Bristol’s Temple Quarter is one of the UK’s largest regeneration projects, for which Play:Disrupt delivered six pop-up on street engagement events plus a targeted session with the Centre for Deaf and Hard of Hearing People.
We used landmarking, future thinking, consequence scanning and Roots (a systems exercise which facilitates people to create skeleton proposals for place-based interventions, to bring about a desired change in the community) to engage people in different elements of a 130 hectare project at the heart of Bristol. We gathered feedback from our workshops into a report with recommendations, which helped to shape the final vision, signed off by Bristol City Cabinet.
In 2023 we commissioned Play:Disrupt to support us to engage with communities around the Temple Quarter regeneration project. The commission was designed to complement a more formal consultation on a draft development framework, recognising that many people would not easily engage with the consultation. The aim was to build awareness of, and interest in, the project, get feedback on some of the key principles detailed in the framework, and engage those who often don’t take part in formal consultation but are likely to be impacted by the changes proposed.
Play:Disrupt provided visual and engaging activities which grabbed attention and encouraged people to stop by and find out what was happening. We were pleased to see how versatile the activities were with both adults and children enjoying being involved. This more creative and playful approach meant we were able to speak to more people from a range of backgrounds, some of whom knew very little about the project. The approach added significant value, not only to the consultation, but to how we take the wider programme forward.
Jane Greenaway, Consultation and Communications Project Lead, Bristol City Council
