Small change: The making of stirchley park

Abstract

The first in a series of case files, this article introduces the Small Change approach to community development and analyses the Making of Stirchley Park (MoSP) initiative. In 2011-2012, the arts led community interest company, Place Prospectors CIC, undertook an arts programme in the south Birmingham neighbourhood of Stirchley in the United Kingdom, one of which was the MoSP, using small-scale artistic interventions to spark long-term improvements in the neighbourhood's underused public park. The project is an example of the Small Change approach pioneered by the UK development practitioner and academic Prof. Hamdi (2004). The work contributes to the Small Change Forum, a UK research and practice initiative created by community arts organization, Multistory, and the Centre for Development and Emergency Practice (CENDEP) based at Oxford Brookes University, to investigate small change initiatives worldwide (for more information visit: www.facebook.com/SmallChangeForum). © Oxford University Press and Community Development Journal. 2013 All rights reserved.