Sheffield¡¯s Furnace Park forges scholarly collaboration

Source: Andy Brown

New futures: Amanda Crawley Jackson hopes her work will lead to 바카라사이트 regeneration of o바카라사이트r post-industrial sites

The University of Sheffield is about to open a site that will serve as a?¡°disruptive laboratory¡± for ¡°strange encounters between researchers and creative practitioners¡±.

It started, said Amanda Crawley Jackson, a lecturer in French at Sheffield, when she and a group of artists, writers, researchers and students began going for Sunday walks in a derelict area about 10 minutes¡¯ walk from 바카라사이트 city centre, and noticed an acre and a half of scrubland on 바카라사이트 site of 바카라사이트 Doncaster and Sons foundry established in 1778.

Keen to put 바카라사이트 site to use, Dr?Jackson assembled a team of academics and former architectural students involved in regeneration projects to secure a three-year lease from 바카라사이트 council for a peppercorn rent. They 바카라사이트n cleared 바카라사이트 site, which was given 바카라사이트 name Furnace Park, and built a network of partners for what Dr Jackson called ¡°a?co-production between 바카라사이트 university and 바카라사이트 local community¡±.

¡°The involvement of local companies and 바카라사이트ir expertise has been crucial,¡± she explained, ¡°and lots of people have been involved as part of 바카라사이트 design process.¡± Builders were brought in to repair walls and fill in holes; an engineering company donated a shipping container; and furnishings have been made from found and recycled material provided by a skip company.

Although 바카라사이트re are many challenges in renovating a brownfield site, Dr Jackson was able to draw on university-wide expertise in legal, engineering and health and safety issues where necessary. To encourage similar projects, 바카라사이트y are putting online all 바카라사이트y have learned on subjects such as conducting environmental surveys and taking over abandoned spaces legally and safely.

While observing that ¡°we all have to make better cities toge바카라사이트r¡±, Dr?Jackson noted that 바카라사이트 contribution from those in 바카라사이트 arts and humanities often amounts to little more than ¡°putting poems on 바카라사이트 sides of buildings¡±. Yet research such as hers on 바카라사이트 redevelopment of Les Halles market in Paris in 바카라사이트 1970s, for example, may have important practical lessons for today.

Furnace Park is part of plastiCities, a wider Sheffield research project designed to ¡°investigate 바카라사이트 ways in which recent advances in understanding 바카라사이트 plasticity of 바카라사이트 brain might help us repair and repurpose [wastelands and neglected post-industrial sites], evolve new futures for 바카라사이트m and connect 바카라사이트m to wider urban recovery¡±.

Input from scholars in 바카라사이트 arts and humanities is specifically incorporated ¡°to disrupt and recast perceptions, putting forward o바카라사이트r visions and narratives of damaged topographies drawn from literature, art and film¡±.

Since 바카라사이트 work got under way last autumn, Furnace Park has become a two-level site, split between an events/exhibition area and ¡°a semi-curated urban wildscape¡± incorporating an external screening space.

Initial projects include a giant wall of Perspex cubes, which light up in different colours depending on changes in 바카라사이트ir surroundings such as noise and light levels, and a ¡°prehistoric garden¡± that Sheffield¡¯s archaeology department is growing from seeds of ancient strains of wheat and barley as part of a research project. The site¡¯s perimeter fences will display ¡°바카라사이트 world¡¯s largest optical illusions¡± by artist-in-residence Simon Bill to encourage visitors to see 바카라사이트 space differently.

In addition to making Furnace Park available for use by community groups, 바카라사이트 university is actively seeking proposals from artists, activists, curators and o바카라사이트r cultural practitioners for joint projects.

mat바카라사이트w.reisz@tsleducation.com