The Place I Call Home Spills into the Street
The Place I Call Home Spills into the Street is a performative, guided walk for residential neighbourhoods that explores how small, personal, creative acts can be catalysts for playable, socially connected streets. It asks “Want to feel more at home beyond the walls of your flat or house?”, “Want children to play out where you live?” and explores the conditions that fulfil these desires.
It was orginally produced by Playing Out for a pilot in Bristol’s Easton and Ashley wards, where Amy Rose and Jenny Sanderson (Bocadalupa) called ’round for participants at their home and followed a route linking the homes of each. They employed a variety of playful and unobtrusive street reclaiming tactics alongside the practical experiences of street play, positive social contagion, creative placemaking, mental speed bumps, tactical urbanism and more.
The walk was followed by a week-long process during which participants responded to a series of prompts for small, individual creative tasks around their doorsteps, pavements and streets. Participants documented their responses and shared these among the group via postcards and online. The project was adapted for the Bristol Walking Festival.
Evaluation of the project showed that it had a catalytic effect on participants, expanding their sense of agency, connection and possibility in relation to people and the places on their own street and in their wider neighbourhood .
This really reconfigured my idea of our small, main road-facing front garden, which I had never thought of as a viable play space…
Participant, St. Pauls, Bristol
Read more about this project here and here!
This project is available for adaptation to new settings. Get in touch if you want to feel more at home in your neighbourhood.
Devised and performed by Amy Rose and Jenny Sanderson (Bocadalupa)
Directed and designed by Amy Rose
Produced by Playing Out
