Spaceshaper
What is Spaceshaper?
Spaceshaper is a practical toolkit that can be used by anyone – whether a local community group or a professional – to assess the quality of a public open space and help make decisions about how to invest time and money in improving it.
Spaceshaper 9-14 was developed along side Spaceshaper to ensure young people, who are often excluded from consultation, have a voice about spaces that are equally important to them.
It involves a workshop, including a site visit, and individual questionnaires analysed by the Spaceshaper software, to gather and interpret the perceptions of people who use and manage the space. The whole process is facilitated by a trained professional.
Why use Spaceshaper?
Spaceshaper is designed to:
- bring staff and users together to discuss the space
- identify the strengths and weaknesses of the space
- measure how well the space meets everyone's needs
- track changes in people's views.
It can help you prioritise improvements, provide evidence of the need for change, support applications for funding or demonstrate the benefit of development to local people over time. Spaceshaper is most useful for assessing an existing site as part of an on-going consultation process, but can also be used when planning a new space.
Read these case studies to find our more about how Spaceshaper works
How do I use it?
To start, you need to fill in the application form and submit it to the Spaceshaper co-ordinator. You will then need to contact a facilitator, from the list which will be sent to you, and agree terms with them. The facilitator will help you to complete your project plan, invite participants and set up the workshop(s).
For more detailed information see Using Spaceshaper
Who’s behind it?
Spaceshaper was developed and launched by CABE in 2007, and is now managed by the Landscape Institute.
Spaceshaper 9-14 was developed and launched in December 2009 by Beam, The Architecture Centre Bristol and Kent Architecture Centre in collaboration with CABE. Beam manages Spaceshaper 9-14 on behalf of the Architecture Centres.
