Whoseburn?

Whoseburn?
Ouseburn and the East End, Newcastle
2024 – ongoing

*Strategic placemaking

Whoseburn? is a collaborative research and engagement initiative exploring the Ouseburn Valley, asking a simple but fundamental question: who is the Ouseburn for?

This broad question is the initial provocation, and the project aims to interrogate and inform ways of working in the Ouseburn and the immediate surrounding communities of Battlefield, Shieldfield and Byker.

The catalyst for the project is the Woods Pottery site on Stepney Bank, and this site will be used as the project anchor, bringing together site stakeholders PNE, Wild Roots Community Garden and the Ouseburn Market along with Building Culture, to use the site as a live testing ground for a genuinely different approach to urban development. Over twelve months, the partnership will listen, map, collaborate, test and build – gathering real-world evidence and community relationships that no commercial process would have reason to produce.

This work aims to inform what happens with the land now and in future and also set a working precedent for similar approaches elsewhere in the area and beyond.

If you are interested in these conversations, please reach out.

E: hello@building-culture.org