4.1 Relating to space, place and community

Participation with others and within a local community can act as a powerful method to not only increase feelings of belonging but also as a catalyst for change-making. However, it is easy for people to feel disconnected from these types of activities without an invitation to take part. Deliberate invitations to act together with others and with a local space, place or environment can enhance and develop the ties and entanglement between participants and that space.

In building sustainable lives, this entanglement can deepen the ‘participatory stakes’ individuals and communities feel towards their local space, place or environment and crucially, to the environments of others too. Finding meaningful ways for education to reach out beyond the institution and reach into relationships with others (people and environments) requires explicit knowledge of local communities and spaces. You may well feel you have these connections, but not be fully realising them for sustainable purposes.