MyPlace
[SUMMARY—Think spaces not places.]
(GBR) The UK governement recently launched a £190million capital scheme called MyPlace with the aim to "deliver world class youth facilities driven by the active participation of young people and their view and needs". A welcome opportunity for organisations, youth services and charity / voluntary sector groups to invest in much needed youth provision.
Couple this with government backed "National Blueprint Inquiry" lead by the chief executive of Clubs For Young People (I heard about this a few months ago at this event I spoke at—unfortunately, after about a half dozen emails asking for more information I got no response…).
In terms of investing in facilities I would like to offer up something we have learned from our school architect friends and partnerships is this: don't create places, create spaces.
Apart from the ironic and legal ramifications of calling this fund MySpace, the platform does serve as an illustrative model for the succesful components of participation: it has certain parameters, rules and boundaries but equally, it is fluid, open and almost ugly in it's application (see ugly MySpace pages (be careful not to miss the point—it's not the product but the proces which is important).
Taking it a stage further, apply everything Clay Shirky (author of Here Comes Everybody) is discssing below to the MyPlace and 'blueprint' debate:
How can the MyPlace fund enable spaces for young people and youth organisations to connect and explore collaborative opportunities (obviously we think using social media and technology would be a great enabler of this process)?
Related post: The Conversation Banquet
Filed by DK on May 9 2008
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