INDEX

Creative Report # 3 | August 18, 2010 | investigating regeneration through art

No Longer and Not Yet* p. 2 Our investiga- Leo Singer p. 15 Initial conjectures about labour
tion so far by Monika Vykoukal. relations, rubbish and economic regeneration.
urban Research Collective p. 16 looking into legacy
Activities Overview p. 4 What’s in ideas and practice.
happened in July and August,
including people met, informa-
tion gathered, places seen. “In View of the Size
and Significance...”
p. 16 the answer we’d
No easy answers p. 5 all been waiting for
Looking for answers, Freedom of Informa-
collecting more tion-wise.
questions. Featuring
the ‘A41 Junction
Improvements’. Illustrations: p.
18 If it was a sink-
hole ... Céline Siani
New at the Re- Djiakoua, Legacy.
Urban Research Col-
search Centre p.6 lective, Ray Truby
More books, films and
old photos.

Investigations and find-

ings so far: p. 8 John Dummett
p. 8 reflections on publicness, space and
development.
Anna Francis p. 10 diary of the independent shop
auditor and the first installment of her interviews
with stall holders.
Manu Luksch p.15 blue-sky blueprint.

Colophon:
Editor: Monika Vykoukal Graphic Design: Jens Strandberg and Pål Bylund.
Contributors to this issue: Céline Siani Djiakoua, photos: Courtesy the contributors, Sandwell Met-
John Dummett, Anna Francis, Manu Luksch, ropolitan Borough Council, Queens Square Shop-
Leo Singer, Urban Research Collective, Ray Truby. ping Centre, P Rogers Schoolwear.
Contact: Monika Vykoukal, t 07967230880, film still: Courtesy The London Particular.
e [email protected].
 NO LONGER AND NOT YET*
Our investigation so far by Monika Vykoukal

This is, following swiftly on the second report guest-authored by David Berridge, the third newsletter of this project
is an investigation into ‘regeneration’ and focused on the centre of West Bromwich. As curator, I am working with a lose
group of artists and researchers to try and find ways to explore the processes that come together in regeneration. This
report is here to make our activities public and to invite further contributions. Since the last newsletter, Céline Siani
Djiakoua, John Dummett, Anna Francis, Leo Singer, Jonathan Atkinson & Pete Abel of the Urban Research Collective,
and Heather Ring have been to West Bromwich for research visits. Some of their findings, plans and results can be found
in the following pages. I’ve also made more contact with people around here, such as Ray Truby who shares some of his
photos here too.

We’ve all been interested in the timing of developments, in the present between what remains, or is no longer, and what
is not yet, where ‘there was only here and now...’. Many of the artists can find a beauty in the cleared land, in how it be-
comes overgrown, the ruins of houses, the crumbling, boarded up buildings, no-longer-useful signage, faded. But who
finds this beautiful and why? How? Is it nostalgia? Is looking at the vestiges of New Street like looking at the Acropolis at
Sunset? Can we look at the rust-coloured rubble heap on the Lyng, and think of a postcard of mountains in the desert?
Should we? In seeing those ruins of the recent past as somewhat picturesque, do we glorify what many others, as they go
about their daily lives, find depressing, dirty, or a sign of abandonment? Yet, those are the spaces that, in the image of a
clean, clear, glorious future town, are not given attention to, but they are what is here, now.

Meanwhile, in the market, Anna’s interviews with some of the stall holders in the Market Hall have also given us more
ideas. Cody Lee Barbour, a graphic designer from Birmingham, is working with me on a guide to the market, mapping
the stalls and their offers with and for the stall-holders, and of course shoppers, pending their liking our results. I’ve also
been in touch with some other markets and hope to get to talk to more people there. I wonder about the future of this
market, about the parking situation. Brixton Market in London managed to get better parking nearby through a petition.
They also have a friends of the market scheme, some markets I know do that. I want to find out a bit more about those,
how they work and what they are useful for. Last week, someone came round and handed me a letter, like everyone else,
about a ‘review of rating assessments’ in the market. It sounds like there will be changes in how much it costs to pay for
a stall and how it is worked out. I would like to find out more about what this will mean.

2
There is a certain tension between the open, more analytical and questioning research and wanting to do something that
some people might find ‘useful’ in a more practical way. As I am writing this I keep being interrupted by the persistent
kids of some of the traders. It’s school holiday season and quite a few children have found their way here, and started to
build houses out of cardboard, as if by coincidence. In September, Manu Luksch will be up from London, to do some
more town-building with kids as part of our work, as described later in this newsletter. Michelle Letowska will be down
from Glasgow next week to spend time in the Planning Department to learn how their daily jobs, and the personal level
of the physical regeneration processes are. We’re also planning to show the work all the people involved are doing at the
stall in the next months.

While working with the artists and researchers and meeting and talking to and getting further ideas from people who
speak to me in the market, and I’ve become more interested in how different people involved in the life of the town or
in regeneration in the area see the realities we share, make sense of them, and view their own role, professionally and
personally, within that. With that in mind, I have begun to interview a range of people on their views and roles. I hope to
continue with more of those interviews and to share them soon in the newsletter and on the blog. One of the things I
wonder about is how we all define our position in relation to our work, and in how far we separate what we do, because
it’s “our job” from what we do because we want to, or we really think it’s the right thing to do. In ‘Being and Nothing-
ness’ (2), Jean-Paul Sartre says: “a grocer who dreams is offensive to the buyer, because such a grocer is not wholly a
grocer. Etiquette requires that he limit himself to his function as a grocer, just as a soldier at attention makes himself a
soldier thing with a look straight in front of him, which does not see at all…” (3)

-Monika Vykoukal

(1) This has nothing much to do with the text, but the title is also the title of an essay in: Jerome Kohn, ed. Hannah Arendt.
Essays in Understanding, 1930-1954. Schocken Books, New York 2005.
(2) Duncan said that when we talked on the phone the other day. I’ve not read that book.
(3) Jean-Paul Sartre, The Philosophy of Jean-Paul Sartre, Robert Denoon Cumming (ed.), Methuen, London, 1968, p.
152.

Opposite page:Conurbation. A Survey of Birmingham and the Black Country. By the West Midlands Group. The Archi-
tectural Press. London 1948, p. 241

This page: View of the future Tesco Site towards the Expressway, May 2010.

3
ACTIVITIES OVERVIEW Interview with Gerry Ritchie, Mar-
28 July
Meetings, research, discussions ket and Town Centre Manager
2 August Meeting with Qucie Green, Market-
21 June Meeting with Chloe Brown, Multi- ing, University of Wolverhampton
story 5 August Meeting with Mel Glasby, Centre
21-25 June John Dummett research visit Manager, Queens Square Shopping
23-25 June Shoes conference, ThePublic Centre. Visit by Jo Muir, artist
23 June Black Country Society Walk: The 6 August Interview with Ram local resident,
Stately Homes of West Bromwich, ThePublic
Robin Pearson 7 August Visit to Blackheath Market
25 June Meeting with Councillor Steve Me- Meeting with Céline Siani Djiakoua
lia, Civic Pride Association and Suzan Spence
28 June-2 July Anna Francis, John Dummett re- 17 August Interview with Graham
search visits Peet,ThePublic
30 June Lessons to Take-Away conference,
The Public
Notes from conversations at the stall:
6 July Meeting with Andy Hewitt
7-9 July Leo Singer research visit The new building works on the Expressway have been
West Bromwich Forum Meeting at brought up by many people, especially those who
Holy Trinity Church come from the other side of the motor-way into town
to shop, it seems. It also brought up memories, for
9 July Urban Research Collective, Céline
some, of the time before the Expressway and the ef-
Siani Djiakoua research visits fects it had on the street-scape of the town, with many
10 July Be Proud of Sandwell Event, The- streets split into two parts by the new road. People
Public wanted to know about access during the roadworks
13 July Meeting with Linda Saunders, The- and afterwards, and what pedestrians routes and traf-
fic routes, including buses are planned for the new
Public
road-layout.
13-15 July Leo Singer Research visit
16 July Meeting with Andy Hewitt Another issue that came up was the potential effect
19 July Cody Lee Barbour research visit the future Tesco might have on other shopping in the
area once it opens. Someone who works at a supermar-
20 July Urban Research Collective visit
ket in a nearby town said that currently people from
Interview with Neil Gadsby, Part- West Bromwich tend to shop there, in particular peo-
nership Officer, Sandwell Housing ple who work for factories in that area do their shop-
Partnership ping before returning to West Bromwich. Overtime,
22 July Cody Lee Barbour research visit it seemed to this local, Asda in Great Bridge took
Vantage Point, Drop in consultation business away from Morrisons in Wednesbury, and he
guesses the new Tesco will ‘kill’ that Asda.
for residents, first stage consultation
23 July Meeting with Angela Swan, Arts in Another local told me how he used to work in con-
Empty Spaces, Sandwell struction on estates they were building outside Bir-
26 July Visit Julia Udall, Portland Works, mingham on former farmland. He looked at the plans
for the Lyng for a long time and said that there needed
Sheffield, Meeting with Dr. Dew to be more small shops near people’s homes. He, as
Harrison, University of Wolverhamp- well as some others, was also concerned about how
ton long the Tesco development was taking and how it
27-29 July Heather Ring research visit (with would link to the motorway and be surrounded by car-
support from her friend Adam) park. There was a worry that once the Tesco was built
people would not shop in, or even go into town but
only drive to the Tesco.

I also spoke with some more people about their per-

sonal histories, about the many, many changes and the
demolitions and loss of industry, again.

4
NO EASY ANSWERS...
Since the first report, we have attempted to find answers Environment House / Lombard Street, West Bromwich, B70
to questions raised in the course of our investigation, and 8RU
collected many more questions, a lot of them from chats
with people at the market. If you can answer any or would SOME MORE QUESTIONS:
like to ad yet further questions, please get in touch (see
colophon on the first page for contact details). We can’t A road, built around 40 years ago, looks like it was sup-
guarantee we will answer them all, but we’ll try. posed to go to to Blackheath but it only goes to Whiteheath:
here are four lanes from Oldbury, then only two lanes, but
SOME INFORMATION ON THE A41 JUNC- the traffic island had been built, it looks like then the build-
TION IMPROVEMENTS: ing works stopped. What happened?

So far, I think this might be around the B4166, to be sure we’d

need a road number and (or) name to look at old maps, and
possibly try and look at old plans.

What was the original road layout and right of way on Bustle-
holme Lane?

Who built and lived in 190 Beeches Road?

Over the course of recent weeks, I have been getting

more questions from passers-bye. Sandwell Metropolitan
Borough Council Highways & Environment Services have
now kindly provided me with a few more answers.

Q: What pedestrian crossings, where, will there be across the

expressway once the work is finished?Will there be/are there
any temporary pedestrian crossings during the development
apart from Reform Street and Carters Green?

A: As you know the existing pedestrian subway through the SANDWELL CENTRE, WEST BROMWICH.
works is now closed. The final scheme includes a new foot- -Mall 2, looking towards Queens Square.
bridge across the roundabout/underpass to link All Saints
Way with the town centre. See attached leaflet for art- The Sandwell Centre, West Bromwich, is a £ 3 million en-
ist’s impressions. Alternative temporary pedestrian routes closed shpooing [sic] precinct, jointly developed by the
between All Saints Way and the town centre are signed as Mineworker’s Pension Scheme and the West Bromwich
shown on the attached drawing. There will be no other tem- County Borough Council.
porary pedestrian crossings established during the works.
All under one roof are three retail stores, 60 shops and a

Q: There have also been many comments about the lack of public house, a multi-storey car park for 840 cars and a bus
proper bus shelters where the temporary stops are (e.g. All station. The air is heated in winter, refrigerated in summer.
Saints Way)...
© National Coal Board, 5 May 1971
A: Temporary bus stops are established in All Saints Way to
facilitate the major highway modifications associated with What happened to the coal on display in a case in the
the development of the former Churchfields High School Queen’s Square Shopping Centre?
site for new homes. No shelters will be provided at tempo-
rary stop locations. The bus shelters are removed at the per- So far I have found out that current management of the
manent locations to allow for alterations to the bus stops. centre do not know about this and that the council archives
Shelters will be put back in due course at all of the perma- do not appear to have the information either. I have put the
nent stops locations that originally had a shelter. above image up at the stall. I think I will write to Minework-
er’s Pension Scheme, who co-financed the building, next.
I contacted Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council on:
t 0845 163 5868, e [email protected], A41 Im-
provement Scheme Sandwell Council / Highways Direct,

5
SOME MORE ANSWERS: have all but disappeared, to be replaced with an entirely new
place: “much of the city has not been destroyed by bombing
Was the 31 July 1944 a school holiday? Yes, it was. but by real estate speculation. As spaces empty and expand
Who crashed in the field in Smethwick where a memorial based on where it is deemed money can be made, the people
stone is placed now? Two RAF pilots, one from Smethwick, who live in them have a harder time relating to the space
Allan Charlie Cox, the other Gordon Preston from Pinner in they live in”
Middlesex.
Ken Isaacs. How to build your own living structures. Har-
From this wild story: http://www.blackcountrybugle.co.uk/ mony Books 1974. Available to download at http://www.
News/Heroic-Smethwick-pilot-whose-plane-crashed-just- letsremake.info/library_2.html#howt
yards-from-his-home-2.htm “This book is a beautiful guide about how to make a variety
of flexible experimental indoor interiors, storage units,
NEW AT THE RESEARCH and a microhouse. The microhouse is a flexible creation
of architect, Ken Isaacs. The modular design is based on
CENTRE stacked tetrahedrons, which can be moved in and around
each other providing shelter and dividing living space in a
Our Research Centre, Stall 42 of the Indoor Market in the creative way. The book gives you step-by-step instructions
King’s Square Shopping Centre on West Bromwich High with plans for many different versions of Isaac’s original
Street, is open most days from 9am to 4pm, with informa- designs interspersed with ideas about simplicity, and getting
tion on regeneration in the area, past development in West rid of our personal possessions. The book is type written and
Bromwich, and on aspects of planning, on culture and regen- spiral round in a nice Do-It-Yourself aesthetic, and Isaacs
eration and on art projects and grassroots initiatives relating writes in a genial manner as if he were sitting across the table
to redevelopment and urban planning. Since July I have been from you. He muses on the philosophical meanings of surplus
able to get more material, some thanks to the contributions and uses the designs as a means of addressing life as whole; a
of the Friends of Dartmouth Park, The Francis Brett Young simple place to raise a family and house extended family that
Society and to P Rogers Schoolwear (Stall 46). has a low impact on the surrounding natural environment.”

Conurbation. A Survey of Birmingham and the Black Coun-

try. By the West Midlands Group. The Architectural Press.
London 1948.

The Land. An occasional magazine about land rights. Som-

erset. Issues 7 & 8. Summer 2009 and Winter 2009/2010.
http://www.thelandmagazine.org.uk

West Bromwich IIL. End of Year Star Chamber Review. 13th

May 2010. Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council. pp.
23-48 and pp. 355-358. Overview and budget of regenera-
tion developments in the coming year.
Bournes Outfitters, 1946. Men’s Wear Shop in the old mar-
ket. Still in the same family today as P Rogers Schoolwear. The Portland Works Campaign, posters from the Campaign
to safe this historic workshops building, still used by tradi-
NEW BOOKS, DOCUMENTS AND PLANS, tional crafts people as well as artists, in Sheffield. For up to
PAST AND PRESENT AVAILABLE FOR date information see
BROWSING: http://www.portlandworks.co.uk

Giovanni Borasi, Mirko Zardini, eds. Actions. What you can Friends of Dartmouth Park Newsletter Issue No. 13, June
do with the city. Canadian Centre for Architecture/SUN, 2010, with Membership Information, and Dartmouth Park
Montreal/Amsterdam 2008. See also http://cca-actions.org Masterplan 2010. See also http://www.friendsofdartmouth-
park.org.uk/
Geoff Manaugh. The BLDGBLOG Book. Architectural The latest news on the redevelopment of the park by the
Conjecture, Urban Speculation, Landscape Futures. Chron- society, as well as some glimpses into its history.
icle Books, San Francisco 2009. See also http://bldgblog.
blogspot.com/ Francis Brett Young Society. leaflets on the Worcestershire
author many of whose novels were based in the Black Coun-
Elizabeth Skadden. Collapsing New Buildings. Available try, and information on how to join. See also http://www.
to download at http://www.elizabethskadden.com/index. fbysociety.co.uk/
php?/cv-and-biography/ “The Black Diamond: First published in 1921, this absorbing
tale has all the ingredients of a 21st century best seller: infi-
Elizabeth’s thesis about her engagement with and analysis of delity, sex, drunkenness, violent death, football corruption,
abandoned spaces through art, and the experience of grow- urban and rural poverty, explicit coverage of human frailties
ing up in a town, Austin, Texas, that changes so fast as to and desires.”

6
FILMS:

The Occupation, The London Particular, London 2001

A short film about the social cleansing and recolonisation of
London’s East End.

The London Particular, The London Particular, London

2004
Part 1 of a full-length film about the strange, neoliberal ‘ren-
aissance’ of East London.

The London Particular Part 2:

[5:17]
But eternity is no holiday. Born again as cultural treasures,
heritage, the discarded refuse of previous eras is put back to
work in a narrative of progress that starts with Cesar and
ends with Starbucks. This is not a respite from the temporal-
ity of regeneration but its extension into the past. With the
booty of previous generations as its guarantor, regeneration’s
myth of progress promises happiness in the future, jobs for all
and an eternity of business and shopping.
But while building works permanently interrupt the present,
this ongoing state of emergency decrees the infinite deferral
of gratification. Without beginning or end, regeneration can-
not be judged to have failed. Its function is to put off the day
of judgement and the revolutionary cesura it implies. Time
must on no account be allowed to stop.
[6:12]

The Story of Sprawl, Planetizen, USA 2009

A series of historic films from 1939 to 1965 tracks the de-
velopment of suburban living and the ideas behind it in the
US, the country that arguably exemplifies and pioneered this
new, motorized way of life.

The London Particular

7
 INVESTIGATIONS AND FINDINGS:
Some of the reflections, preliminary results and further plans for our research
into ‘regeneration’ in West Bromwich and beyond.

John Dummett
Between what was here and what will be here.

Hardware Street, West Bromwich; a narrow street dead-ended in the 1970s by the Expressway. In the summer of
2010 it is waiting to be transformed into a car park for the new Tesco store. The street itself is still physically present,
although weeds and litter blown off the expressway are slowly creeping over the tarmac; the buildings, which the
street served, though, are gone. The primary school has been broken down into a pile of shattered bricks and con-
crete dust, shunted to the side of the site from where it stares over the blue hoardings that pen it in. Opposite the
demolished school sits a tangle of trees, grass and nettles, or as a rotting sign informs you, here is Cronehills Nature
Garden an environmental initiative by Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council with financial assistance from the
Governments Urban Program and Hilti Industries (GB) Ltd.
Stuck in the guts of regeneration, Hardware Street has undergone an anxious dissipation, although what was here and
what will be here can be discovered. On Google street view, the school is still hauntingly present and on a hoarding
nearby there are brightly coloured children’s drawings of what the new school will look like. Caught between these
two images of itself, Hardware Street becomes uncertain.

Five Notes.
“They had forgotten much, but they did not know it. They were as perfectly fitted to their environment as it was to
them-for both had been designed together. What was beyond the walls of the city was no concern of theirs; it was
something that had been shut out of their minds. Diasapar was all that existed, all that they needed, all that they
could imagine.”
The City and the Stars; Arthur C. Clarke (1956).
For the narrative of this dystopia from the mid 20th century to work, there has to be a place beyond the edge of the
dystopia; a place to which the main character could escape. This scenario is a common one in many literary and cin-
ematic dystopias, the closed society appears to offer everything that is desired, while beyond it lies only desolation.
Yet the protagonists always seek escape, sometimes because of premature euthanasia (Logan’s Run, 1976) or an
unwillingness to take proscribed medication (THX 1138, 1971). But in most dystopias what exists beyond their walls,
are only inhospitable and barren landscapes littered with the ruins of earlier civilizations, or in the case of The Night
Land (1912) by William Hope Hodgson, there is only a sunless realm haunted by malevolent and incomprehensible
monsters.

On Colmore Row in Birmingham city centre, beside Snow Hill station is a stalled development. Standing lifeless
behind the obligatory hoardings are the concrete and iron relics of a property speculation grounded by the current
recession. “Transforming the urban skylines” is neatly displayed as a now forlorn epitaph below its monumental as-
pirations. The urban skyline has become an indicator of success; the number of cranes visible in the distance is taken
as a barometer of the well being of the city. In tandem to this the meaning of ‘the public good’ has changed; it now
refers to, in the lexicon of urban planners, the benefit of property and economic development to the public.

“Bleak, brightly coloured kindergartens”

Attile Kotanyi, Raoul Vaneigem, Basic Program of the Bureau of Unitary Urbanism, 1961
“With the help of the audience as well as passers-by revolutionary moments are re-enacted in an attempt to write
ourselves into history. “
Gob Squad: Revolution Now! 24-26 Jun 2010 ICA, London

In the public realm a dystopia is creeping out across the “cold stage set of air currents, empty spaces and boxes” (1).
A bleak supervised kindergarten where correct civic behaviour is institutionalized as participatory live artworks. In this
playpen future we will pick our favourite safe toys and costumes to perform as the public in the role-play of the new
civic realm. This future emerges first in the distance with the transformation of the urban skyline into a facsimile of
the Big City, and it is before this horizon of rising shining glass towers that the public realm is reborn. Reconstituted
as an infantile realm of managed desire, the new public realm will be the cradle of a socially engaged séance. With
automatic writing and a carnival of re-enactments the séance will exorcise the ghosts of the old public realm, that
linger “lost in a deserted space where neither the public nor the intimate find their place” (2).

(1) Pierre Guilbaud, Henri Lefebvre and Serge Renaudie, “International Competition for the New Belgrade Urban
Structure Improvement”, July 1986, reprinted in: Sabine Bitter and Helmut Weber. Autogestion, or Henri Lefebvre in

8
New Belgrade”. Berlin/New York, Fillip/Sternberg Press 2009, p. 6
(2). Ibid., p. 4

“The garden of earthly delights” c.1504.

In the right hand panel of his triptych “The garden of earthly delights”, Hieronymus Bosch obscures the horizon. Hid-
den behind awkward and strange buildings that belch smoke and flame, the absent horizon gives this image an acute
claustrophobia; there is, for the dammed and condemned in this place, nowhere to escape to.

Event Horizon.
“In general relativity, an event horizon, is a boundary in space-time, most often an area surrounding a black-hole,
beyond which events cannot affect an outside observer” (Wikipedia).

Boarded up properties and hoardings are a common feature in regeneration projects. This tactic is ostensibly in our
own interest, to prevent people coming to harm in derelict and unsafe buildings, to stop squatting and also to prevent
fly-tipping. Taken at face value it appears a sensible precaution, particularly from the perspective of the owners of
the properties. But this cordoning off serves also as a prophylactic against the possibility of any alternatives to the
dominant mode of regeneration from emerging. The laws of trespass enforced through ‘site security’ effectively
criminalise non-sanctioned civic and cultural experimentation. Squatting and the appropriation of buildings for non-
sanctioned purposes has been a mainstay of grass roots and self-directed cultural activity over the past 40 years.
Many artists’ spaces in Europe and North America began as squats, which over time laid the foundations for the even-
tual “gentrification” of “run down” neighbourhoods. Yet this alternative and demonstratively successful approach
to regeneration, is rarely, if ever, included as a development option. In an “age of austerity”, surely a low cost D.I.Y
approach would be an extremely viable tactic?
In light of the absence of the adoption of this methodology, it must be assumed that the boarded up window is there
to hold back the incomprehensibility, uncertainty and unpredictability of uncoordinated regeneration.

inside the public is a new place.

Place making, a repeated element in the regeneration of urban public space, re-iterates known and normative public
behaviour and is often a constituent of that cousin of redevelopment; community renewal. The idea is that a place
can operate as a locus for identity and become somewhere that a specific demographic or social group can feel at
home and have civic pride in. Place making, in theory, is a contributor to social cohesion and communal well-being.
Inside the Public is a new place. Staffed by helpful people in matching uniforms it offers the same apparent comfort
and security that a shopping mall does. The space features a level walking surface, complemented by a “reception
desk”, a bar for ordering drinks and food, tables and chairs, background music, a very large projection screen, an as-
sortment of playful architectural features and a display entitled “in living memory”, whose black and white images of
yesterday remind us how fortunate we are to be living now, rather than then. At the far end of the space are two black
doors; ‘theatre’ is written above them. Through windows on one side of this new place, grey discoloured hoardings
are visible. Jutting up from a thin weedy line of nettles, they mark the boundary between here and another place.

9
Map of the Market

Anna Francis

28 June

I arrived in West Brom at around 1, and went straight to the hotel to drop off my bags. I have decided that since my
main interest this week is to look at Independent Shops, I should set myself a challenge to only shop and eat in inde-
pendent places while I am here. I started my project before I even got to the stall - as I thought I might need some
paper/pencils so noticed that the Cosmetics R Us shop was also advertising stationary (sic).

I got:
# 1:
50 X envelopes
1 X red pencil
1 X green pencil
1 X lead pencil
1 X pencil sharpener
1 X sign writer’s kit*
=£8.65
*)I haggled the sign writer kit from 11.90 down to 7, and got the pencils for free.

I made my way to the stall and decided to try to locate myself in the market by drawing a map. All of the maps of the
Kings Square building show the New Market Hall as a grey area. Which is, as Karl from Multistory pointed out, quite
odd, given the lack of information available as to the future of the market within the regeneration plans. Perhaps due
to the perceived semi-permanent nature of the shops, with traders coming and going quicker than more fixed shop
spaces, they have not mapped the stalls, what they sell, or event the spaces they take up. I went through the market
hall drawing my map, and got talking with the traders, who wanted to know who I was and what I was doing. I was able

10
to set up two interviews for tomorrow which is great. I ended up going to a nearby newsagents and had:
# 2:
1 X bag of cheese and onion
1 X 7up
1 X Express and Star (for research purposes)
=£1.45

At the Stall I made a list of things I hope to achieve this week:

1. Shop window audit: What shops are there? I could do a long photo of the high street, but this may not be possible
due to difficulty of getting far back enough from the shop to take the photo.
2. Night time economy measure - as demonstrated by how many shops are lit up/not boarded up at night.
3. Independent shop challenge - only using independents and recording what I buy.
4. Interviews and photos of market stall holders.

I went to The Vine with Monika, who stayed for a

half and then left me to have my tea. The Vine is
an independently run pub and restaurant selling cur-
ries. I ordered this:
# 3:
2 X pints of Magners
1 X Veg Balti
1 X naan bread
=£9.65

I stopped off at the local newsagents on the way

home for some vino and water.
# 4:
1 X 2l bottle of water
1 X bottle of Merlot
=£6.10

Full total spent today: £20.80

29 June

Another productive day today. I first checked the coordinates of the stall, they are are N 52°31.014 W001°59.583.
John Dummett, one of the other artists involved, arrived. Once I had the coordinates for the stall I finished off the
map I started yesterday. This led to a conversation with Sonia, who I interviewed for the project. Sonia has only
been located in the market for 2 days, but says that she loves it already, and that everyone is really friendly and really
helpful. I then went round to see one of the traders that I met yesterday, Mr. Kumar. I had a very long interview with
him, which turned into a chat and ended up with us going outside the market so that he could show me some of the
problems he identifies with the town. I also interviewed the lady from the fishing shop and the lady from Shree Shai
Nail studio. I asked Tina from the fishing shop about the business and whether the developments worried her, and
she said unless Tesco has a fishing tackle section she will not be worried, as she runs a specialist shop, and has very
regular and loyal customers - some of whom come daily, while others come once a week. For lunch today I went to
the Great Western Café, which is a traditional English Greasy Spoon.

# 5:
1 X Jacket potato with beans and cheese
1 X lilt
1 X water
=£3.60

The market closes early on a Tuesday and I photographed some of the closed stalls. I had planned to go along to the
Caribbean takeaway on the way down the road from the hotel. So I popped along, but they did not have any veggie
food except for a pattie which needed to be cooked. I ended up going to another newsagent with a bag of crisps and
a pear and a banana, and a big bottle of water.

# 6:
1 X bottle of water
1 X pear

11
1 X banana
1 X bag of crisps
=£1.43
I also needed to buy some shampoo, conditioner and soap, managed to find an independent £1 shop and got a selec-
tion of products that I would never usually choose:
1 X shampoo
a X conditioner
1 X pack of soap
=£3.97

Total spent today: £9

What will tomorrow bring?

30 June

Got up fairly late today, in the knowledge that tonight will mean traipsing around the High Street, photographing the
nightlife and night-time economy of West Bromwich. I have realised that I am not going to achieve any beautiful shop
window at night photos, as most shops seem to be shuttered at night, but still it will be interesting to see what the
town has to offer. Going along to start the drawings of each building on the High Street, which should be interesting.
I have been told by the man from the babywear shop that all there is on the High Street is pound shops, mobile phone
shops and empty shops, so it will be really interesting to measure how true that is.

I am drawing the entire left hand side of the pedestrianised area of the High Street (The Queens Square side) and I
will also be annotating the entire right hand side. This will then be stitched together and will become the Shop Win-
dow Audit. Before coming to West Bromwich I had planned to do this photographically. Now that I am here, I see that
this just is not going to be possible, due to the physical layout of the High Street and with the market stalls buffered
right up to Shops; it means physically you cannot get a good view of the shops, as there are too many interruptions. I
think this layout is partly to blame for the decline which is being reported by people I speak to, there is not a leisurely
feel to the street, and it is not a place which you wish to hang around in.

1 July

Aware that I am going home tomorrow I try to think about tying things up. I want to capture as much as possible of
the market and the High Street so I can work on the material later. I decide to go to the market and capture a sound
piece - it goes from one end of the food hall to the other. Then I collate a couple of the interviews with the traders to
show them. I am making flyers which advertise their stalls, showing photos of them. This is in response to the rather
odd images of ‘Shops from Elsewhere’ which adorn empty businesses in the High Street – it doesn’t seem to make
sense really, why not use the space to advertise the existing businesses? I finished the drawings of the left hand side
of the High Street.

2 July

Popped in at the stall to say goodbye. After that

I went along to notate every shop building on the
right hand side of the pedestrianised High Street -
the Kings Square side. This should be useful when
we look at the overview and see what exactly is on
the High Street, and if the perception is correct,
that all there is (and this is what I have been told)
are pound shops, Banks, Phone Shops, Charity
Shops and Empty Shops. I intend to colour code
and see what is really there. After this was done I
packed up my stuff and left West Bromwich.

For the full diary, check out Anna’s website:

http://annafrancis.blogspot.com/2010/06/
bcca-residency-day-one.html

12
Interview with David, Stall 38 (Dave’s For Pets), New Anna: What do you think about the developments
Market Hall, West Bromwich. that are happening here?
Stall Location: N52˚31.013 W001˚59.583 David: There isn’t much information coming through
to us; there’s a lot of rumours. The thing is, infor-
Anna: Hallo David, How long have you been open? mation would be good, but it would have to be in a
David: I’ve been trading for 17 years altogether. I have flyer or something; when you run a business you can’t
been at stall 38 for 7 years, but I was at the smaller always go for a meeting. Sandwell Council are not
one next door for 10 years before that. communicating well with us – rent goes up year on
Anna: What do you sell? year, and there’s no consultation – a lot of people are
David: Pet food and accessories. really struggling. The last 2 years in particular there
Anna: What’s it like running a business in West Bro- has been a real fast turnover of stalls here. People’s
mwich? shopping habits have changed over the last few years.
David: It’s O.K. It can be hard, there’s not the vol- It is a worry.
ume of people there used to be, really it all needs How much power do companies like Tesco have over
money spending on it. We have very regular custom- the Town? The council won’t listen to me, but they
ers, some have been coming here for 15 years. People will listen to the big companies.
bring in photos of their pets, you feel like you know Anna: Are you worried about the Tesco Develop-
their pets even though you’ve not met them. When ment?
my dog died one of my customers actually cried. David: It’s prices really, I can compete on certain
Anna: What is your top tip for running a business? things, but branded stuff, it is difficult. One positive
David: Get the stuff as cheap as you can, and sell it is that people can choose to have just a couple of dog
as cheap as you can. That;s the secret in West Bro- chews for example, and don’t have to have a whole
mwich! pack. One positive about England is that we have
Anna: Do you have any ideas about how to improve fantastic markets. I buy all my veg from the veg guy
things here? over there, not just because it’s here, but because
David: It all needs cleaning up really, in terms of the it’s better quality. You have some people have been
way it looks here, it needs updating and modernising. here since the war, you’ve got generations of families
We could do with new signage as well, to lead people running a business here, a real history.
here.

13
Interview with Rahul, One Stop Beauty, New Market Rahul: Well, you have to practise, and invest. You
Hall, West Bromwich. need to have competitive prices, and a good service.
Stall Location: N52˚30.997W001˚59.583 Anna: And how do you do that?
Rahul: Well, we can order things in that the customer
Anna: Hallo Rahul, How long have you been open? wants, and it can be here by the next week, or even
Rahul: (confers with Mum) Erm, 9 years. It’s a family the next day sometimes!
business which I will take over one day. Anna: Any other comments about West Bromwich
Anna: What do you sell? town?
Rahul: Make-up, perfumes and creams. Rahul: It’s good, it’s big, people are friendly, but
Anna: What’s it like running a business in West Bro- some people steal things from Greggs.
mwich? Anna: Oh dear, and have you any ideas on what to do
Rahul: It’s good getting the money, and selling stuff. about that?
The customers are kind, we have regulars who keep Rahul: Yes, ask them not to.
coming back because we provide what they want.
Anna: What is your top tip for running a business?

14
Manu Luksch
blue-sky blueprint

A radical re-visioning of public spaces as learning environments, this short film results from an unusual collaboration
between architectural modellers and the (primary) researchers and designers, local children.

The most adaptive users of public space are children. Public space plays a major role in their development as territory
for meeting, exchange, and fantasy; as loci of collective memory; as environments of controlled risk. The playground
constitutes only a small part of a growing child’s range.

The contemporary trend in planning is towards the creation of sterile, defensible space that is designed around work,
consumption, and phobia (and, increasingly, managed by private interest). This is the exact opposite of a space that
accomodates unpredicted encounters, encourages plural uses, and generates initiative. A major step towards an
open society lies in rethinking public spaces as spaces in flow, open to improvised use and dynamic processes as
learning environments, for young and old.

Children are invited into this project as researchers and designers, with unique expertise in the creation of play,
curious exploration, and imagination beyond regulation (‘blue-sky thinking’). They will share their perceptions, re-
sponses, and fantasies as they reconstruct spaces they know as architectural models made of paper. These models
will then be incorporated into a standard 3D CAD modelling of the neighbourhood.

The core question: will their narratives reveal existing qualities of (or present visions of) public space, that could be
developed to create environments of informal learning for all, regardless of age?

GET INVOLVED: Free Children’s Workshop (5-15 yrs); Dates: 10, 11, 17, 18 September, drop in anytime between
9am-4pm at Stall 42, New Market Hall, Kings
Square, West Bromwich.

Leo Singer
‘Summer of rage’ in West Bromwich?
Initial conjectures about labour relations, rubbish and economic regeneration

It was a busy week in the Borough of Sandwell. Soon after my arrival I went with Monika to a regular community con-
sultation meeting - the ‘West Bromwich Central Neighbhurhood Forum Meeting’ - held at the Holy Trinity Church.
One of the issues on the table was the waste amassing in some streets of West Bromwich. Why? ‘The bin men are on
strike, don’t blame us’, said a councillor...

Strike?!
As my specific research focus in this project is on the relationship between the urban regeneration and the organi-
sation of work. I was immediately interested and threw loads of questions at Monika. It turned out that Sandwell
Council, like councils all over the country, is implementing the national Single Status policy. This would equalise
differences in pay amongst the council’s employees. However, the trade unions Unite and GMB claim that the policy
measures would seriously decrease the wages of the refuse workers. That’s why they started the work-to-rule tactics,
i. e. working entirely to job regulations, which has led to the piling up of rubbish in some areas Sandwell.

So I began finding more interesting information. Sandwell Council are very ambitious in their recycling and waste
management targets. They are aiming formore sustainable development,.
Sandwell is aiming to reach 50% recycling and composting rate by 2015 and to reduce the amount sent to landfill by
2020 to no more than 10% of the total amount of waste collected (1).
The major project is building a new high-tech Waste Transfer Station near Wednesbury. The provision of the facility
and the whole waste management are going to be outsourced to a private company, most probably Serco.
This change in labour relations and the above mentioned industrial dispute are, it seems to me, only a small part of
the larger ongoing process of economic regeneration in Sandwell.

Later that night, after the community consultation, I watched some local news on telly in my hotel room. I was sur-
prised to see images of employees from Sandwell College walking down the high street in a protest against cuts and
redundancies. Even more surprising was that I couldn’t find any information about this on other TV channels.
Why?...

15
But that was not the end of the hot and tense week in Sandwell! On my last day I got the news that local hospital
workers went on a walkout in West Bromwich. They protested against the plans to tranform the local hospital into a
social enterprise. They are afraid of a serious loss of future funding, that the change would mean a disguised way of
privatisation.

I left West Bromwich slightly puzzled. How strange it is, that you may well spend a whole week in the town centre,
but the daily atmosphere of busy-ness and constant buzzing of the shopping crowds make sure that you won’t notice
any of the ‘big things’ going on...

So bye for now, West Bromwich.

(1) Waste Improvement Plan, Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council http://www.laws.sandwell.gov.uk/ccm/navi-

gation/environment/rubbish--waste-and-recycling/waste/waste-improvement-plan/ [accessed 18 August 2010]

Urban Research Collective

Legacy

Pete and Jonathan of Urban Research Collective have decided to create a publication entitled ‘Legacy’ as part of their
contribution, to be published in October.

‘Legacy’ is an attempt to better understand both the past and the regeneration and social and political issues active in
West Bromwich. Urban Research Collective also hope the material will be directly relevant to other towns, suburbs
and cities around the UK.

“Taking a look around the prospective Tesco site was quite an experience,” says Jonathan. “It’s an empty desolate
area fast returning to nature. It got us thinking about the idea of ‘legacy’. It’s term often bandied around regeneration
projects but something we wanted to explore further.”

“The word Legacy is commonly used in regeneration circles. Politicians and developers like to refer to the legacy they
are creating, the added benefits associated with the changes they are instigating. But legacy also makes reference to
the past, the legacy of past reforms, initiatives and developments, ‘the legacy of the 1960s we are living with now’.
At the time great things were promised but we live with their legacy today.”

Subjects covered will include a look at the broken economic model of gentrification, the spectacle of regenera-
tion, the value of ‘undevelopment’ (wild space) and the legacy of past decisions that have led to increased levels of
inequality. Short pieces will be accompanied by photo essays.

GET INVOLVED: Urban Research Collective welcome submissions from other artists, researchers and activists on
the theme of legacy. Get in touch via [email protected]

“IN VIEW OF THE SIZE AND SIGNIFICANCE...”

Monika Vykoukal My ref
[email protected] Your Ref: ENQ-1-105611244
Please ask for: Angela Goddard
Telephone No: 0121 569 3194
e-Mail: xxxxxxxxxxxxxx@
xxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Date: 25th June 2010

Dear Miss Vykoukal

Freedom of Information Request – Hoardings Costs
Thank you for your Freedom of Information request. Your request asked for:

16
I would be grateful if you could please send me information regarding the cost of hoardings and advertising panels
on those hoardings to the Council, and information on contributions to those costs by partner organisations, at the
building sites of Tesco, the site of the planned police station (Moor Street/Bowater Street in the Lyng area), and of
Sandwell College, and any other major regeneration sites in the West Bromwich area (as indicated in the article
‘Keeping residents up to date, on page 7 of the Spring 2010 edition of The Sandwell Herald).

I can confirm the following in response to your request:

The Council and its various partners are in the process of bringing forward a number of major regeneration projects
within and immediately around West Bromwich town centre. Together, these schemes represent a massive invest-
ment that will transform our principal town centre and improve the quality of life for every one of Sandwell’s
citizens.

It is essential that we keep people informed about the process, timescale and intended outcomes of all this
redevelopment activity, on a site-by-site basis. For this reason, wherever possible decorative information boards or
‘wraps’ have been applied to the contractors’ hoardings around sites once they have been cleared, pending
redevelopment, or when building is under way.

In some cases the cost of these decorative panels has been met in full by the developer, whilst in others the Coun-
cil has contributed towards the cost of the additional artwork. Details follow.

The Council has made a contribution of £4,291.99 towards the cost of the panels around the new Sandwell Col-
lege site, at Spon Lane / Southern Ringway.

The wraps at the police station site, at Moor Street / Oak Road, have been paid for entirely by Tesco, the site’s
developer and, for reasons of commercial sensitivity, the Council has not been made aware of the cost of these
panels.

The main Tesco site, comprising land between Cronehills Linkway / Northern Ringway / Reform Street / The
Expressway is partly demolished at present, but in view of the size and significance of the proposed retail exten-
sion that is to occupy this land, a number of decorative panels have already been applied to the security hoardings
along the principal frontages. The Council has contributed a total of £8,555.00 towards the cost of designing and
manufacturing these panels.

I can also confirm the following in regards to libraries:

Two hoardings for the New build Blackheath library. They were supplied by Mills Signs, both were 4x2 meters and
total cost including fitting was £590.00
The Great Bridge Children’s Centre sign invoiced on 18-11-2009 was £545.00 +VAT
The Bleakhouse Library extension and refurbishment signs invoice dated 20-10-2009 were £300.00 +VAT

Please remember to quote the reference number above in any future communications.

Yours sincerely

Angela Goddard
Data Protection/Freedom of Information Assistant
Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council
Governance Services
Sandwell Council House, Oldbury, Sandwell, West Midlands B69 3DE

17
ILLUSTRATIONS:
If it was a sinkhole ...
Céline Siani Djiakoua

Note: “Starting point”: where I started the performance on the 9th July : tracing the outline of the Tesco site with a
red string and imagining the site being a sinkhole

18
19
legacy
Urban Research Collective

20
Ray Truby

Note: See his set on:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/
55377900@N00/sets/72157624459228208/detail/

21
 Blazon.

Absent shield and tincture gules/transparent.

With a straight Fess Point

roundel, alternated
in black wavy
lines, sym-
bol izing
wa- ter
with- in a
well re-
move
gold-
en sand.

Sandwell
crest “sanctus
fons” embodies the holy well.
Charge to central- ized position,
content to enfold around.