Northwood Futures

We were commissioned to work with the community of Northwood, a suburban town centre in northwest London, to explore possible futures for TfL-owned sites in a collaborative and open way. The project aimed to build trust and reopen local dialogue following an earlier development proposal that had been unpopular with residents. We began with extensive stakeholder mapping to ensure we reached a broad and representative group of people. To be as inclusive as possible, we used a variety of communication, outreach, and engagement methods throughout the project. These included a project website, a Twitter account, notices in local newsletters and on noticeboards, a mailing list, and flyering. Face-to-face engagement involved one-to-one meetings with key stakeholders, large public meetings, attendance at local events, community-led walkabouts, pop-ups at the station, public workshops, exhibitions, and a 12-week residency in a vacant local shop, which served as our project hub for discussions, exhibitions, and insight gathering. The Northwood Futures project engaged with as many local people as possible to understand and celebrate what’s great about the area, while harnessing community aspirations and concerns to help shape future planning proposals for the sites.