Northwest Transport Hub
Client: Translink and Turleys
Overview
USI worked with Translink, Turleys and the local community in Derry-Londonderry to reimagine what a community space in a train station could be. We have been supporting the programming and culture of the space and developing longstanding relationships between the community, local organisations and Translink.
Through a public opening over the Halloween half-term in October 2019, we used a creative installation in the form of a giant interactive balloon-ghost train and programmed the space with workshops, performances, events and activities to understand what the community wanted from a new public space in the train station.
Over 2000 people gave their opinion throughout the week, including commuters, passers-by and those who came along to one of the many events.
Fields of Practice
Active Citizenship
Community
Services
Citizen Engagement
Pop-up Installations
Programming Spaces
Events Management
Location
Derry-Londonderry
On the back of the success of the Halloween intervention, we then hosted a second engagement in December specifically around the Christmas period and the run-up to it. These events had a lot of engagement from people going to Belfast to do Christmas shopping, and so the inclusion of a craft market in the community space gave people the opportunity to both spend time in their own city and to support local makers and businesses through buying products. This Christmas intervention also saw a lot of young people engaging with our teepee structure supporting Cancer Focus NI with attaching messages of reflection and hope for Christmas and the upcoming year.
The work has led to a new community-owned space in the city and opened a conversation on new uses for community-owned spaces in train stations. This has been supported through a pilot scheme, allowing many local organisations and businesses the opportunity to pilot how they use this space, with a calendar of regular and one-off events now programmed from yoga sessions to pop-up markets and even gigs and performances.
The NW Transport Hub shows how previously underutilised spaces can be reshaped and reframed as thriving community social hubs for years to come.
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