Neighbourhoods are products of their past – understanding this helps planning for the future. Regeneration and renewal initiatives of all sorts tend to focus on the last set of data and information as the baseline. They also tend focus on the quantitative data and the negative indicators. This can hamper efforts to get an accurate ‘story of place’. It is important to go beyond these basics when planning for the long-term.
In EC1, the NDC team initiated a history project to help local agencies and residents get a better sense of the area (call OneHistory). This involved archival research but also collected a range of oral history. It was led by experts but also involved the local history group. It was also linked to the Area Action Plan (see here)
It told us a number of things about the area, but one clear benefit was a clearer understanding about the original plans behind the post-war developments in the area (the Finsbury Plan). This created more appreciation about the need to protect the best aspects of these. It also helped explain the impact of the changing world of work on the local population, and highlighted the importance of ‘urban manufacturing’ (as the area was once very important for clock-making.)
