Great project in Birmingham: “you will build foundational joinery skills, work directly with materials to understand the value of alternative construction materials and processes” Public Square microfactory co-build Regenerative building technology with MJM Bespoke + Material Cultures

Imandeep Kaur@immykaur.bsky.social · 6h ago

🪵 Co-Builders: Reclaimed Timber Partition Wall 🛠️ Tues 29th + Wed 30th Sept 🕣 9.30am—4.30pm 🏭 Neighbourhood Public Square, Rotton Park Street, B16 0AB 👥 Ages 16+ | No previous experience required 🎟️ bit.ly/WallCoBuild You are warmly invited to a practical co-build on the CIVIC SQUARE site ❤️

🪵 Co-Builders: Reclaimed Timber Partition Wall 🛠️ Tues 29th + Wed 30th Sept 🕣 9.30am—4.30pm 🏭 Neighbourhood Public Square, Rotton Park Street, B16 0AB 👥 Ages 16+ | No previous experience required 🎟️ bit.ly/WallCoBuild You are warmly invited to a practical co-build on the CIVIC SQUARE site ❤️

my takeaway from climate week nyc is that "climate storytelling" is a little too much "we must reimagine our deepest souls in relationship to mother nature and the moral abyss of the polycrisis into which we must now stare" and not enough "ok but get a heat pump"

I wrote a book! A whole, real, actual book! Ada Limón, genius poet, said nice things about it! As did other absolute heroes! And now it's in libraries and bookstores in several countries! Be careful what you wish for, it might turn out awesome bookshop.org/p/books/huma...

Human Nature: Nine Ways to Feel About Our Changing Planet

Nine Ways to Feel About Our Changing Planet

bookshop.org

darth™️@darthbluesky.bsky.social · last yr.

i wrote this post in july two years ago when blue sky had around 200,000 total users and i thought i would ask again tell me what u are doing be proud of what u do and share it here

Great to see this article highlighting Birmingham’s Retrofit House 🌿 eco-friendly, skills-sharing, and full of grassroots innovation 💚 @civicsquare.bsky.social @immykaur.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...

‘It’s about quality of life’: Can Birmingham’s Retrofit House help fix the UK’s terrible housing?

From flood protection and encouraging wildlife to fixing doors and reducing fuel bills, a new initiative aims to empower residents and make their homes more comfortable

theguardian.com

“By design, we dismantled our public infrastructure in the UK” “We need to unlock the creativity, skills and imagination of everyone to create a regenerative future collectively.” “We don’t need to repeat imperial practice from the past to flourish” – @immykaur.bsky.social at #FutureDays #FD26

“90% of what we need is there” “But how come incredibly amazing community projects aren’t able to survive?” “Do we lack the imagination?” “We need to luck at power, finance, land ownership and civic stewardship” – @immykaur.bsky.social in a #FD26 panel discussion with @christianbason.bsky.social

"Looking at the work through social value, it’s not about how many people use the building but how much knowledge can you embed locally through turning everything into a learning opportunity" www.theguardian.com/artanddesign... Kudos @immykaur.bsky.social

‘It’s about quality of life’: Can Birmingham’s Retrofit House help fix the UK’s terrible housing?

From flood protection and encouraging wildlife to fixing doors and reducing fuel bills, a new initiative aims to empower residents and make their homes more comfortable

theguardian.com

The systemic risks of underperforming housing. From a (predictably) fab set of slides on Civic Square by @immykaur.bsky.social docs.google.com/presentation...

I saw @raechelkelly.bsky.social today on a train platform and got to spend 3 hilarious and unexpected hours together. Going to try Blue Sky for real now.

One of the best things I’ve read all year.

The Texture of Quality

A Play in Ten Acts by Kenneth Mikkelsen

substack.com

One of the best things I’ve read all year.

The Texture of Quality

A Play in Ten Acts by Kenneth Mikkelsen

substack.com

“We must root ourselves back in the land; the way the land speaks to us; the way we build on the land; the way that the land can nurture us, and the way the land nurtures itself.” —Abdi Hassan www.instagram.com/reel/DICsBsp...

Just read another post about Nick Booth - this one by Kate Cooper.

Sad to read the news about @podnosh.bsky.social in this post by @danslee.bsky.social. Nick was one of the early pioneers of social media across charities and local government.

Remembering Nick Booth

Last week, I heard that Nick Booth had died and as with so many others who knew him even slightly, it stopped me in my tracks. A couple of weeks before I’d heard that Ben Whitehouse had also passed…

danslee.co.uk

For years I’d managed to avoid the work WhatsApp group life, and tried to keep phone as private as possible. Why is everyone organising on WhatsApp again professionally, please can we use Slack. It’s too much, even if you mute, there’s still stuff constantly.

But in my experience, there is always one essential ingredient: scrappy people who are willing to work backward from goals that seem impossibly ambitious at the start — Ayana Elizabeth Johnson

But in my experience, there is always one essential ingredient: scrappy people who are willing to work backward from goals that seem impossibly ambitious at the start — Ayana Elizabeth Johnson

'I thought about it in my head and I felt it in my heart and I longed for it to happen with all of my body and soul , but I made it with my hands.' — Rob Ryan

The greatest weariness comes from work not done. Eric Hoffer

We used to have a cartoon that said "Everything I didn't do yesterday plus everything I haven't done today plus everything I won't do tomorrow completely exhausts me". Always rang true.

The greatest weariness comes from work not done. Eric Hoffer

The post office (+ public libraries) are 🌟. We *could* think so much more capaciously + creatively about what they can be! Check out our Local Media lesson on post offices (relevant slides start @ 48): localmedia.wordsinspace.net/spring2024/p... And this recent talk is about civic institutions:

Shannon Mattern, “Civic Adjacencies” - Events - e-flux

e-flux Architecture Lectures

e-flux.com

Costa Samaras@costasamaras.com · 2y ago

Put solar and batteries on all the Post Offices. Have it serve as a community resilience hub during and after extreme events. Have it broadcast free neighborhood wifi. Every month release a new stamp with a cool animal on it.

Excited to share a new report by Material Cultures, situating social and ecological possibilities and context for the retrofit of the Neighbourhood Public Square at @civicsquare.bsky.social. In part it shares an ecoregional mapping of Birmingham + West Midlands, + much more. bit.ly/BuildingSkillsCS

Excellent work. I was part of a group in Birmingham, UK (cc: @immykaur.bsky.social) that similarly created and distributed benches throughout the neighborhood. Just saw one still in place this morning!

When I sit on my boards the position makes you feel so powerful, because you get to just say stuff to people delivering with no responsibility in reality for whether it’s actually possible, you don’t actually hold the risk and if you do, you then stop anything transformative or really risky ..

Friends, organisers, movement of peeps organising together, shifting to the organisational logic is not for the faint hearted. I also really think that the amount of things you have to hold on, not say what happened in reality, causes illness, the performative nonsense, is exactly that nonsense.

“I want the separation between the expression of politics in the gallery & the practice of politics in life to disappear. I want the institution to understand: if you want us inside you need to listen to us outside. Ceasefire now, arms embargo now free Palestine.” www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...

Jasleen Kaur wins the Turner prize 2024

The competition’s youngest contestant scoops the award for animating everyday objects to reflect the pluralities of identity and community

theguardian.com