“At the age of eight we know a patch of ground in a detail we will never
know anywhere again”.
Professor Mike Pearson, University of Wales, Aberystwyth
Make Yourself At Home (MYAH) explores relationships between buildings, spaces and people to develop design awareness. These relationships help people understand how the environment is shaped and managed. They celebrate local distinctiveness and local identity. They nurture emotional attachment and a sense of belonging. In discovering their local area, people of all ages recognise that they are part of the place and the place is part of them. Our experience of a place, our knowledge of it, the attachments we form to the people who live, or have lived, there all affect how we think and feel about it, and about other places.
Both towns and countryside are shaped by people and their activities over the centuries. The countryside, as landscape, is influenced by agricultural and forestry practices and the extraction industries. Industry and commerce have shaped towns and cities.
Each neighbourhood offers different questions to answer. What makes a place the same as everywhere else? What makes it different and gives it a special character? What contributes to environmental quality? What are the relationships between people, the buildings and spaces that they use? What place is there for nature in the urban environment? How do the actions of time and weather impact on materials? How well do we care for and maintain our surroundings?
The neighbourhood is a wonderful resource, constantly and freely available. The important thing is to get outside and have a closer look at it. Residents, workers and those with special knowledge are the human resources that schools can call on to support MYAH. Parents and grandparents can contribute memories of what the place used to be like and the games they played as children. Architects and planners can help with design considerations. Civic societies and local history groups can provide information and archives about the cultural heritage. Local authorities, archives and libraries can identify and possibly provide specific information.