urbanpollinators.co.uk

Welcome to Urban Pollinators

This site exists as an archive of Urban Pollinators’ work. Julian Dobson, Urban Pollinators’ director until 2022, can now be contacted via the Centre for Regional Economic and Social Research at Sheffield Hallam University.

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Beyond ‘green is good for you’

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A while ago a joiner was doing some work in our flat, and asked me what I did for a living. I explained that among other things, I’m working on a research project about how green spaces enhance our wellbeing.  Of course they do, he snorted. Everybody knows that. His tone suggested it was ridiculous […]

Why we need urban development heretics

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When shopping centre developer Hammerson walked away from Sheffield’s much-vaunted New Retail Quarter last year, it could have been a blessing in disguise. Here was an opportunity to radically rethink the ‘mall without walls’ template for city centre regeneration. Sheffield City Council’s chief executive, John Mothersole, has been quoted as saying that the next iteration of the […]

The legacy of Alderman Graves, and lessons for regeneration

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A couple of weeks ago I was asked to give a lecture at Sheffield University’s Interdisciplinary Centre of the Social Sciences. The talk focused on people-centred approaches to regeneration, and how they could be encouraged in today’s policy context. The full text of the talk and the accompanying slides are here. I also wrote a […]

Inspiration of the Week: Storying Sheffield

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Storying Sheffield is a groundbreaking project which brings university students together with the people of Sheffield to create a living portrait of life in the city. Half the participants in the project are second-year undergraduates studying English Literature at the University of Sheffield. Storying Sheffield is an optional module which they can take as part […]