ZeroMargate: A coastal park climate literacy activator
Lead Research Organisation:
Manchester Metropolitan University
Department Name: The Manchester School of Architecture
Abstract
'As agreed with AHRC please see the Case for Support attachment for the full application information'
Publications
Causer Sam
(2023)
Landscape as Shelter Exhibition Folio [A1 format]
Vasilikou C
(2024)
ZeroMargate Project Public Report of Design Exchange Partenrship
Vasilikou C
(2025)
Zero Hour Margate: The Climate Literacy Blueprints, a Reflection on the Re-Activation of the Coastal Built and Intangible Heritage.
in Coastal Studies & Society
| Description | ZeroMargate: Coastal Climate Literacy Activator is a research collaboration between Manchester School of Architecture and Margate-based Architect Studio Sam Causer. For twelve months, the ZeroMargate team engaged with the Margate community - local residents and coastal town stakeholders - about ways to adapt to the changing climate, with an aim to transform the coastline of Margate into an activator for the green transition. The project team curated four open-to-all events, inviting local communities to explore our shared understanding of "shelter" in the context of a climate emergency, inspired by the bathing shelter structures built along the Margate coastline at the end of C19th and beginning of C20th, most of which now stand disused and fenced-off. These public events were the culmination of more than 50 project meetings, between the team members, the project's community engagement advisory group and expert consultants. New or improved research methods or skills developed: Curation of a unique public engagement event programme that fed into a Design Blueprint for Climate Action (DBCA) - a visual representation of ZeroMargate's research process, methodology and public engagement events, which can be followed, replicated or applied in order to perform a similar coastal climate literacy activation elsewhere in the UK. The programme aimed to apply creative practices, curation, participatory action and inclusive facilitation to the often serious and mundane context of public speaking or consultation events about climate change, making the coastal climate literacy activation engaging and accessible. Important new research resources identified: Thanet Fly-Over, incl aerial views of Thanet coast, section cuts and supporting images, that support the application of a Margate Coastal Park [for registration to Historic England]; Visual, written and audio material created in collaboration with communities: ZeroMargate Scroll Book which holds written/visual contributions gathered throughout the project; Collaborative Collage of Margate Coastline; Letters to the Future Margate; Spoken History Interview with a local resident; photographs; Particularly noteworthy new research networks/collaborations/partnerships, or combinations of these: New partnerships that have come out of the project and will engage in future funding application for the second phase of the project include Turner Contemporary ( Ocean Summit 2025), 101 Social ( Margate Anonymous Box), Newgate Gap artist project and Thanet District Council: Coastal Wellbeing Coordinator Natasha Brown. Significant negative results and/or research paths closed off: The initial engagement with the bathing shelters of the Margate Coastline was hindered by the current state of neglect, ruin and lack of purpose by the Council. The project created the momentum about the adaptive re-use of this valuable built heritage. The Margate Anonymous Box (developed by 101 Social) are expected to engage with the bathing shelter, in an attempt to achieve their physical activation. |
| Exploitation Route | Bringing the local residents, councillors, and businesses together into a space of shared thinking, resulted in building a new [ZeroMargate] community with a keen interest in coastal climate change, resilience and sustainable coastal development. As part of their feedback, a member of Thanet District Council shared how the council could benefit from ZeroMargate's work and expressed an inclination to help us with networking and arranging meetings at the council in the future. ZeroMargate instigated a renewed interest in the bathing shelter structures and their renovation/repurposing, bringing together interested parties (local residents and local authorities) which could potentially lead to establishing a new Shelter CIC. As a legacy of ZeroMargate, the project initiated a campaign of 'Letters to the Future Margate', using an anonymous box that is designed to engage with the bathing shelter structures and other cultural and community venues of the town. Development of an innovative design blueprint tool for community engagement and climate literacy that can be tailored and scalable to other coastal projects and communities and inform both research and local consultancy. |
| Sectors | Communities and Social Services/Policy Creative Economy Education Environment Government Democracy and Justice Culture Heritage Museums and Collections Other |
| URL | https://www.zeromargate.net/ |
| Description | The ZeroMargate team continues the existing partnership, building on the momentum and the work we've done over the last twelve months, and inviting new partners to join the project. 1/ We are currently collaborating with Turner Contemporary and its Green Team (environmental task force) for the co-creation of a ZeroMargate follow up project, leading up to their Ocean Summit in 2025. After initial meetings, the gallery's Green Team expressed a great interest in an interdisciplinary collaboration between architects, academics and researchers, as well as the idea of the Margate Coastal Park (the framework we used for the ZeroMargate project), from which to advocate, design programme and consultation sessions that fit well with the gallery's ambition to connect meaningfully with its local environment and its conservation. 2/ Developing a collaboration with Moving Memory Dance Theatre, an innovative, collaborative & inclusive physical performance company which has been performing in town centres, public spaces, festivals and theatres for over 10 years. We are supporting this with the new research strand that came out of the ZeroMargate project, the oral histories project that will support as research material, the development of a performance as a enacted climate literacy promenade along the coast of Margate. 3/ We are collaborating with the researchers from another DEP project ("Digital parks in the Sea", University of Plymouth) in co-designing an invited workshop for the RGS-IBG Annual International Conference in August 2024, were our creative public participation practices used in ZeroMargate will be presented. This partnership emerged from the Community Participation Advisory Board initiated by ZeroMargate, bringing together the RAs' and PIs'of four different DEP projects to exchange knowledge, experience, practices and expertise. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2024 |
| Sector | Communities and Social Services/Policy,Creative Economy,Education,Environment,Government, Democracy and Justice,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections |
| Impact Types | Cultural Societal |
| Description | Organisation of Conference Session: Testing the Waters: Participatory Approaches for Resilience of Coastal Environments |
| Organisation | University of Plymouth |
| Department | School of Art, Design and Architecture |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Collaboration developing and hosting conference panel for the Annual International RSG-IBG 2024 conference Carolina Vasilikou, Manchester School of Architecture, Manchester Metropolitan University Research output: Contribution to conference > Abstract > peer-review Duration: 27 Aug 2024 ? 30 Aug 2024 |
| Collaborator Contribution | Katharine Willis, Ashita Gupta, School of Art, Design and Architecture, University of Plymouth Contribution to conference > Abstract > peer-review Duration: 27 Aug 2024 ? 30 Aug 2024 |
| Impact | Partnership as Co-Editors for a Special Issue to the peer-reviewed journal Coastal Studies and Societies, by Sage Publishing (forthcoming in 2025). |
| Start Year | 2024 |
| Description | ZeroMargate FUNDinner workshop - collaboration with 101 Social local community |
| Organisation | 101 Social |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | "FUNDinner'' was ZeroMargate's fourth, and final, community engagement event that had two parts: a Workshop, where the participants were invited to collaboratively create a large collage of Margate coastline, adding their stories, imaginations and hopes for a more sustainable future of Margate; and a Dinner, prepared by 101 Social, serving zero-waste, vegetarian food, made from seasonal and locally sourced ingredients, during which we explored funding opportunities that could help Margate communities mitigate Climate Change. Emma Falconer, a local artist and illustrator, helped us co-facilitate the making of the Margate coastline collage. Prior to the event, the participants were asked to write a Letter to the Future Margate. Emma used the letters submitted prior to and during the FUNDinner, to illustrate the participants' future hopes and add them to the collage. On the day, people also shared their ideas using cut-outs from magazines, drawing on pieces of paper or writing on the collage itself. During the collage workshop, and then the dinner part of the event, the participants also engaged with other materials present in the space: a table with available and upcoming Funding Schemes; the ZeroMargate Scroll; a Projection showing a selection of images from the "Landscape as Shelter" exhibition and a 3D Point Cloud Capture of the Shelters (made by Julien Soosaipillai of the University of Kent); a booklet with aerial shots of Thanet coastline and their sectional drawings (made by Studio Sam Causer for the "Landscape as Shelter" event); and posters of the previous ZeroMargate events. We concluded the FUNDinner with a coming together and an open conversation on the future of sea shelters and strategies needed to ensure Margate is prepared for current and future challenges caused by the changing climate. |
| Collaborator Contribution | 101 Social CIC is a community space, where all events are run by participant donation. Every Sunday, they organise a Soup Kitchen that feeds over 100 people, made possible by local shops donating surplus food. 101 Social is run by Franca Pauli and Dario Colombo, both of whom moved from Italy to Cliftonville, Margate, in 2015. They discovered a split-level, disused shop, formerly a hairdressing salon, on Northdown Road that had stood empty for 30 years. Franca and Dario have turned the upstairs into a cosy room with sofas, tables, chairs and a small raised stage area. The food is prepared downstairs, behind a kitchen counter, and can be eaten on square tables and chairs in the space. For the 4th ZeroMargate Workshop, they offered their community space as an in-kind contribution [preparation, collaborative collage and FUNDinner]. This collaboration led to the commission of the Margate Anonymous Box commission, which 101 Social is still designing and developing as a local legacy of the project. |
| Impact | The outputs that were created during the workshop hosted in the 101 Social space were: 1/ Vision of Future Margate: Collaborative Collage 2/ Local Community networking with hard-to-reach communities + Networking for future funding collaborations 3/ Letters to the Future Margate Anonymous Box commission [still active] |
| Start Year | 2023 |
| Description | ZeroMargate FUNDinner |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | "FUNDinner'' was ZeroMargate's fourth, and final, community engagement event that had two parts: a Workshop, where the participants were invited to collaboratively create a large collage of Margate coastline, adding their stories, imaginations and hopes for a more sustainable future of Margate; and a Dinner, prepared by 101 Social, serving zero-waste, vegetarian food, made from seasonal and locally sourced ingredients, during which we explored funding opportunities that could potentially help Margate communities mitigate Climate Change. The event was buzzing with activity throughout the afternoon/early evening, with familiar and new faces coming and going, and groups of people engaged in conversation, collage-making, and food sharing. Emma Falconer, a local artist and illustrator, helped us co-facilitate the making of the Margate coastline collage. Prior to the event, the participants were asked to write a Letter to the Future Margate. Emma used the letters submitted prior to and during the FUNDinner, to illustrate the participants' future hopes and add them to the collage. On the day, people also shared their ideas using cut-outs from magazines, drawing on pieces of paper or writing on the collage itself. The Margate Anonymous Box was co-designed and launched on the day, as a physical device that will capture Letters to a Future Margate from locals residents. During the collage workshop, and then the dinner part of the event, the participants also engaged with other materials present in the space: a table with available and upcoming Funding Schemes; the ZeroMargate Scroll; a Projection showing a selection of images from the "Landscape as Shelter" exhibition and a 3D Point Cloud Capture of the Shelters (made by Julien Soosaipillai of the University of Kent); the Landscape As Shelter Exhibition Folio with aerial shots of Thanet coastline and their sectional drawings (made by Studio Sam Causer); and posters of the previous ZeroMargate events. We concluded the FUNDinner with a coming together and an open conversation on the future of sea shelters and strategies needed to ensure Margate is prepared for current and future challenges caused by the changing climate. As a result of this workshop101 Social, who was hosting the space, was also commissioned to design and deliver the Margate Anonymous Box, as a legacy of the project. A future research project was initiated during the workshop: creating an archive of oral history interviews from residents of Margate, narrating their connection to the coastline and their visioning for the green transition. There were 43 people participating to the event, with 3 oral histories interviews being booked (undertaken during January 2024). |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023,2024 |
| URL | https://101socialclub.co.uk/index.php/event/zeromargate-workshop-fundinner/ |
| Description | ZeroMargate Landscape as Shelter |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | "Landscape as Shelter" was a day-long, interactive exhibition curated by the ZeroMargate team at the Newgate Gap. This was the project's third community engagement event, which looked at the idea of shelter and its diverse manifestations along the Thanet coast, such as sea defences, chalk cliffs, bathing shelters and tidal pools. The exhibition consisted of A1 and A3 boards and posters with aerial shots of Thanet coastline and Margate Coastal Park, historical coastal maps and photographs, and photographs taken by the ZeroMargate team over the course of the project. The event took place outside the Newgate Gap artists' space, where the team also set up an outreach station with the Scroll Book and pens. Aims and Objectives to continue connecting with the local community (residents and visitors; climate activists; local businesses; local climate change officers; and Thanet district council workers), widening our reach; to share the most recent research into the Thanet coastline, at the intersection between its blue, green and urban spaces, in light of resilience and adaptation to Climate Change, and gather participants' responses; to invite expert speakers (Dr Daisy Emoekabu) to share inclusive and global perspectives on environmental sustainability and policy making; to continue engaging with the general public in conversations about ways we can make Margate coast more resilient to Climate Change; to invite participants to future ZeroMargate events. Outcomes include: The Mapping of ZeroMargate Communities Network: 45 local community groups were identified as part of the project [active engagement and future reach], 25 core communities with whom we have already reached and engaged and 20 more proposed and captured by participants for further future engagement. The Margate Climate Change Scroll Book: which is a novel methodology of capturing public engagement with low tech, wide reach, locally-integrated approaches. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://www.samcauser.com/zeromargate |
| Description | ZeroMargate Practices of Care: Talks and Conversations |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | "Practices of Care: Talks and Conversations" was ZeroMargate's second community engagement event, which explored how we can take better care of Margate's coast, its gardens and bathing shelters, and took place at the Newgate Gap. The project team set up an outreach station (long tables with the Scroll Book, reading material, images, feedback forms, tea and biscuits) outside the Newgate Gap artists' space. The event started with a short introductory talk by Ross McNicol (artist/director of The Newgate Gap CIC) and Helen Smith (Flints), followed by Tony Child (Thanet Coastal Project officer) and Karen Jones (environmental and cultural historian, University of Kent). The participants were then invited to engage with the map of the Margate Coastal Park (provided by Studio Sam Causer) and reading materials. After a shared lunch, the event continued in the form of open conversations, including encouraging the passers-by to contribute ideas to the map and feedback forms. We had 25 participants join us for the expert talks, hosted by the local Newgate Gap artist project and counted 25 engagements with general public during the Scroll Book engagement. A journalist from the local cultural magazine Margate Mercury, cover the workshop for their Autumn 2023 edition: https://digital.magmgr.com/Preview/Index/2692880#page/24 |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://digital.magmgr.com/Preview/Index/2692880#page/24 |
| Description | ZeroMargate Take Shelter! Public Workshop |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | "Take Shelter!" was the ZeroMargate project team's first community engagement event in the form of a discussion, 3-mile coastal walk and picnic. We invited the workshop participants to join us at the Sunken Gardens for short discussion, coffee and biscuits. At midday, we set off for a 2-hour walk, along the coast, to the Walpole Bay Shelter. Here, we set up an outreach station with tea (provided by the Walpole Bay Hotel) and homemade cake, inviting the participants and passers-by to write down their thoughts on how climate change might affect Margate. In total, we had 20 members of public participating in the Sunken Gardens introduction and Coastal Walk, and counted more that 30 interactions with members of the public and our Walpole Bay Scroll Book engagement. Participants at the Sunken Gardens expressed a keen interest in climate change issues and generously contributed to the "ZeroMargate Scroll Book". Participants were also interested in Margate's coastal heritage and its future, they were happy to share their contacts, and to come back to future events. At the Walpole Bay Shelter, during the final hour of the workshop, when the ZeroMargate team invited the passers-by to contribute to the Scroll Book, approx. 70% were willing to do so, with approx. 30% stating they have nothing to say, don't know enough about it, or simply declining the offer to participate. "ZeroMargate Scroll Book" paints a complex and multifaceted picture of Margate community's engagement with climate change issues. Take Shelter! provided the opportunity for the team to connect with the Thanet Coast Project (Tony Child) and Dr Hannah Scott, the local Climate Change Officer. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://www.zeromargate.net/ |