Microcosm

“The understanding of the big through experience of the small”

We can mostly all agree that the society we experience today doesn’t work as well as it might. Plenty of us have opinions to share on what an alternative strategy might look like or feel like and how it could operate more fairly but ultimately we don’t have many opportunities to explore this alternative through experience.

If we don’t know what it feels like to live in a well functioning community, we are going to find it hard to pretend that we have one. Although we know we are missing something and we can talk about what that missing something is, we have not yet worked out as individuals how we can bring about change on a large enough scale so we continue to wistfully imagine what life might be like if we all knew our neighbours and talked to one another a bit more.

In saying that, it is still possible to experience this in random and unexpected places. There are still occasions in my life when I find myself in a place that ‘works’. Most often these micro-communities are livelihoods, shops or cafes. Berlin is full of them. Crouch End also has many. They are individual and independent creations and contain pockets of real life. Many festivals also are like temporary villages and holidays for the community starved, overflowing with shared involvement, innovation and interaction. When I enter these spaces I am swiftly reminded of what people are best at. That is, we are best when we are working and creating something together that exists for each other. It doesn’t have to make money, just self sustain and be fluid enough that it is allowed to change.

The overarching intention of the Peoples Palace project is to inspire and proliferate such social enterprises so that more of us can remember through experience what it is like to belong in an honest, supportive and at best loving environment of strangers and friends in which everyone has some role to play. I want to reignite peoples’ belief in the kindness of strangers because once the unknown passer-by becomes kind then you too entitle yourself to be kind and the occasional shared nod or smile doesn’t mean that you are a strange, it is simply an acknowledgement of shared kindness and mutual alive-ness and always serve to brighten that moment and leave a twinkle in your eyes.

It occurs to me that one way to facilitate greater public involvement in local spaces, taking Alexandra Palace as an example, would be to build more bridges between the existing structure and the outside world, enabling more engagement with existing local enterprises and other community loving groups. Facilitating greater involvement could lead to a steady stream of fresh ideas of how to use the disused space and how to direct development in a sustainable and time sensitive way. Individuals groups could apply for their own funding to run various community building projects, services or events and with a well functioning partnership with the local council, this new work could feed into the requirements of that locality be it to increase volunteering, reduce carbon emissions or develop more intergenerational work.

I see every community space as a microcosm for that locality to see what is in operation around them, enabling communities to connect with each other, providing new opportunities but most importantly to make sense of what can be a disparate and chaotic scene outside into a smaller version of what is being generated and how best to engage with it.

Community spaces are also microcosms in a greater sense, they hold the mechanisms to organise but also the feeling of how that community works. Their programme of events, how it is run, their methods of managing waste and saving energy, how diverse its users are, how busy, how engaging, how comfortable and inviting. Communication occurs on so many subtle levels. What we are lacking in our communities is the kind of underlying communication that tells us that we are in safe hands. That we are in a supportive environment.

If we can open the doors to spaces that enable people to experience this feeling we can spread the understanding of what a well functioning environment feels like and inspire more individuals to spread that feeling into the surrounding area – building microcosms of a better world and palaces full of experiences that make the everyday man or woman feel good and want to be good.

Building a castle from a grain of sand

My dream is to uncover the full potential of Alexandra Palace, North London, aka The Peoples Palace.

I have been dreaming this fairly solidly since September 2007 and during that time I have been talking to lots of people about how this dream can become reality. I have now built a very capable team of co-creators who are all intrigued by the dream and think it’s a fantastic idea. Now the challenge for me is to build upon that.

I was advised by Anke Holst to start this blog. She is a social media guru and her advice really hit home. I think in many ways I have been uncomfortable with this dream because it is so big and I haven’t felt that I can have a voice amongst it. Nonetheless, there is a story here that needs to be told and it is the story of my thoughts about this project and my own ideas as to how this dream can start to become reality for everyone.

My overall vision emerged when I was working at the Scarman Trust, advising and supporting grass roots groups and watching peoples’ ideas grow from inception to realisation. It was here that I recognised how important space was for all of these emerging ideas; shared space that can be used by people to meet each other and get an idea off the ground. My sights then turned again to Ally Pally with this in mind and I saw immense potential for society to grow its ideas there, lots of ideas.

We are all heading into the fog of uncertain times and as our external realities become less clear there is a greater need for each of us to carry a really good torch or better still, identify our local lighthouse so that we can see where we are heading.

When people used to ask me what I wanted to do with Ally Pally I would say “Well, I see that building as a potential microcosm of a better world” and I would often get a blank response and need to clarify: I think society needs to evolve quite rapidly and I think that the best way to learn about how to evolve is through experience first hand so if we have more places and events that not only speak of being the change but already are the change we want to see in the world then it becomes easier to live the changes in our own lives. What I tend to say now is “What would you do with it?” and then help them to see the potential for themselves.

I also think that part of this evolution will see us taking back a lot of responsibility for ourselves. Transition Towns, Climate Camp, the Campaign for Real Democracy (see 21st Century Network) Harringay Online and Space Makers are just a few examples of people connecting people at the local level in order to get things done. I think we are capable and can be responsible for our future it’s just something we are not used to doing. So, in rebuilding a Palace for People I think it imperative that we accept this responsibility together. It is no longer the age of expecting the mysterious and elusive group we call ‘Them” or “They” to do something for us. This is the age of We The People. We know who we are and I think the time is ripe for a change of focus that gives us all the inspiration to lift ourselves individually and then help each other collectively onto the next rung of the evolutionary ladder.

Pure Imagination

“Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it.” Goethe

I began dreaming about this in September 2007. I was rushing with excitement as it dawned on me and I simply knew – this is something we can do, there were no shadows of doubt, just the vision of a brighter future and it had that immense building set centre stage.

My background

I have lived in North London for 13 years. I moved here when I was 18 and have been in Crouch End for the last 7.

I first moved to the area after a short while traveling and briefly stayed with my brother on North View road (at the foot of the palace grounds) before moving onto the Broadway and then, 4 years ago, to Priory road. My bedroom now overlooks the West tower and is a daily reminder should I ever need it!

I have made many mini pilgrimages to the palace to wonder at the city and sadly admire the building with its lion head motifs crumbling into to the brick and those huge window boards hiding the scars from the fire and stopping the light from getting in. In my many visits my questions have ranged from “What is it? / What does it do? / What did it do?” and most recently, “What could it do?”

Re. Buildings
Boarded buildings, particularly the old ones, always make me think of potential. I am particularly excited by the re-invention of space in time. Imagine stepping inside an 18th Century workhouse, later a school that now attracts a completely different activity and generation of people than when it first opened. These buildings smell of transition and speak to their visitors of the past. A little bit like a mismanaged blob of plasticine with the colours blending into each other, an old building carries the contours of destruction and redevelopment after many years of culturally inspired adaptation.

Alexandra Palace is a fine example of the shabby beauty of old things. It is infused with the experience of devastating fires, 2 world wars and it gave birth to television, no wonder it looks so tired. None-the-less, every time I see it, it makes me tingle at the majesty – so solid and patient, so permanent.

So why is 40% of the building still derelict? Why is a building with so much potential not a thriving hub at the centre of its community?
Most would answer money.
So, do we just wait for someone who has some money to come along so that we can see things change around us?

Setting the scene
This building is owned by London people and protected by a law of Parliament to ensure that it remains a charity, forever. Just think what the will and energy of London people could do with a place like that. I love it and if you have managed to read this far, chances are that you love it too and you want to see something positive happen.

We are also, it seems, at a pivotal time of our development on this planet what with devastating temperature changes, severe shortages of our major sources of fuel and no clear steps being taken to avert disaster… oh, not to mention our systems of finance and governance are in tatters and we are not really sure what to do about that either. People are finding it increasingly difficult to witness positive changes taking place anywhere and we are loosing touch with the inherent goodness in our societies . . . What is the remedy?

I prescribe a dose of pure imagination for a few months just to get the ideas flowing. What do you want society to look like? To feel like? Never mind if it doesn’t seem possible. Everything is possible in your imagination and nothing physical can ever be created without us spending time simply thinking it into being. So, in order to get the best physical outcome, it is always best to start with the brightest thoughts.

Where I began
I think a big part of the solution can be found in community space and Ally Pally could be an iconic example of people led community development – a real Palace for People. I love the building, it makes me excited even when the knitting and stitching show is on. Even when it’s dark and nothing is happening it takes my breath away and it was given to the people of London in 1900 and protected as a place for future generations to benefit from. The local authorities responsible for this gift in 1900 had no idea what 2009 would look like but they knew that simply by entrusting it to us as a collective they were ensuring its status as a peoples palace.

What would a Palace for People look like in 2009?

Where would you begin?