Clear Village is a London-based charity which helps communities build a better future through creative regeneration. We work together with landlords, municipalities and community groups to identify local challenges, build on existing assets, bring in external expertise as needed, and co-create solutions with local residents and other stakeholders. Since no two communities are the same, our projects are varied too. Our recent work includes running a co-working space in central London focused on supporting the local community; creating a series of online hackathons to develop circular approaches for the built environment; transforming a neglected walled garden on the fringes of London into a community food growing hub; and helping to establish a centre for agricultural technology in Malawi. What unites all our projects is our focus on empowering local communities and igniting resilience from within.
People involved:
Kristin Luke
Kristin is an artist whose projects entail long-term engagement with communities to explore their agency, representation and identity. Her role in Human Cities will include researching design fiction, designing the co-creative process for developing impact methodology, and being the point of contact in rural Wales, the location of Clear Village's Small Remote Community.
Josie King
Josie has a background in design from Goldsmiths and has been helping to run Clear Village’s maker activities in London. They love to run workshops and teach people about design and making, believing that design is not about perfect outcomes but improvisation. They are a keen reader of science fiction and are particularly interested in using design fiction and world building as a tool for imagining new futures within Human Cities.
Himal Tailor
Himal is a user experience designer and architect with a passion for human-centred design, who advocates creativity as a driving force for change and a way of actively understanding and engaging with people's hopes and aspirations. He believes grassroots research builds a foundation for empathy and design thinking, which sits well with his research-focussed role in Human Cities.
Frank van Hasselt
Frank has been part of Clear Village since our launch and took on the role of chief executive in 2015. He has a background in philosophy, languages and literature and is particularly interested in the social impact and long-term sustainability of projects. His role in Human Cities will be largely focussed on the monitoring and evaluation approaches to be used for the creative interventions by the consortium partners.
