Project update June 2023

KS3 workshops – held at the Art Shop on 28 March 2023

The KS3 workshops were held at the Art Shop on Wednesday 28 March 2023 where the project team were joined by Boys’ Model school, their teachers and teaching assistants. This workshop was on “Building A Better Belfast” and involved A3 maps of Belfast, a hugely helpful resource provided by Belfast City Council through external parties such as Esri UK, HERE, Garmin, GeoTechnologies, Maxar, Microsoft, METI/NASAS, etc. A range of topographical and aerial maps were used to show the children what their city looks like from above and which showed spatial quality throughout the streets, in between buildings and public spaces.

These workshops drew the children’s attention to an abundance of car parking spaces in the city centre – over 10,000, a hugely staggering number. The children were taught that Belfast, although small in population and size in comparison to other larger UK cities, is a heavily car-congested city, and that measures need to be taken to improve the health and wellbeing of its inhabitants. This information, and a whole host of other carbon-focused information, led to fruitful discussion and encouraged the children to work in groups to design a “Net-Zero” garden/green space – a place where local people could appreciate their environment, the flora and fauna would flourish and urban garden plots would help to feed its citizens and surrounding coffee and lunch spots, thereby stimulating a circular economy.

The children were divided into groups and split into two sessions – with one group taken on a tour of the newly opened Belfast campus (by the Schools’ Outreach team), whilst the other team worked with each other to design a “green space” in the city centre. Each design session commenced after a short presentation on Belfast’s strengths and weakness and was delivered by the Research Assistant of the project. After the presentation, each group was encouraged to name themselves and begin their task of designing a “green space”.

From the maps, the children noted a lack of available green spaces within the city centre, an overcrowding of cars on the streets and the sheer number of car parks. And using materials provided: post-it notes, felt-tip pens, markers and utilising the aerial and topographical maps, the children drew and designed on a specific site map, improvements they would make to the surrounding areas.

In their groups the children discussed adding more bicycle lanes, taking inspiration from bicycle-friendly cities such as Amsterdam and Vienna, who value the pedestrian experience over car-efficiency and congested cities. In their groups, the children drew spaces for football pitches, sensory gardens, and urban vegetable plots. More pedestrian-zones were designed in and around the Cathedral Quarter and the main roads were rerouted to completely pedestrianise certain areas of the city centre and Royal Avenue.

Each group had 15-20 minutes to sketch and come up with their ideas before they presented to the other group  in 5–10-minute slots. Each group was encouraged to question one another’s groups on their green space design choices.

The workshops provided the opportunity to hear younger voices on improvements in the city centre and to seek advice on reinvigorating the urban landscapes.

Biodiversity trip – 19 April 2023

After the KS3 workshops and before the project ended, two of the KS2 schools that participated in the six-weeklong programme were invited on a Biodiversity trip to Cave Hill Country Park where two workshops – running in tandem – were delivered by Belfast Hills Partnership. The facilitators – Laura and Aaron — took the children on a bug hunt, taught them to identify wild animal trails in the woods and took them on a nature walk, as well as teaching the children about the local flora and fauna!

It was a perfect Spring day and a great opportunity for both schools to engage with one another and to celebrate the end of the workshops.

Graduation ceremony – 26 May 2023

Bringing together both primary schools – St. Mary’s Primary School and Currie Primary School — the Architects of Change Phase 2 project culminated in a graduation ceremony held at our newly opened Belfast campus on York Street. Welcomed by Professor Frank Lyons, Associate Dean of Research & Innovation, the day’s events were also attended by the Chief Executive of the Northern Ireland’s Housing Executive, Grainia Long, whose unwavering support and funding have made this project succeed from the very start. Lorraine Lavery-Bowen, Schools’ Partnership Manager from Schools’ Outreach,

gave a short talk to the students about the importance of strengthening community ties and drew attention to the critical learning that the children had achieved over the past year.

Each child then was called to the front of the auditorium and received a certificate directly from Grainia – a great way to commemorate their achievements throughout the past year. A lunch was served to thank the children, teachers, participants for their involvement on the project and to give the children an opportunity to celebrate with their peers and enjoy the University surroundings.

What’s next?

Now that Phase 2 of project has successfully completed and run its first full year of exciting programmes, there is much to be discussed, refined, and prepared for the next year of the project – Architects of Change Phase 3.

With confirmed funding from the Northern Ireland’s Housing Executive for another year of the Architects of Change project, Phase 3 aims to encourage environmental education further across the region — involving schools local to the Ulster University campuses – Coleraine and Magee.