Public Voice: Common Ground

Public Voice: Common Ground was a pilot project commissioned by the States of Jersey to understand what was needed in its public realm based on effective community engagement. It won 'Best Placemaking & Community Engagement in the Public Domain' at the Jersey Design Awards 2024 and was presented as an example of innovative and best practice at the British Irish Council’s ‘Placemaking in Practice’ symposium, Cardiff, September 2023.

It was built on research to improve Jersey’s public spaces through sustainable partnership sponsored by the Economy Department (Gibb 2022). The pilot had 3 objectives:

• to inspire and illustrate what was possible through temporary intervention and pop-up sites.

• to enable effective community engagement and analyse.

• to co-create and provide value across business, government, 3rd sector and community.

What happened

Seed funding from government was double matched by partners. Temporary sites were co-designed, co-funded, and co-delivered with partners from business, government, community and third sectors.

Over 2,000 residents took part in public engagement through survey, interviews, discussions, chalkboards, social media and workshops. At the sites, changes in behaviour, use and dwell time were recorded. Using a mixed and multiple methodology enabled engagement figures, data and a level of insight that would not have been possible through survey alone.

Nearly 500 locals took part in interviews and group discussions. These included schools, students and graduates, Mind, Youth Service, Jersey Skate Park, Portuguese, business and disabled communities.

Free community art events and workshops played a big role in the success of the engagement. With art as the common language, all participants communicated on a level playing field, regardless of demographic. In Jersey, community data had not been collected or analysed in this way before.