiring and uniting our community and celebrating our successes;  supporting and facilitating our community’s ideas for future public developments;  commenting and providing submissions on future developments;  having strong relationships and open communication practices;  encouraging local sustainable employment opportunities;  promoting and maintaining a rich, versatile and sustainable volunteer base; and  a sustainable charitable entity while remaining impartial and focused on the bigger picture. http://focuspaihia.org.nz/