’Nothing will really happen unless people talk. People won’t really talk unless they feel comfortable to do so. You are trying to create that environment where people feel comfortable enough to share conversation.'

Sam Bishop on hosting and planning Street Feast.

Listen to the 1:1 with Sam Bishop by subscribing to ‘The Decorators On Air’ podcast

1:1 with Sam Bishop, an architect and host. He talks about Street Feast, Happenings, Another Love Story & many other public gathering initiatives. 

’Nothing will really happen unless people talk. People won’t really talk unless they feel comfortable to do so. You are trying to create that environment where people feel comfortable enough to share conversation.' Sam Bishop

"I'm interested in playground design but sometimes I find it a bit reductive. You have these designated spaces where children are meant to be in and play in and they are not the same spaces as you want to be in as an adult. How can those boundaries be collapsed so there is more visibility of children in society? This is not just an issue for those with children. Nobody arrives into the world as an adult, we are all impacted by the spaces that we are in as children...It's about the impact that designed spaces have on us as we grow."

**Tara Kennedy on how the design of the built environment supports family life.**

Image from Culturstruction, Commonage 2012

"How do you make the public realm as beautiful as possible? It isn't just about planting greenery, it's about management... and agreed code of behaviour that everybody subscribes to and a sense that we are all really dependant on this space".

**Ali Grehan, Dublin City Architect, shares her thoughts on public space as we walk from her home on Montjoy Street to Trinity College.**

Our work at The Decorators aims to help create good public spaces; spaces where difference meets and community is built.

This work is not straightforward as it revolves around a complex network of interactions.

1:1 is a series of walking conversations with people who have an active role in shaping public life. We want to find out what drives them, what keeps them going and most importantly what they can teach us.

The second conversation in this series is with Finn Williams, co-founder of [Public Practice](http://www.publicpractice.org.uk/), a social enterprise that believes the UK’s most talented architects and designers should be working on the mundane buildings of our everyday environment. So Public Practice is sending them into the public sector.

“Here I was able to draw on all kinds of different disciplines of powers and skills that the council had. The answer to every question was not necessarily a building, it could be changing the parking charges in a certain area or working with housing colleagues to look at the maintenance for a public space or rewriting a policy and that got much closer to what I felt was really needed to change a place like Croydon.’ “ Finn Williams on working at Croydon Council

Our work at The Decorators aims to help create good public spaces; spaces where difference meets and community is built.

This work is not straightforward as it revolves around a complex network of interactions.

1:1 is a series of walking conversations with people who have an active role in shaping public life. We want to find out what drives them, what keeps them going and most importantly what they can teach us.

‘The public realm can be simply defined as a place where strangers meet. The difference between public and private lies in the amount of knowledge one person or group has about others …… The most important fact about the public realm is what happens in it. Gathering together strangers enables certain kinds of activities which cannot happen, or do not happen as well, in the intimate private realm.’ Richard Sennett

Garstang Road Stories is a series of four 1:1 conversations with business owners at four key points along a 2.7 mile stretch of the Garstang Road in Preston, UK.

These conversations are part of a mapping of the Garstang Road, which we have bused, walked, photographed and in parts audio recorded to reveal some of the social, cultural and spatial delights that are to be found along this key road through Preston. These participating voices helped give us a more intimate insight into this busy road.

The voices in this recording include:

Sheldon Ward from We Love Hair, 26 Garstang Road

Nicola Dickinson from Flame Urban Spa, 109 Garstang Road

Thomas Finch from Springfield Manor Gardens, 228 Garstang Road

Etty Crescenti from Slice of Sicily, 333 Garstang Road

This research has been commissioned by [In Certain Places](http://incertainplaces.org/), a research project based in the city of Preston examining how artists can contribute to the development of the city.

These conversations are an accompaniment to a research document called Learning from Preston.

Summary reflections from Erith residents at The Erith Lighthouse

Plain sailing or storms ahead? In this final episode of this three part conversation broadcast live at the Erith Lighthouse, we ask what's next as the project draws to a close.

The second in this three part radio discussion programme, broadcast live from Erith Lighthouse. This conversation explores how Erith has changed in the past and what are the possibilities for the future.