Urban Rooms are popping up in Dudley

Through our CoLab Dudley work, we have been approached by West Midlands Combined Authority to test out Urban Rooms in Dudley, and feed into a learning process around the Combined Authority’s social inclusion strategy.

Urban Rooms are spaces where people can go to understand, debate and get involved in the past, present and future of where they live, work and play.

Urban Rooms have popped up in 27 places across the UK, with 12 more in the pipeline. They are an idea that was recommended in a national review of architecture and the built environment undertaken in 2013, led by Sir Terry Farrell. CoLab Dudley, the social lab convened by Dudley CVS, uses many of the same tools as Urban Rooms to engage local people through creative and embodied experiences.

West Midlands Combined Authority have asked us to collaborate with local charity Provision House, located just up the road from CoLab Dudley’s High Street space. Provision House launched the St Thomas Quarter Project in 2022. Mark Price, CEO of Provision House sits on the Dudley Town Board and Provision House team member Carl Cadman is the chair of the Dudley Town Centre Partnership and leads on work to support and grow the social economy in Dudley through a Combined Authority programme.

We are also working with the network of local creatives that CoLab Dudley has been nurturing through work on Dudley’s Cultural Compact and Dudley Creates: a 100 year cultural strategy in action for Dudley Borough.

Getting started

At the end of October 2024, CoLab Dudley launched an open collective enquiry asking: how might Urban Rooms in Dudley support wider and deeper participation in the shaping of possible futures for our town and neighbourhoods? (Read more about the launch here.)

12 local creatives in our network had responded to a call out for small commissions to develop and lead creative Urban Room activities. CoLab Dudley team members started making plans with Provision House.

Place Detectorism resources ready for an Urban Rooms activity

Where we’re at now

Urban Room Dudley will be located in Provision House on Dudley High Street, stewarded by the staff and volunteers there. It will be open Monday – Friday, 9am- 5pm from mid December 2024 to the end of March 2025. Provision House are generously contributing use of their spaces, team support and volunteer time to enable an Urban Room to be available through the week.

Urban Room Unbound will pop-up in the CoLab Dudley space on Dudley High Street and host Urban Room activities which take place on evenings and at weekends.

Free, creative Urban Room activities have started at CoLab Dudley, including Place Detectorism, exploring long-term thinking, a Stories of Place session, and co-designing a digital living archive to last for 100 years.

On Tuesday 3 December, 5.30pm-8pm, the Dudley Creates Winter Gathering will open an exhibition of 100 Ways to be a Good Ancestor. This will be a key contribution to understanding how local people are getting involved in the futures of where they live, work and play, through projects and activities supported during 2024. All welcome.

On Saturday 7 December, 12pm-4pm, West Midlands Combined Authority are hosting a drop-in creative activity at the Birdcage Walk Festive Fair, pop along to Air We Share and all the other activities between 12pm and 4pm. We hope to build on this work through Urban Rooms.

On Saturday 14 December, 11am-2pm, Time to Make will be hosting one of their family friendly, welcoming, drop in art making sessions in the Urban Room at Provision House, during the Dudley Christmas Market and Fun Day. Over two Urban Room sessions, Time to make will be inviting local people to consider Dudley’s past, present and possible futures using urban sketching, collage or photography.

Co-creating an exhibit for the Dudley Creates Winter Gathering in a Stories of Place session

Coming in the New Year

Urban Room activities planned between January and March 2025 include:

• Time To Make: drop in, weekend art making sessions led by four of CoLab Dudley’s Time Rebels, inviting local people to consider Dudley’s past, present and possible futures using a combination of urban sketching, collage and photography.
• Collective Photography of Hope: exploring and observing of parts of Dudley Town Centre and assembling three photographs which represent hope from each participant into a collective film, led by local film makers Soheila and Razi.
• Boiler Babs on Dudley High Street: an extension of a Roving Residency in which four of CoLab Dudley’s Time Rebels will investigate collaborative making by exploring and generating playful, creative responses to a section of the High Street using sustainable materials.
• Playtime in Dudley: sharing stories and memories of time outdoors playing, led by Sarah of the Bicycle Adventure Club. They encourage people to connect with the geography and history of our local landscapes, through art, community and, of course, the bicycle.
• Memories of Dudley: An intergenerational activity creating a collaged family tree using leaves and dried flowers, linking each person with a memory of them in nature. And a series of textile exploration sessions using photographs and maps of Dudley town centre to produce a tactile art piece. Led by Hannah of Wild Earth Movement.
• We Are Makers: crafty Time Rebels Ruth and Odette will pop up on Dudley High Street with yarn bombed trolleys, an arm chair and stools, and a large scale loom to invite collaborative weaving over conversation and cuppa.
• Mapping Relief: artist Laura will use a walk to trace gestures, sounds, feelings and everyday stories of conservation, recovery and activism to generate an alternative mapping of the ways in which we care for green spaces and how this weaves into Dudley’s future.
• Capturing Heritage Through Plants: educator Dalbero will invite local people to share and discuss photographs and stories of plants that hold cultural significance to their heritage. A collaged ‘heritage garden’ will be created and exhibited.

We’ll share a full programme in a future news post, and you can see activities coming up on the Urban Rooms page on the Dudley Creates website.