Welcome to the Winter 2025 edition of the MAG Newsletter
We have taken the opportunity in this edition of our newsletter to outline a number of areas of our work that may be of interest to you.
Design for Planet
Supporting Good Design - Benefits of the Design Review process and strategic design advice
Mayor of Manchester, Andy Burnham welcoming participants. Image Credit: Design Council
MAG Chair Andrew Haley attended Design for Planet on 6 November 2024 in Manchester at the School of Art. The need now for designers to be central to the revolution needed to deliver a net zero, climate resilient future is critical.
As in previous years Design for Planet provided an opportunity to share moments of inspiration and challenge with an in-person audience and over 5,000 people joining the live-streaming of the discussions in 109 countries. The spotlight moved across diverse and yet connected topics, from the built environment to fashion, graphic communication to skills.
Andy Burnham, the Mayor of Manchester welcomed participants and was inspirational in the way that he spoke as a civic leader, with knowledge and passion addressing inter-connected issues that the Council and its stakeholders can do that will benefit citizens and business, whilst having a clear climate/net zero focus. Control of public transport provides a significant lever for the Council to influence the pace of decarbonisation. Active travel and green hydrogen plans all represent long-term commitments which require strategic commitment.
Patrick Grant, presenter of the Great British Sewing Bee was outstanding. Whilst coming from a fashion background, his message was for all. Set in the context of a history lesson about commerce and commercialisation over the last three hundred years, the challenge was to move away from wanting ‘new’, to wanting ‘better’ and in wanting ‘better’ that inherently means saying ‘no’ to disposable, investing in ‘things’ that are intended to last and which can and should be repaired. And to do this we need to better understand the materials that we are designing with. Patrick’s story about the exploding oven tray was a good one – a cheap product that was in-effect disposable, and not manufactured to last, that twisted and ‘went bang’ in the oven along with its contents, in stark contrast to his blackened one that has served well for decades.
Skills was a major focus for discussion. We know that to meet our net zero targets that we need a seismic upward shift in green skills across all sectors. As a framework is developed, we know that we need to raise awareness of the skills that are needed and the employment opportunities that exist and those that are emerging, alongside a fundamental review of how we embed this from primary schools into higher level education and lifelong learning.
Living High Streets Initiative Update
MAG are delighted that the Living High Streets approach has been used by the Newtownards Road Action Group.
On 27 November 2024 the Newtownards Road Action Group, brought together by EastSide Partnership, unveiled 'Our Vision for Newtownards Road'
Minister Lyons highlighted that The Vision for Newtownards Road is a good example of how issues can be tackled through participation. Minister Lyons was also complimentary on the implementation of the MAG Living High Streets approach and use of the Craft Kit in the development of the plan. He highlighted that the passion of local people involved has been a key driver behind its success and that the future of the Newtownards Road should follow a bottom-up approach, not top-down.
Michele Bryans, CEO of EastSide Partnership, stated that the plan was not designed to ‘sit on a shelf and gather dust’ and should be utilised to its full potential. Michele is looking forward to being one of many organisations who will continue to lead and take forward the plan.
Stevie Johnston, Neighbourhood Renewal Coordinator at EastSide Partnership explained that the Local Action Group comprising of over 20 local individuals, was set up to review the strategy for the Newtownards Road and co-produced the plan, supported by The Paul Hogarth Company.
James Hennessey, Director at The Paul Hogarth Company, reinforced that the document was co-produced as a practical and usable tool to be used as a framework including:
- Our People -
Connecting and engaging people and organisations around a reinvigorated positive identity - focusing on communication, brand and festivals.
- 101 Actions - shared endeavour and the cumulative impact of small interventions in incremental steps - focusing on greening, cleaning, fixing and activating.
- Social Spaces - focusing on existing pavement space and public spaces, potential new public spaces.
- Places to Live, Work and Shop - focusing on engagement, design guide and acquisition.
- Reimagining the road - focusing on safety, air quality and rebalanced space.
Delivery is planned for short, medium and longer time frames to track progress and ensure each step brings them closer to the shared vision of Newtownards Road.
Following the presentations, a number of representatives from the Newtownards Road Action Group took part in a panel discussion, chaired by Michele. The panel consisted of representatives from the East Belfast Mission, Portview Trade Centre, Belfast Greenways and the Nazarene Church on the Newtownards Road.
Placemaking Facilitator Training
Placemaking Facilitator training took place on 21 January with representatives from Armagh City, Banbridge & Craigavon District Council, Ards and North Down District Council, Derry City and Strabane District Council and Mid Ulster District Council.
Should you be interested in participating in a training session or require any advice about using the Living High Streets Craft Kit please contact magsecretariat@communities-ni.gov.uk
Exploring the Impact: The draft Programme for Government and Ending Violence Against Women and Girls
In Northern Ireland, there have been five women murdered in 2024 alone, and 23 women killed in the last four years. Ending Violence Against Women and Girls (EVAWG) is one of the key priorities in the draft Programme for Government (PfG) 2024-2047 which was launched for consultation on the 6th September - Ending Violence Against Women and Girls Strategic Framework and first Delivery Plan.
Creating safe spaces for all is a challenge in both urban and rural settings, violence against women and girls in public spaces is an everyday occurrence in every country around the world. The UN acknowledges that this reality reduces women’s and girls’ freedom of movement. It reduces their ability to participate in school, work, and public life. It limits their access to essential services and their enjoyment of cultural and recreational activities, and negatively impacts their health and well-being.
The recently published strategy ‘Ending Violence Against Women and Girls’ by the Northern Ireland Executive Office acknowledges that ending violence of all kinds against women and girls is one of the most difficult challenges facing our society today. It is also one of the most important.
On 13 November 2024 a webinar co-hosted by Belfast Healthy Cities and Queen’s University Belfast GroundsWell consortium explored research and initiatives, to End Violence Against Women and Girls and the Wellbeing Economy, to create safer spaces for all. A new project, led by researchers at Queen's University Belfast and involving a network of key partners, will explore interventions to end violence against women and girls in public spaces in Belfast.
QUB website - GroundsWell MAG Member Ruth Hunter as part of her role with QUB Groundswell consortium organised the webinar.
Speakers included:
Dr Siobhan McAlister, Queen’s University Belfast; Gender-Based Violence in Northern Ireland: Key Findings from Local Research, Lindsay Fisher, Police Service for Northern Ireland; The Reality of Violence Against Women and Girls: A PSNI Perspective, Professor Claire Archbold, Executive Office, Director, Ending Violence Against Women and Girls Directorate (EVAWG); Ending Violence Against Women and Girls Strategic Framework and PFG Priority, Tsering Lama, Kira Fortune, WHO Europe; Wellbeing Economy, Louise Slevin, The Executive Office Programme for Government, Governance, Reporting & Divisional Support; Responding to the Programme for Government Impact Assessment
Making Heritage Work for High Streets
MAG Expert Advisor Colin McCrossan attended the ‘Making Heritage Work for High Streets’ event on 5 September to speak about the recent study that he and co-Expert Adviser, Gerry Millar had carried out in relation to the . This was a study by the Strategic Investment Board promoting the concept that doing more with what we have is going to address a number of key agendas going forward, from the climate change agenda to the Circular Economy policy, to the Investment strategy for NI (which determines that the public purse is not going to stretch to build everything it needs from new – not least to the regeneration of our towns and cities.
The report was not meant to be a heavy study but more of an inspirational report which highlighted a range of examples across all council areas where some of our typical elements of built assets had been creatively and innovatively brought back in to use. Assets such as, court houses, banks, hospitals, post offices, sub-stations and even vacant sites. The aim being to both inspire others to do more of the same going forward but also to highlight some of the key lessons, obstacles and issues that were involved and will be a feature of future projects going forward.
All of these issues were highlighted and included such issues as: inflexibility of heritage obligations being obstacles to re-use: the lack of central funding to support re-use as opposed to new-build: the rates and VAT systems being detrimental factors; the lack of stewardship of ‘places’ caused by fragmentation of roles in place-shaping.
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