The Stockwell Park & Robsart Village Cultural Strategy (2008) established a community-led framework for embedding culture into the regeneration of a large housing estate in Lambeth, south London. Developed by Futurecity for Sovereign Network Group, the strategy formed part of the Section 106 public art and public realm requirements and was conceived at a critical early stage of redevelopment.
The strategy was grounded in an intensive programme of community engagement, including mapping workshops, interviews and creative sessions with residents, local groups and people who worked on or passed through the estate. This process identified three key priorities: integrated public art, improved wayfinding and navigation, and opportunities to support creative activity and skills. Residents helped map routes, gateways, shortcuts and problem areas, ensuring that the strategy responded to lived experience rather than abstract planning assumptions.
Futurecity translated this research into a phased programme of cultural projects embedded within the public realm, landscape and architecture. The strategy established a clear distinction between temporary, embedded and permanent interventions, allowing culture to play a role throughout the regeneration process - from early confidence-building projects to long-term identity-shaping works.
Early commissions delivered from the strategy included The Village People, a temporary hoarding project that placed residents at the centre of the regeneration narrative, and a community-led signage and wayfinding system that improved legibility while celebrating the estate’s cultural diversity. Together, these projects demonstrated how a strategic, participatory approach to culture could build trust, foster ownership and positively reshape perceptions of place.
The Stockwell Park & Robsart Village Cultural Strategy remains a key example of Futurecity’s approach to cultural strategy as a social, spatial and civic tool - using art and design to support regeneration, strengthen identity and put communities at the heart of change.
