Design, Community, Research and Creative Practice on a 1960s English Council Estate
Creators: name: Author, Unknown
Publisher: name: University of Lincoln
Year: 2024

description: Output typeMulti-component output (2 x Journal articles; Authored book; Book Chapter)University of Lincoln repository number for outputa. 28722b. 31723c. 19753d. 24639e. 38720Output detailsa. Waites, Ian (2017) Middlefield: A postwar council estate in time. Uniformbooks. ISBN 9781910010167b. Waites, Ian (2018) Ã¢â‚¬ËœOne big playground for kidsÃ¢â‚¬â„¢: a contextual appraisal of some 1970s photographs of children hanging out on a post-World War Two British council estate. Childhood in the Past, 11 (2). pp. 114-128. ISSN 1758-5716c. Waites, Ian (2015) Middlefield: the development of a provincial post-World War Two council estate in Lincolnshire, 1960Ã¢â‚¬â€œ1965. Midland History, 40 (2). pp. 264-285. ISSN 0047-729Xd. Waites, Ian (2016) 'Spontaneous estate evolution': Research/Practice interventions on a 1960s council estate. In: H Neate and R Craggs (eds), Modern Futures. Uniformbooks, pp. 102-111. ISBN 9781910010112e. Lewis, C. and Waites I (2020) Ã¢â‚¬ËœNew light on an old problem: Child-related archÃƒÂ¦ological finds and the impact of the 'Radburn' council estate planÃ¢â‚¬â„¢, Journal of Contemporary Archaeology, 6 (2). pp. 245-273. ISSN 2051-3429This output represents a sustained, cross-disciplinary, research-into-practice Ã¢â‚¬Ëœmicro-studyÃ¢â‚¬â„¢ of a 1960s council estate at Middlefield Lane, Gainsborough, Lincolnshire. WaitesÃ¢â‚¬â„¢ research pursues three interconnected lines of enquiry: form (the estateÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s architecture, planning, and material reality), function (how the form nurtured/supported a sense of community and wellbeing), and feeling (the interpretive analysis of the estate via certain phenomenological constructions of everyday life, sense of place, childhood, and memory). Waites grew up on the estate during the 1960s and 70s, which also gives this research a further, unique resonance as a form of auto-ethnography: (a) embodies this framework/methodology, both as a guide to the estateÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s topology and material culture, and on how the estateÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s outward appearance gives expression to its inner life via short texts of historical reportage, sensory experiences, and memories. Waites has taken this research back to MiddlefieldÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s community today, by co-coordinating a number of collaborative, practice-based community engagement activities there. One example is critically assessed in (d) while another, the AHRC funded Ã¢â‚¬ËœExploring MiddlefieldÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s ArchaeologyÃ¢â‚¬â„¢ project (May 2016), is notable for creating the first-ever communal archaeological excavation of a council estate, where seventy residents carried out test-pit explorations of their gardens, and of the numerous communal, pedestrianized Ã¢â‚¬ËœgreensÃ¢â‚¬â„¢ that characterize the estate. The early development and planning of the estate is discussed in (b) which directly influenced the choice of sites for excavation. In turn, the excavationÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s findings (predominantly evidence of childrenÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s play, remnants of toys etc) were discussed in (c), which analyses the nature of everyday childhood on the estate in relation to the way it was planned. This typifies the overarching conceptual objective of this output, specifically in how it adds significant new evidential weight to its argument that the ideals and actions of 1960s council estate planners met contemporary social needs: (e) discusses this in more detail, and fundamentally casts doubt on the common notion that the subsequent decline of such estates can be ascribed to inherent weaknesses in their original design or to their misuse by residents. Dissemination of the work/findings include participation in a BBC Radio 4 programme for the series Ã¢â‚¬ËœMaking HistoryÃ¢â‚¬â„¢ recorded on site at Middlefield on 27 June 2017.