Fruitful Futures: Imagining Pomona by LiFE research group

Fruitful Futures IMAGINING POMONA

EDITED BY Fabrizio Cocchiarella Dr David Haley Valeria Ruiz Vargas

life research group — main contact Fabrizio Cocchiarella • f.cocchiarella@mmu.ac.uk published by

Gaia Project edited by

Fabrizio Cocchiarella • f.cocchiarella@mmu.ac.uk Dr David Haley • d.haley@mmu.ac.uk Valeria Ruiz Vargas • v.vargas@mmu.ac.uk designed by

Textbook Studio, Islington Mill, Salford. UK. printed by

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Cornerhouse Publications HOME 2 Tony Wilson Place First Street, Manchester M15 4FN, United Kingdom www.cornerhousepublications.org

• FRUITFUL FUTURES: IMAGINING POMONA ISBN 978-0-9932192-2-1 ↓ Published in 2016 by Gaia Project. ↓ All rights reserved. © 2016 The authors, the photographers and Gaia Project. Founded by artist / curator James Brady in 2014, Gaia Project is an independent publishing and curatorial initiative operating at the intersection of Art and Ecology – or indeed, in that poetic space where Art becomes Ecology, and where Ecology becomes Art. (follow on twitter: @ecobeast / @Gaia_Project_)

cover image

This book has been produced with the generous support of Jane Crowther at G.F Smith Papers and Jon Nazaruk at JOT Bindery.

•

INTRO FABRIZIO COCCHIARELLA

PROLOGUE HAYLEY FLYNN

SETTING THE SCENE POMONA DOCKS / MANCHESTER WATERS: A SITE OF HIGH HERITAGE AND ECOLOGICAL IMPORTANCE WITH HUGE ECOTOURISM POTENTIAL 14 JAMES WALSH

POMONA: AN ECOLOGICAL IMPORTANCE IGNORED TWICE? 22 PROFESSOR STUART MARSDEN

BEYOND THE BORDERS 24 DR LUKE BLAZEJEWSKI

POMONA ISLAND: PERCEIVED MUNDANITY OF SPACE AND WHY I MADE A DOCUMENTARY ABOUT POMONA 28 GEORGE HAYDOCK

THE PERILS AND PLEASURES OF A CITY’S SECRET GARDEN 30 ADAM PRINCE

WAYS OF SEEING FALLOWLAND 36 EDDY FOX

ISLAND OF DREAMS 40 DR DAVID HALEY

POMONA IS EVERYWHERE 42 JUDITH VAN DEN BOOM & GUNTER WEHMEYER

REFLECTING COMPLEXITY: URBAN FOREST SYSTEM 46 DR VINCENT WALSH

ONE STEP 50 KATE BEVAN

SOCIAL AND COLLABORATIVE HOUSING 54 GIORDANA FERRI

POMONA ISLAND’S BLOOM: SYMBOLISM AND SHELTER 56 VALERIA RUIZ VARGAS

COLOUR WALK 61 DR JANE WEBB

POMONA OUR GODDESS 64 SALLY TITTERINGTON & PAUL LOGAN

POMONA’S BEAUTY SPOTS 69 EMMA HAYWARD & FABRIZIO COCCHIARELLA

KINGFISHER 72 GILLIAN BYROM-SMITH

POMONA: AN ISLAND PHANTASY 74 PETER BYROM-SMITH

PERFORMING PLATFORMS NO WHITE SPACE 82 MARIE-THERESE WIDGER

INTERVIEWING POMONA 86 CRYSTAL CHAN

FAKE PIGS 92 SU TURNER

BIRD FEEDER 95 MARK MCLEISH

POMONA ISLAND 97 EZMA ZHAO

GROWING FABRICS OF THE FUTURE 98 CHRISTINE RYAN

JAPANESE NOT WEED 100 RIVE STUDIO

LED INTERACTIVE 105 JACEK BIES

PLAY WITH YOUR FOOD: DIY DYES 106 NICA AQUINO

POMONA 108 JOHN HOGAN

EPILOGUE DR DAVID HALEY

APPENDICES CONTRIBUTORS 114 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 120

INTRO

FA B R I Z I O C O C C H I A R E L L A

The following writings presented in this publication are a testament to the power of conversation. Links and connections have been made through the creative generosity of all those involved in the creation of this book. The past year of LiFE has seen many impassioned discussions, meetings, workshops and site visits, fostering a community of like-minded thinkers, along with our connections with the city and beyond, developing future visions for the ways in which we live. It’s time to consolidate these visions, interpretations and work in progress into a publication that reflects the thoughts, passions and connections explored. It is hoped that these writings contribute to the documentation, marking and inspiration of future thinking. A holistic interpretation that draws on a multi-disciplinary and multi-lens perspective of knowledge and experience to critically reflect, direct and propose specialist visions for the future city. Through a series of speculative visions of ‘What If’s’, Pomona Island in this case is the subject of writings, proposals and marking points for projects to nurture and initiate collaborations to change and inspire the politics of occupying spaces within and around our future cities. The inspiration for this collection of writings was to present visions to inspire the design of a ‘new culture’ for living, using Pomona Island as an example of how our culture often blinkers its responsibilities and opportunities. The decisions for how we live in and with our environments needs to fundamentally acknowledge the holistic context of LiFE (Living in Future Ecologies). This book is set in 3 sections. Through Setting the Scene we hear from voices that have been a huge part in the campaign to ‘Save Pomona’ experts in their fields, a truly collaborative community of dedicated individuals establish the collective context through inspirational reflections, critiques, analysis and documentation of a truly both mythical and intensely real place.

#pomonaisland

Through Ways of Seeing we explore voices that contribute to the discussion and interpretation, elaborating, proposing, exploring ideas and ideologies. The ‘What If’s’ and the ‘Why Not’s’, connecting the mythical with the real. Through Performing Platforms MA students on their ‘Professional Platforms’ unit at Manchester School of Art, were invited to be part of the LiFE research group and join research staff, research networks and the public on a walk as part of Manchester European City of Science in July 2016. The walk entitled ‘Pomona Encounters’ was a journey into the ‘The Art of Fruitful Living’. Inspired by the ecology of food, the potential for urban food production and Pomona, the Roman goddess of fruit, the walk took participants on a creative journey through the habitats of Manchester, Salford and Trafford. Walkers encountered a cornucopia of paradoxical tales around themes of biodiversity and urban planning, carbon-free air miles, invasive species for healthy living, and old toolkits to design new nature. These ’Sci-Vision’ stories to provoke inquiry have been interpreted by the students. Through the process of engaging as a collective platform students investigate, identify and develop visions through which to intervene with the status quo and propose new futures for Pomona and beyond. Pomona Island has truly been an instigator for questioning thinking. This book and subsequent launch event as part of Design Manchester 2016 aims to invigorate and challenge design discourse, question the motivations for city development, the reasoning for the way we live and engage with our environments and how we shape our visions for the everyday. Design as a practice is a natural ally to futurity that helps to critically reflect and innovate scenarios affecting behaviors and capabilities. By growing new creative communities, potential futures are explored that lead to a culture of innovation. •

PROLOGUE

H AY L E Y F LY N N

As the Irwell acts as the invisible boundary between Salford and Manchester, Pomona is the limbo that buffers that waterway; it’s the tapering slice of land that makes way for the river to graze the Bridgewater Canal before both waterways abruptly branch off in opposing directions. Defined as an island by the presence of these adjacent waters, the culverted Corn Brook, one of the regions lost rivers, also runs beneath the concrete headland. Pomona is a haven of greenery that steals itself away behind the curves of the city’s bridges and river bends. The sprawling hinterland is almost isolated from bank to bank with only one dedicated footbridge — The Woden Street footbridge, which is roughly the boundary marker for where the Irwell becomes the Manchester Ship Canal. Like a worn-out fold in a map; Pomona’s geography seems smudged and uncertain. A confusion of boundaries and uses seem to converge here — a river becomes a canal, Manchester becomes Trafford, which in turn becomes Salford. This geographical tripoint is indefinite but Manchester has very much the lesser stake in Pomona, with it roughly ending at the first obviously man made inlet after the bridge. In the mid 1800s the site was home to the Pomona Pleasure Gardens, originally named Cornbrook Strawberry Gardens, the area was renamed to reflect the lush orchards which had surrounded it (Pomona being the Roman Goddess of fruit trees, gardens and orchards). Opened in 1845 by William and Joseph Beardsley, the orchards were eventually converted to public Zoological Gardens and in 1868 the area was sold to James Reilly. Reilly built a palace in the grounds which was the largest hall of its kind in the country and a home for political rallies. In the botanical gardens visitors could take archery classes, ride on the flying swings, explore the hedge maze and try out the camera obscura. The glory of the palace and gardens was relatively short lived, in the 1880s the site was almost entirely surrounded by factories and it had been earmarked for development as docklands. The Palace and gardens continued to operate until the summer of 1887 when a nearby chemicals factory exploded and in doing so damaged the palace considerably — the following year the gardens closed forever. For almost a century Pomona was put to use as docks for a bustling international trade enabled by the Ship Canal, but as the docks began their steady demise, made obsolete by shipping containers whose ships were too large to navigate the canal, the land once again became recreational. In 1974 Manchester’s first ship nightclub was opened by George Evans. The North Westward Ho had seven different bars on board as well as a dance floor and restaurant. The decommissioned Isle of Wight passenger ship was so popular that later the same year the owners purchased an RAF aircraft and parked it besides the ship to act as an overflow restaurant and dance floor. At the start of the 1980s both the ship and the aeroplane were scrapped and Pomona, after a short-lived plan to house a Dan Dare theme park, was steadily absorbed by wilderness.

A flora report of the area identifies the presence of thirty-three biologically important species, including the bee orchid which is listed as rare in Greater Manchester and found only at four other sites. With plans in motion to redevelop the site for a rather lacklustre huddle of apartments, the area has become one of interest to botanists and ecologists who speculate that drastic steps have been taken over the years to prevent the area from becoming listed as one of ecological importance, including what appears to be a kind of “scorched earth policy”. Diggers are sent in routinely and swallow up every bee orchid that befalls them. Despite this the site continues to thrive as a green space, in fact the measures taken to clear the site work to create an even more diverse landscape as the emergence of new, dormant life is borne from the ruins. There’s a brackish sand dune quality to the mounds of land formed by the forcible uprooting of mature trees. Over these old roots, new saplings have laid down their own. Moss and lichen carpet the corners of cracked paving along the periphery of the site, and all around Pomona is a defiant hive of life. Looking towards the docklands away from the city you’ll face a curtain of blue and green — sky and grass, a gateway to the eventual sea, and across the open stretch of land the smell of salt sweeps across the buddleia and blackberries. On the island the gap between wilderness and urbanity is constantly closing. Running through the island is a geometry that can only belong to a city: the man made canal, and that brick-forged spine of industrial Manchester — the railway. Yet on a summer’s afternoon the scrubland between these structures hums with life. Bushes thronged with grasshoppers and bees, birds swoop across the open fields dropping snail shells beneath them where they are sun-bleached until blue and brittle, and even the Irwell is mobbed with fish. Running along the opposite side of the river vivid graffiti clings to the walls of industrial units, and between the tram line and the canal lies a seam of scrap yards. The faint mechanical din and tinny FM radios rising from the yards are birdsong across the boondocks. It is not to say that Pomona is an idyll. Geography plays a significant, fundamental role in shaping outcomes in society and Pomona’s hazy borders render it seemingly lawless. Used needles and stolen handbags pepper the recesses within the great railway bridge, during the evenings dogs are trained for fights, and since the 19th century the Irwell has been used as an illegal dumping ground for chemical pollutants. It is the wilds here, for man and nature, but to love Pomona you do so warts and all. Owners, Peel Holdings have started work on the construction of flats and plan to rename the area Manchester Waters. •

SETTING THE SCENE

24.

104.

105. 38.

50. 23.

17.

34.

41.

58.

94. 77.

13.

POMONA BIRD LIST â&#x2020;&#x201C; 1. WHOOPER SWAN

15. GREY HERON

28. JACK SNIPE

42. STOCK DOVE

2. MUTE SWAN

16. MARSH HARRIER

29. SNIPE

43. COLLARED DOVE

3. CANADA GOOSE

17. KESTREL

30. WOODCOCK

44. WOOD PIGEON

4. PINK-FOOTED GOOSE

18. SPARROWHAWK

31. REDSHANK

45. RING-NECKED PARAKEET

5. MANDARIN

19. PEREGRINE

32. COMMON SANDPIPER

46. SHORT-EARED OWL

6. MALLARD

20. BUZZARD (AKA THE SALFORD EAGLE)

33. MEDITERRANEAN GULL

47. SWIFT

34. BLACK-HEADED GULL

48. KINGFISHER

35. COMMON GULL

49. GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER

7. TEAL 21. OSPREY 8. NORTHERN PINTAIL 9. TUFTED DUCK 10. POCHARD 11. GOLDENEYE

22. MOORHEN 23. OYSTERCATCHER 24. LITTLE RINGED PLOVER (SCHEDULE 1 SPECIES)

36. LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL

50. SKYLARK

37. HERRING GULL

51. SAND MARTIN

38. GREAT BLACK-BACKED GULL

52. SWALLOW

12. COMMON SCOTER

25. RINGED PLOVER

39. KITTIWAKE

53. HOUSE MARTIN

13. CORMORANT

26. LAPWING (NORTHERN PLOVER)

40. COMMON TERN

54. TREE PIPIT

27. DUNLIN

41. FERAL PIGEON

55. MEADOW PIPIT

14. LITTLE EGRET

86.

48. 89. 14.

19.

103. 101.

102.

15.

87. 88.

65. 9.

40.

22.

52. 85.

56. GREY WAGTAIL

71. GRASSHOPPER WARBLER

86. JAY

101. GOOSANDER

57. YELLOW WAGTAIL

72. SEDGE WARBLER

87. MAGPIE

102. GREAT CRESTED GREBE

58. PIED WAGTAIL

73. REED WARBLER

88. JACKDAW

103. BULLFINCH

59. BOHEMIAN WAXWING

74. LESSER WHITETHROAT

89. CARRION CROW

104. COOT

60. WREN

75. WHITETHROAT

90. RAVEN

105. HOBBY

61. DUNNOCK (HEDGE ACCENTOR) 76. GARDEN WARBLER

91. STARLING

106. EGYPTIAN GOOSE

62. ROBIN

77. BLACKCAP

92. HOUSE SPARROW

107. LITTLE GREBE

63. REDSTART

78. CHIFFCHAFF

93. CHAFFINCH

108. ICELAND GULL

64. WHINCHAT

79. WILLOW WARBLER

94. GOLDFINCH

109. REDWING

65. STONECHAT

80. GOLDCREST

95. GREENFINCH

110. SHOVELER

66. NORTHERN WHEATEAR

81. SPOTTED FLYCATCHER

96. SISKIN

111. NORTHERN POCHARD

67. BLACKBIRD

82. LONG-TAILED TIT

97. REDPOLL

112. ARCTIC SKUA

68. FIELDFARE

83. COAL TIT

98. LINNET

69. SONG THRUSH

84. BLUE TIT

99. BULLFINCH

70. MISTLE THRUSH

85. GREAT TIT

100. REED BUNTING

Pomona Docks / Manchester Waters: A site of high heritage and ecological importance with huge ecotourism potential J A M E S WA L S H

IMAGE COURTESY OF MANCHESTER SHIP CANAL WORLD HERITAGE GROUP (MSCWHG)

#welovepomona

Pomona is the perfect opportunity for the science, business and political community to work together towards an Eden Project North and towards the broader aims of the Manchester Ship Canal obtaining World Heritage status. On a site with such high ecological value, we need to give parity to ecologists and economists regarding decisions like the use of this land that was once a public gardens for the benefit of Mancunians. In the current environmental climate and business climate all business leaders and politicians need to be building long-term ecological plans that consider new green business models informed by ecosystem services models. From a personal view, having spent a glorious ten years making ecological observations on Pomona, including identifying, counting, photographing and filming the wildlife, Pomona is the site of the bee, the symbol of Greater Manchester. In the Spring & Summer, Pomona is alive with birds and bees and flowers, with up to 1,000 bees feeding upon a veritable carpet of flora. 100 bird species Schedule 1 Little Ringed Plover Whinchat

Jack Snipe, Woodcock, Mediterranean Gull, Egyptian Goose

Northern Lapwing Northern Pochard 150 flora species

Bee Orchid

From a real business point of view the potential is very high for Pomona Docks to be a shining beacon of social and environmental justice for the North. Green is the new gold, nature has reclaimed the land and Pomona Docks are the jewel in the crown of the Manchester Ship Canal wildlife corridor. Any area of Greenspace in the new green economy, especially in the urban environment is worth its’ weight in gold. The Manchester Ship Canal (AKA The Big Ditch) — with its’ rich and internationally important heritage — has the potential to be a World Heritage site. Pomona Docks are a flagship site for the Salford Docklands Project & the Northern Greenhouse, incorporating North England EcoTourism. Ghandi once said that a nation can be judged from the way it treats its’ animals and in ten years of ecological observations I have seen populations of Little Ringed Plover, Skylark & Ringed Plover decline from thriving numbers of breeding pairs to almost extinction levels on Salford Docklands — it might be time to heed Ghandi’s words. →

KINGFISHER IMAGE BY JAMES WALSH

GREY HERON IMAGE BY JAMES WALSH

WHEATEAR IMAGE BY JAMES WALSH

FURTHER READING: SEE APPENDICES P.115

The Northern Lapwing has seen serious decline in breeding habitat but just holds on as a breeding species, with a few birds present in the breeding season and big numbers of up to 100 birds flock together in the Summer / Autumn. We need to reverse this biodiversity loss, all the organisations on the Docklands should work together to create wildlife habitat around the Docklands, especially on Pomona Docks, the Manchester Ship Canal between the Millennium Bridge and Mode Wheel Locks (the Gateway to Salford Docklands) and Green Roofs. Pomona

The Guinness docks

#EdenProjectNorth In the South of England we have the Eden Project and Green Britain Centre, Wales has the Centre For Alternative Technology and yet in the North of England we need a green tourism attraction that inspires the general public in a similar, yet unique style â&#x20AC;&#x201D; many ecologists have identified Pomona as the perfect site. The name Manchester Waters now has to be world class. Anything else would be unacceptable. A Pomona Nature Reserve / Green Manchester Waters could be the talk of the North. Cornbrook Pleasure Gardens Orchards The Costa del Salford Paris Agreement In India, 800,000 people planted almost 50 million trees within 24 hours on 11th July 2016 illustrating what humanity achieves when we work together with intelligence, ambition and passion. Ambition suggests Pomona could be a centrepiece for the Northern green economy revolution. â&#x20AC;˘

SALFORD DOCKERS AT THE DOCKERS’ SOCIAL CLUB CIRCA 1970’S

JOHN CATTERALL (MANCHESTER SHIP CANAL WORLD HERITAGE GROUP)

SHAUN (MANCHESTER SHIP CANAL WORLD HERITAGE GROUP)

#SavePomona over 1300 signatures just in 7 days! A movement is born Natalie Bennett Green Party @natalieben 21

Pomona: An ecological importance ignored twice? P R O F E S S O R S T U A RT M A R S D E N

In the mid-1990s, local ornithologist Pete Berry discovered large numbers of Pochard Aythya ferina and Tufted Duck A. fuligula feeding at night at the turning basin at Salford Docks. Together with Pete, I set up a monitoring programme for the ducks, and then twoyear research project looking at their feeding ecology and effects of human disturbance. The flock of between 500 and 4,000 fed mostly during the night when the docks were quiet. The birds fed on masses of Chironimids (bloodworms) and Oligochaete worms that abounded in the polluted waters (Marsden & Bellamy 2000). The duck particularly congregated in areas of Salford and Pomona where the waterway widened, and the incoming River Irwell dropped sediment on which the invertebrates feed. Feeding at night was relatively undisturbed but more often than not, the flocks flew to Chorlton Water Park, Rostherne Mere and other refuges during the day when the docks became busy (Marsden 2000). The results of the research seemed quite clear — as long as the ducks had good food supply and could avoid being disturbed, then they would stay. Unfortunately, as the 1990s progressed, the Quays became increasingly developed and with this came increasing disturbance levels. Flats were developed near Pomona, and the opening of The Lowry centre, the Metrolink extension and other quayside developments became a serious problem for the ducks. Most important, however, were measures introduced to oxygenate the docks to improve water quality at the site. While this process undoubtedly benefited other aquatic life, they caused a drastic reduction in the numbers of invertebrates on which the duck fed. Despite clear evidence that Salford and Pomona were one of the UK’s most important for Pochard, and by far Greater Manchester’s most important wildlife phenomenon, the ducks were forgotten, and the docks developed. Now, just a handful of diving ducks use the site. Ironically, while Pochard was doing well in the 1980s and 1990s making their loss no big deal, the species has just been uplisted to Globally ‘Vulnerable’ according to the IUCN Red List. What a sorry state for the bird to be in — and it has to make one wonder what if the redevelopment at Salford were taking place now? Would it be so easy to ignore such important numbers of a ‘Globally threatened’ bird species on the site? A second opportunity lost? Now, almost the whole of Salford Docks / quays area has been redeveloped. But one tiny portion remains undeveloped for the moment. Pomona Island is a patch of ‘Open Mosaic Habitat on Previously Developed Land’ to give it its proper title, an important mostly urban land use rich in biodiversity. In the mid-eighteenth century, Pomona’s Pleasure Gardens were a huge draw for the people of south Manchester who came in large numbers for fresh air, entertainment, and green space. Looking down on the site now, it is again an oasis, the only green space left among the sea of redevelopment.

Around 150 plant species have so far been recorded at the site — including, of course, many introduced species, but also some interesting species such as Bee Orchid, and Northern Marsh and Common Spotted Orchids. The site looks to have excellent potential for butterflies and moths, and bee numbers at Pomona are extremely high. It is the site’s birds which are best known, mainly thanks to the efforts of James Walsh and a committed group of community ecologists. More than 125 species have so far been found at the site, including many migrant records including Osprey, Jack Snipe, Whinchat, nine warbler species, and lots of spring Wheatears. But it is the bird species that are in general decline across the country that are most welcome at Pomona — Snipe, Lapwing, Skylark, Reed Bunting etc. The site houses 50 pairs of Sand Martins on the dock walls, and is also home to the Schedule 1 breeder, Little Ringed Plover. The island has, for many years, remained undeveloped. Now, however, it seems that just about the last green / brown space at the docks is to disappear. In November 2015, the controversial Pomona Island plan was discussed at Trafford Town Hall — there was only ever going to be one winner, and that was housing development — which has started already at the northeast of the site. Of course, the city needs homes, but the Salford Docks area has already worked very hard for the Northern Powerhouse, to the extent that the island is all that’s left undeveloped. There is such a strong recognition now that urban nature reserves are fantastically important — every swan and butterfly within them is so much more important than their rural cousins because they are experienced by so many people. Many cities around the world are reaping benefits from their mini-reserves — Toronto has the Humber Bay Park, Buenos Aires the fantastic Costanera Sur Ecological Reserve, and Bucharest the amazing Văcărești Wetlands. These cities point the way towards where Pomona could have gone, and many believe it might be an opportunity lost. Perhaps most frustrating is that at almost the exact moment that the first bulldozers started work on Pomona, London opened the Woodberry Wetlands Reserve. Woodberry Wetlands is an urban nature haven, centred on an old reservoir in North London — just a little further from Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium than Pomona is from Old Trafford. Pomona is, many believe, a lost opportunity to create a world class nature reserve / tourism attraction, but there are some who are optimistic that the situation can be turned around, and that the science, business and political communities can find a solution that is beneficial to wildlife. Protection of Sand Martin nesting walls, creation of green roofs and saving just a small area of habitat as a nature reserve would be a big victory for the environment and the people of Manchester, the European City of Science 2016. •

MARSDEN, S. J. (2000). Impact of disturbance on waterfowl wintering in a UK dockland redevelopment area. Environmental Management 26: 207-213. MARSDEN, S. J. & BELLAMY, G. S. (2000). Microhabitat characteristics of feeding sites used by diving duck Aythya wintering on the grossly polluted Manchester Ship Canal, UK. Environmental Conservation 27: 278-283. 23

Beyond the Borders DR LUKE BLAZEJEWSKI

As a wildflower photographer I often get asked the question, “Where do you go to find nature in the city?”. And it is a good question. It is a question that is becoming more important with every passing year on this planet. For far too long nature has been associated with exotic species and faraway landscapes, where we know more about animals we have never seen in the wild than we do about those we might walk past every day. We are lucky in Greater Manchester to have some incredible parks, rolling green spaces and more than our fair share of lively rivers. But when someone asks, “Where do you go to find nature in the city?’, that is never my answer. My answer is brownfield sites. Brownfield sites can often be our best access points for nature in the city. They are transient, untamed, and often raw wilderness, where nature has been left to her own devices to recapture the local landscape. Imagine the site of an old car park or dilapidated office building. Imagine it has been left to itself for ten years, or twenty years, and now imagine what it would look like after wildflowers begin to colonise the ground and an explosion of colour redesigns the concrete. Imagine hearing birdsong where there was once only the sound of car exhausts and airconditioning units. Brownfield sites are very special places, and Pomona Island might be the most important one of them all. When brownfield sites flourish, they add a level of value that transcends any economic or residential development. Wildflowers boom, pollinators thrive, trees reach for the sky and larger animals find refuge in their shadows. When you take away a brownfield

site you take away habitat. Pollinators and insects disappear as the wildflowers wither and die. Bats wake up from their winter hibernation to find their food resources dwindling (even the tiny pipistrelle needs up to 3,000 insects every night). Sand martins, swifts and swallows arrive on the wing from Africa in the Spring to find safe breeding grounds, and brownfield sites all over Greater Manchester, including Pomona, have been accommodating them for years in broken walls and soil embankments. Perceptions always take longer to change than reality, though. Salford is known for its industrial heritage but today the city is 60% green space. For generations weeds have been condemned as non-flowers because they are unattractive and problematic. When they are in our gardens we call them weeds, but when they are in a meadow we call them wildflowers. Brownfield sites have long been considered wastelands and urban deserts, but with the city’s landscape constantly changing brownfield sites might be our last opportunity to give nature any kind of meaningful home. Maybe it is time we reevaluate our understanding of these kinds of spaces. Pomona Island is a magic vault filled with opportunity, and some of the species you can find here are simply out of this world. Have you ever seen a Common blue butterfly feeding on Birdsfoot trefoil? Your eyes squint and your pulse quickens when you see these little gemstones fluttering for the first time. Never in a million years could they be native. The sapphire blue of their wings like something out of the Amazon, and the dazzling yellow leaves of its foodplant burning as bright as the midday sun. →

And they are not alone, either. Red admiral butterflies occupy the once much-loved butterfly plants, Buddleia, which border the island in force. Brimstones float mysteriously around the nectar-rich creeping thistle. In fact, the yellow wings of the male Brimstones are believed to have inspired the very term butterfly, which were once known as the butter-coloured fly. The Bee orchid might be one of the most beautiful wildflowers in Europe, having evolved to look like bees in order to attract them, and many consider them the stars of Pomona. And then there are the mushrooms. The legendary Fly agaric grows secretively along the canal. Famed for its appearance on the cover of childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s fairytale books, its secretive character serves to hide its toxic intent. The Orange birch bolete, a fine delicacy in its own right, grows nearby beneath a canopy of silver birch, and if you are lucky, you might find the Amethyst deceiver plotting beneath a pile of dead leaves. Cormorants stand guard atop the old lamp posts and watch their prey swimming beneath the surface of the Manchester Ship Canal. Herons sit by the waterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s edge, reflecting on life with wisdom and experience, just as a pair of Kestrels hover silently above looking for unsuspecting Wood mice or a lazy vole. Lapwings take to the sky at speed and inject a sense of high fashion into the atmosphere (famously sporting one of the best hairstyles in the bird kingdom) while the resident Kingfisher, the jewel of the River Irwell, rewards patient onlookers with a millisecond of its presence.

With Pomona Island now pinned for longlasting development it is important to make it absolutely clear that this landscape is not a wasteland but a celebration of the natural world, or at least it could be. Can you imagine a nature reserve sitting on the borderlands between Trafford, Salford and Manchester? Three post-industrial powerhouses coming together and recognising the importance of having nature right here on our doorstep. For this hardy and resilient landscape nature has shone through in a truly unique way, and after all is said and done she will be here long after we are gone. But while we can we should be holding Pomona Island up to the light and showing the world just how much beauty can be found in brownfield sites. It is no exaggeration to say that nature reserves all over the country have been set up on a lot less than what you can find on Pomona Island today, and that alone begs an important question. â&#x20AC;˘

Pomona Island: Perceived Mundanity of Space and Why I made a Documentary about Pomona G E O R G E H AY D O C K

I first encountered Pomona Island whilst filming a short experimental sequence with a collaborator. We stayed on the path, and were wary of getting our camera out. The space didn’t hit me. I took the tram more or less everyday out to Salford Quays — passing Pomona through all seasons for about 3 years. But I didn’t see it. The first time I really considered Pomona in any depth I was planning a documentary about the trend of privatisation as a means of development in cities — and what that means for space and uses of space. I looked at Pomona — where did it lie in that categorisation? Who owned this strange space? My initial idea was to film myself stood on Pomona Island, whilst making various calls to authorities about securing permission to film on the space. This idea I liked, but it felt too strong — too antagonistic. As I carried on with researching, it became clear that the space can be viewed through so many different lenses — politically, ecologically, historically, culturally and philosophically. At the time of filming (Summer / Autumn 2013) there was quite an established, but still very niche fan club of the area. On the surface, the space is simply nothing — no purpose, no meaning, no use. But it’s nothingness is the very source of it’s richness, once you lift the lid. It seemed there was a paradox surrounding the space. A tension between the perceived mundanity of the space, and the wealth of ideas that spring from it, and that is what I wanted to embrace with the film. I wanted to brush up against peoples perceptions — and purposefully test those limits. When developing the score with composer Alex Symcox — I put

forward the idea of the film being like a piece of ‘propaganda’ — unquestionably positive. I think his score worked perfectly in allowing the film to have prolonged visual segments — showing the beauty of the space, without context — but creating a suggestion that what you are seeing is of some vast importance. I love the place from my time making the film — and conceptually I love it — but in honesty I have not spent much time there since filming. I can probably count on one hand the amount of times I’ve been back there. For me, Pomona was a platform — and presented an opportunity to play with the documentary film form. The idea of making a highly positive, romantic and poetic documentary film about something most people either don’t notice, or actively see in a negative way seemed to me a great artistic opportunity. Immediately after it’s premier on Skyliner.org, the film appealed to fans of Pomona, and people connected with the film — and it also had some success at Green and Nature film festivals. Since the film it’s great to see the growth in cultural commentary about the space. Ironically, the closest I feel someone came to understanding my film was some rejection feedback from local film night. The feedback stated “We did not think the subject deserved a documentary”. That’s exactly what the film was meant to be about. •

→ www.theskyliner.org/pomona-island-on-film

The Perils and Pleasures of a Cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Secret Garden A DA M P R I N C E

Pomona is an anomaly, an exceptional space hidden away from the city like a secret. What incredible potential there is at the beautiful but underused waterfront and the ‘hidden’ vast hectares. It is a place of mystery but one that is so alive. It is a place I often visit, for reverence and peace with my dogs. Across my dreams and contemplations, I consider visions for a city that never was, but could and should have been. Pomona is almost like Manchester Secret Garden, and I almost imagine the Frances Burnett book from my childhood. It may be nostalgic and fanciful, but there is almost that sense of that old pleasure gardens from the Victorian times that resonates throughout it. There is a sense of mystery and enchantment even though it is so disrupted, in an interruption of lost time. Being involved in campaigning without any particular academic or relevant accreditations, some say that I have developed my style and reputation. Relentless and defiant, I am tired of being lied to or seeing people belittled and patronised. I am dismayed of the onward creeping failures for neighbourhoods and communities. As an ideas person, I may not have the execution for specific details, but I certainly have the passion and drive to move forward with Pomona. From the successful petition started by a friend, a survey of ideas and possibilities people’s efforts have been immense. The pleas gave way to silence, unwelcomed by politics. Our leaders have failed in developing what should be a beacon for the city and a celebration of its worldwide reputation, accomplishments, industry and land at the Ship Canal.

I am rare as incredibly Peel Holdings have agreed to meet me in the coming weeks. It has been a relentless task and assault of demanding better questioning of the ‘unknown’ master plan for the area to be invited. Of course, developers are looking for profits, but if they cut themselves so far to the bone, they risk damaging their reputation and at their worst, they are facilitated politically to spoil the city. What Trafford Council considers “worldclass ambitions” in their “Core Strategy” are worthy yet meaningless notions of artifice diluted by false political agendas. It was that appalling sense of sitting in the Trafford planning meeting in November 2015, where there was no master plan revealed to the panel. It felt like there was a total contempt in not having done this and even though many in the executive disliked the plans, they voted as they felt no Council could win against this development giant in appeal. The three contradictory master plans do not bode well. They are scrappy and incomplete, yet push toward ever more private density and concrete. The politician’s insistence that they have not seen or had any involvement in the discussions of these sites does not ring true when there is absolute proof that they have. Do not even get me started on a GMCA loan for over ten million, despite no commitments to social, affordable housing, public realm green space, social or community infrastructure. My fury and disgusting could fill several books. Alas, the designs are so far from ambition and inspiration. When a developer is as rich as this, there seems a sense of →

responsibility of giving back as well as working alongside their corporate interests. I fear that this goddess is at the precipice, ready to become a victim to bureaucratic, mercenary profits, short-termism and a system without advocates where there should be competent protection. In 2014 the destruction of the island made it looked like an apocalyptic war zone. Each tree ripped from the soil; the earth turned over in a mangle of debris. Now already thousands of trees and saplings have developed along the abundant plant life and habitats. The gloomy compound where the drab tower blocks grow amid surface car parks, in just some places are now obscured by the new life that is thriving from some vantage points on the island. You can almost imagine this travesty is not happening. I dread the 2500 units Peel wants to build on the island which could mean 30 towers. In 1989 there was an idea reviving the Victorian Pleasure Garden for a modern botanical oasis. Now the sense of menace and loss hangs over the rebranded Manchester Waters like a toxic cloud. My background is far from ‘planning’. I studied psychology, psychotherapy and hypnotherapy. To me, a city should become its dream, the collective dream of its people which is best realised and manifested by sharing perceptions for the possibility of brilliance, uniqueness and identity. There are such visions and potentials, imaginations and dialogues that are just not heard, and instead, the authorities and systems work against the people, not with them to find synchronicity and possibility.

Concerningly feelings about autocracy and disconnect between the language and civic hopes, grow. Sadly I sometimes see a city disengaged through its politics, corporate relationships. Often that metaphor of the people “in the grey suits” seem alienated from any of the senses of place and meaning of the people ascribe to this incredible island. Pomona holds in her mystery incarnations of change from the history of Pomona Palace, the pleasure garden, the world famous waterfronts of the dockyards, to this period of returning to nature, to the ominous and destructive plans of ruination. I cannot bear to stand back and see Pomona damaged further without trying to see betterment, win or lose. Even if we fail, there is an absolute conviction of trying to negotiate on any level, influence and push for public engagement and also allowing people to realise their dreams for their island. Any negotiation, any chance for dialogue, any chance for improvement must be explored, even if it is incomplete and disappointing, for any mitigation, for any fortune of something better is needed. Pomona deserves her advocates before her abundance is ripped so perilously from her, and her potential from our city is gone forever, mythic, yet forgotten, never to return. •

WAYS OF SEEING

Fallowland E D DY F O X

Traditionally, agricultural land was left fallow on a cyclical basis in order to allow the land to regain its fertility after a period of intensive cultivation, which removed nutrients and impoverished the soil. The fallow period was not a passive one but a pause in productive use in order to enable the natural processes to recharge the land. This was often actively managed through the sowing of plants such as clover, which fixes nitrogen in the soil through nodes in its root system. Beneath the apparent â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;deadnessâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; of the fallow period, the land was in fact coming back to life: microbes and fungal processes extending their invisible webs, earthworms and insects aerating and regenerating the soil. Pomona herself, as the goddess of fruitfulness and abundance, would certainly have valued this. In the context of a post-industrial, urban environment, derelict land can be seen as a fallow stage between productive cycles. The potential of the land for human exploitation lies unharnessed for a period between economic and development cycles. However, whereas the traditional agricultural cycle valued the recharged potency of the land itself, urbanisation categorises this as waste or blight. At Pomona Island, a new period of developmental activity primarily covets its square meterage, its waterfront location and its proximity to the city centre. The progressive return of fertility and biodiversity is perceived as an inconvenient irrelevance. The interim management regime in fact aims to interrupt the establishment of new ecological and biological processes, which are now seen as a threat to its more immediate economic potential. Is there a role for the fallow in the modern city and can this be reappropriated as a positive phase of land development? Can we re-evaluate dereliction as regeneration? Could we envisage a shifting patchwork of fallow sites, recharging the biological and environmental potency of our cities? Could we invert the language of recession and crisis between phases of economic growth to see these as essential breathing spaces in which our cities can recover their energies and rethink their futures? â&#x20AC;˘

IMAGES SALLY TITTERINGTON

Island of Dreams D R D AV I D H A L E Y

The year is 2100. Standing on the platform of what was the Cornbrook Transport Hub, an old poet looks to the sky and then to the island below. Night falls. Above the island, shimmering in the night sky floats a cloud, like a giant fruit ripe with ten thousand seeds. The cloud pulses and glows every time someone has a good idea about the potential future of the island. The poet watches and listens to the cloud, the virtual island of dreams and he then remembers Shakespeare’s play, ‘The Tempest’: Act 3, Scene 2. Another part of the island: CALIBAN Be not afeard; the isle is full of noises, Sounds and sweet airs, that give delight and hurt not. Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments Will hum about mine ears, and sometime voices That, if I then had waked after long sleep Will make me sleep again: and then, in dreaming The clouds methought would open and show riches Ready to drop upon me that, when I waked I cried to dream again (III.ii.130-138) Meanwhile, on the ground, on the island, between the Ship Canal and the Duke’s canal a wild orchard flourishes. Guava, passion fruit, and pawpaw. Birds flock to gorge themselves on the abundant fruits. The canals, or ‘Hs2O’, as they are known, are surrounded by electromagnetic repulse walls. From time to time, people are tempted to breach these barriers, to drink from the waters or eat the fruits, but they only get bounced back. They hunger from Austerity Rationing, but the Government says that their weight loss is saving millions from the Health Budget. In the scorching heat, their thirst is not quenched either. They must await the Atlantic monsoons to fill their water butts. However, these old canal reservoirs carry the precious storm water to the Hs2O canal for Southern Region consumption, even though demand in that Region has fallen since the floods of 2055, when London finally submerged.

The migration to the Northern Region was bitter, as Southern families tried to pass the MancWall in search of food and shelter. They walked by night to avoid daylight radiation, but were beaten back by the ruthless DevoCops of the United City. Although many had been caught in the floods, this seemed less of a threat compared to the coastal storm sea surges and nuclear dumps of the far North. The new cities of ‘Pennine Liverpool’ and ‘Blackpool-in-Pendle’ became the desired destinations, with their stilted eco-towers, but negotiating this Mancland state became perilous since independence. Somehow, for a while, Pomona Island became a sanctuary following the madness of the North-South War. I guess the only good thing to come out of it, was the particledematerialisation of Pomona Holdings. Amazing how quickly the wildflowers and trees seeded in the rubble. No ‘brownfields’ here, just native mangos, pineapples, bananas and coconuts. And while the poet waits for the late-running electromagnet tram, he writes on a scrap of neoplastic: The island of dreams bides its time Like the sirens of old it attracts the desires of men Only to be dashed on the rocks of market forces Like fruit rotting in a bowl of plenty Shrivelled and maggot-riddled Hope giving way to death to life to another state of becoming Fungus and flies, fruit of the future ‘Mmm’, he thinks, ‘maybe I can do better tomorrow’, and casts the text into a windblown heap of rubbish. The cloud pulses and glows — another good idea! Seen from the moon Pomona Island is insignificant. But for those with imagination, it still provides opportunities for new ways of seeing and being; pregnant with the seeds of the future. Meanwhile, back at The Tempest: Act 5 Scene 1 MIRANDA Oh, wonder! How many goodly creatures are there here! How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world, That has such people in ’t! •

Pomona is Everywhere J U D I T H VA N D E N B O O M & GUNTER WEHMEYER

From a foreign perspective, Pomona Island surpasses its location. We are not observing the island solely as a place of soil, rocks, natural life and historic context but moreover study the island’s conditions and continuation in the present (global) landscape. As one who at first, had not been in Pomona one might argue, how are we able to contribute, on the other hand the external view might benefit from a position of objectivity. Pomona Island gives the visitor a choice of how to approach its present and future purpose or impact. Looking at spaces and fields around us, we often overlook the understanding and consciousness of the concept of ‘time’ as a condition between made and grown environment. When a space is not used, people experience this as inefficient and impractical. Society is driven with a constant drive to create a destined infrastructure. Questioning this notion of time was Louis le Roy building the Eco Cathedral in the Netherlands. He was concerned about the violence of the growing urban developments that took no regard of ecological principles. Le Roy signed with the local municipality a letter of intent to develop a field over 100 years. On the Pomona Encounter day, we walked different urban routes through the city of Manchester, taking in people’s contributions, exploring the landscape and shaping a new set of questions around the Island. What allows a Pomona to exist? What are its components and how can these contribute to future living that steps beyond policy making and efficiency requirements? How can Pomona Island challenge new ideas on urban living beyond the borders of Manchester? Pomona Island is a reality, developers and master plans take on the practical function of a space. Additionally, Pomona reveals opportunities and new values on future living that allow the re-imagining of a functional landscape. As we are dealing with the fact that Pomona Island is a full stage masterplan development through Peel Holdings developers, globally, we experience city sell-outs on different levels. Pomona is one of many, countless, urban planning developments globally under pressure from cities — where we as designers might encounter a couple of basic reactions of what we could do or could not do: →

1. Passive / Resistive / NIMB (not in my backyard) A (good / bad) revolution and aggressive demonstration is not moving a lot and guerrilla activities will not only delay current opportunities but also discredit any potential future opportunities. 2. Active / Protective One of the usual work methods; protection of spaces and ecosystems knowing that it takes years to set up new ecosystems. 3. Neither / Nor Business as usual approach / nodding / not caring 4. Active / Speculative

In recognising that Pomona could as well be standing as a general placeholder for other city spaces worldwide, we should be active acknowledging that we are in transition towards new future ecologies, but yet not knowing how we get there, we can only act and react with experimentation and prototyping through new coalitions. ‘In-between’ spaces like Pomona, demand more than conservation and urban green as aesthetic consideration. They require ‘encounter’, diversity and difference that everybody can use, which are complex and incomplete, that trigger creativity and trust, that improve social interaction and physical and mental health for multiple end-users through a multi-functional design approach and not another ‘silo-driven’ approach of design (both developer and activist driven). As we encountered Pomona with its different components and stakeholders mentioned above we are now actively searching, speculating and designing very real testing grounds for a ‘Pomona is everywhere’, acknowledging that this idea could impact cities and urban life on multiple levels. How might we identify future designers / stakeholders who develop and implement ‘new Pomonas’? and how can we create active citizens who start thinking differently about their future landscape needs? Through active prototyping, Pomona becomes a metaphor for these vacant spaces, transforming landmarks, waiting for new destinations and opportunities. With its origin in Manchester- a strip of land with the Ship Canal on one side and Bridgewater Canal on the other — ‘New Pomonas’ will arise everywhere. •

Reflecting Complexity: Urban Forest System D R V I N C E N T WA L S H

Forests are extremely rich in both biological and ecological complexities across temperate and tropical environments. Although forests are not just a collection of living systems and infrastructure, animals, trees, fungi and microorganisms that live within close proximity, their richness is in the colossal interaction between them. It’s the patterns that connect which creates a self-regulating system, an ecosystem. These self-regulating systems aim to create the perfect conditions for life, to create more life, a complex web of interactions, interdependence and co-evolution, which share the abundance of food the system creates. Being able to create an “ecological urban food system” that has the ability to grow an abundance of food is an interesting proposition for a 21st century urban landscape for reasons of, fiscal prudence, food security, job creation, urban heat reduction and flood risk mitigation, to name a few. How do we start the process and what are the design principles? How is complexity found in self-regulating systems? These were the same questions I asked when developing the Urban Food Forest in Salford. The following text will focus on two main points, simplifying and multiplying that each support the creation of the Urban Food Forest. →

Simplifying is Death The density and diversity of a forest system can be contrasted to a system of monoculture, in which one crop is grown in isolation over a large area. A monoculture system has only one output (food), whereas agroforestry has many outputs in addition to food â&#x20AC;&#x201D; such as timber production, water purification, carbon capture and biodiversity. Monoculture systems often rely on the use of pesticides, because the pests that affect that particular crop are able to multiply across such a large area. In general, the more complex a system is, the more sustainable it will be. This is demonstrated when comparing arable land with a wild nature system. In summary a wild nature system: requires less energy; is more resilient; has higher diversity; has higher interconnectedness; has lower or zero greenhouse gas emissions; and requires little or no maintenance. By comparison, monoculture systems use more water, and cause soil degradation. These are problems that are fundamental to many of the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s food production systems. The combination of density, diversity and interconnectivity of agroforestry systems create the platform for true resilience. In contrast to the complexity found in almost all natural self-regulating systems, human design systems sometimes simplify, developing reductionist methods in an attempt to hit singular design goals that are often grounded in industrialized production. Ecosystem management tends to focus on increasing the productivity of a particular narrowly defined product, which can ultimately make the system rigid and more vulnerable to disturbance. Biological diversity is needed to create self-regulating complex systems that are resilient. A definition of resilience is, the ability of a biological system and ecosystem or social system to withstand disturbance and still continue to function. The measure of resilience is the multitude of disturbance that can be experienced without persistent flipping into another state. Multiplying is Life For a system to withstand disturbance it needs many components to regulate it, and complexity is central to this. An agroforestry system can contribute towards a more adaptive and resilient whole system through the diversity and complexity that it brings. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) are investigating the potential of agroforestry in mitigating the atmospheric accumulation of greenhouse gases, as well as enabling farmers to adapt to climate change. This shows the transformative potential of agroforestry systems across urban, rural and farmland contexts. The value of agroforestry systems derives from their closed loop nature, as well as their ability to provide protection against both ecological and socio-economic shocks. The diversity and density of agroforestry systems produces a much richer system that encompasses a variety of life forms such as: microorganisms; fungi; worms; plants; birds; shrubs and trees. This diversity creates a density based on the interconnected web of life, in which different elements rely on each other to co-produce organic matter: living and dying, and so adding nutrients to the soil to create more biodiversity.

Agroforestry systems are designed to mimic the forest strata, from the rhizosphere level to canopy level. They are highly efficient because as they mature, they maximize biodiversity, solar capacity, nutrients cycle, soil fertility and carbon storage. This can be described as a game of increasing returns, as the system acts on the environment in a way that increases the density and complexity of the system itself. This feedback loop that heightens the density of clusters of living things is defined as the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Panarchyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; framework by Gunderson and Holling in their 2002 book of the same name. Urban Forest System: Salford An agroforestry system can be implemented within a city many times over as a result of its vertical complexity in contrast to a monoculture system which would take up larger space with fewer outputs. Agroforestry represents a viable, practical opportunity to develop systems for urban food production at a local level that can create and reproduce more sustainable approaches that can then be used for the transition to more sustainable cities. The aim of the Urban Forest System in Salford was to create a self-regulating food producing system that needed little or no maintainence, based on agroforestry design principles. Over five-years, the complexities of the system emerged as the different strata of the system were implemented. These consisted of creating a holistic branching of filamentous structure of fungus network in the soil. Over 20 tones of new soil and compost was replaced. Over 60 new trees were planted and inoculated with mycorrhizae fungi, developing the symbiotic relationships needed between fungi and trees. Over 60,000 worms feed back into the soil with an onsite vermiculture system. Biological trenches were dug and back filled with a range of organic materials such as logs, hay bales, twigs, leaves, brambles and nettles. The wooded material under the ground acts like a sponge that absorbs water and releases heat as it breaks down. Then the system is left to grow, evolve and adapt like a wild forest system. The Urban Forest System in Salford demonstrated that there is a real opportunity and a range of different methodologies that can be deployed in the urban landscape to create food systems that are based on natural design principles. The only thing that stop these much needed experiments is the simplistic human mind. Just think what Pomona could be! â&#x20AC;˘

One Step K AT E B E VA N

I’m loitering with intent to dream an island city — just because I can! A ‘Paradise Lost’ paved through gold and commerce. A place forgotten, re-wilded, a place where ‘BE HAPPY’ doesn’t have to be written on a wall like a daily ‘post-it’ note reminder — but where Bob Marley’s words can sing in your heart. Know your past to build on the future. Walk purposefully, one step now, one step past, one step… Dream. Dream the un-dream, the forgotten place — politically left to its own devices and watch what systems nature reclaims and sustains. Learn. One step now, one step past, one step…Pomona. This island of dreams shuttered and imprisoned by those who would stamp their authority declaring ‘Rowlinson: A multi-funded development to be revealed’. This lost island of Pomona who flanked the Manchester Ship Canal, made industrialists rich. The River Irwell was carved and canalled, trammelled to suit other man’s needs when she thought she belonged to herself. You cannot step into the same river twice. You cannot halt progress. One step now, one step past, one step… Re-discover an island of dreams. Where painted stones topple like ancient ruins, as if Greek gods were enjoying a game of Scrabble. Some humour in this wasteland. Under glowering skies with new-builds on each horizon — a biblical sign awaits: Construction Traffic Route. The re-birth of Pomona — the Phoenix they predict to raise from its brownsite ashes. One step now, one step past, one step… The River Irwell wraps secure its island of Pomona. Born by water, summoned to service — it’s geography speaks of merchant docks with boundaries cleared, cut and channelled for industrial needs. A site once teaming with ‘tax-free’ ships of Empire, kept Cotton King’s on top of all things commercial. As stevedores plied long hours and workhorses transported bales a thousand-fold too and fro. Cobbled pathways remain mainly mossed and grass covered until revealed by walkers, with or without dogs, as they meander, drift and play in their ‘adopted commons land’, their local idle. One step now, one step past, one step… Grey skies loom across the horizon. “All good things must come to an end!” Brownfield Pomona has no rights — you cannot stop the high-rise invasion across her blossoming wasteland. Through flowering grasses, perched on a globe-streetlight, a cormorant keeps watch over the river. Bramble weaves across footpaths; lilac overhangs its nectar paradise, framing rubbish-strewn waters where birds roost for safety. Brightly coloured polybags, tied to railings, sound the wind ‘artfully’ — an everyday social sculpture: ‘By the people — for the people’. →

One step now, one step past, one step… Listen Grasses catch the breeze from the water’s course, continuing this dance of Shiva. Pomona, just when she settled, fallow and fruitful, just when she thought she belong to herself, discovers she is as disenfranchised as the homeless ‘tented’ on towpaths or in the underworld of arches where the dossed-down world of dispossessed, as unseen ‘shadows’, look up to city apartment blocks where they could only dream of living. Admittedly they don’t have the bills but there is hollow solace in that. There must be a better way to share this space — a common sense of place. One step forward, one step past, one step… Know your past to build on the future. Walk purposefully… Look Watch what systems nature reclaims and sustains… Brownfield sites become green oases… Ask Can eco-sustainability be in every new-build development with living walls and biospheric buildings, town forests and apple orchards for children of all ages to ‘scrump’? Can development on ‘adopted commons land’ create a common sense of place? Is it possible to create integrated social spaces, social housing with Jerusalem artichoke pathways and open allotments… Find Develop a new integration rather than gentrification. Ask those who meander and inhabit this space what would their dream be? ... Learn I’m loitering with intent to dream an island city… One step now, one step past, one step… •

Social and Collaborative Housing G I O R DA N A F E R R I

A new type of living culture is taking shape in both private and public space, blending experience — that we technically call active and co-operative wellbeing — whereby people get together to improve their living conditions and do so via the implementation of cooperative and sustainable ideas to target their goal. The result of this interaction is a more efficient and pleasant daily life, kick-starting a response to some strategic desires in everyday living and reducing waste, in addition to an optimisation of time and resources at one’s disposal. This widespread trend involves people in the active construction of their habitat environment in many different ways, some examples being the social street, ethical buying groups, community gardens or carpooling. The groups that rotate around these activities can manage services and spaces, preside over territory and exchange know-how. Projects like this are no longer new nor the exception to the rule. A wide range of tried and tested examples, tools and tutorials for acquiring the organisational knowledge of the “veterans” in a short space of time show how the skill required to replicate these projects has been built up over the years. The features most representative of these groups and their activity are their openness — owing to the nature of their bonding — the local development, i.e a strong attachment to the setting, a high degree of networking (social networks play a fundamental role in possible extension and management of these projects) and spontaneous professionality, or rather a highly professional, organised set up applied to everyday living. These experiences, already being the object of studies, give evidence of a kind of “dual movement” that includes both social practices claiming greater urban welfare and new design concepts focused on the interaction between services and practices (Munarin and Tosi, 2014). The Foundation is a private, non-profit entity, and works for the purposes ofpublic and social interest. The Foundation’s mission is to experiment with innovative solutions for structuring, financing, construction and management of social housing initiatives that are economically sustainable, and are not based on the logic of free grants. FHS (Fondazione Housing Sociale) is now a reference point for the promotion of the sector, the facilitation of projects and the monitoring of their quality. FHS has acquired diversified skill sets, enabling an integrated approach to the development of private social housing initiatives. Currently there are 27 approved local funds spread throughout Italy with a pipeline, to be completed by 2020, of appr. 220 projects, for the construction of 20,000 dwellings and 7,000 beds in temporary or student residences. •

Pomona Island’s Bloom: Symbolism and Shelter VA L E R I A R U I Z VA R G A S

ANDREOTTI, V. (2006). Soft versus critical global citizenship education. Policy & Practice-A Development Education Review, (3). DREZE, J., & SEN, A. (2002). India: Development and participation. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ELLIS, C. S., & BOCHNER, A. (2000). Autoethnography, personal narrative, reflexivity: Researcher as subject. In N. Denzin & Y. Lincoln (Ed.), The Handbook of Qualitative Research (2nd ed.). SAGE Publications Ltd. FREDIANI, A., BONI, A., & GASPER, D. (2014). Approaching development projects from a human development and capability perspective. Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, 15(1), 1-12. GIBBS, A. P. (2013). A critical study of international higher education development: capital, capability, and a dialogical proposal for academic freedom as a responsibility. SUBREENDUTH, S. (2013). Disrupting mainstream discourse in teacher education through decolonising pedagogies. In B. Leibowitz (Ed.) Higher education for the public good: views from the South. Stellenbosch: Trentham Books and SUN MeDIA. WALKER, (2006). Higher Education Pedagogies: A capabilities approach. Berkshire: Open University Press/McGraw-Hill Education. 56

Let us stop for a moment, do we need another ‘déjà vu’ urban development in Manchester? Can we ever evolve from cities as we conceive them currently? Are there other approaches to engage with our neighbours (human and non-human)? Can we find shelter in ways that are more meaningful for all? In order to explore the sense of identity and agency of human beings in our responsible adaptive individuality and its links to the (human and non-human) communities we decided to go for a walk… Our walk drew ideas from the Human Capabilities Approach (Walker, 2006), and Critical Global Citizenship (Andreotti, 2006) to provide freedom in exploring human beings responsibilities and non-human identities in Pomona Island. The rough angles of the land soften by organic waves of intertwined Blackberry bushes and Japanese Knotweed provided a much-needed living platform for raw explorations. Through a brief co-auto ethnographic exploration (Ellis & Bochner, 2000), we approached our humanity using our ‘self’: agency and identity. Open ended questions provided space to work through to two main routes (1) ’diversity and intersectionality’ and (2) ‘adaptive preferences and reasoned reflection’ (Frediani et al., 2014). In other words, we explored the multidimensional and interconnected aspects of humanity and Nature. Pomona Island created an exchange of emergent knowledge within an ephemeral community, with the potential to become a quest for an ‘anti-oppressive approach to repetition in education and society’. (Kumashiro, 2000 in Subreenduth, 2013: 130) What is needed is not merely freedom and power to act, but also freedom and power to question and reassess the prevailing norms and values. (Dreze & Sen 2002: 258) Dialogue as an active and responsible engagement with otherness makes a case for freedom in education that neither pertains to the individual as an absolute right, nor resides in ‘knowing’ absolutely what makes a human free. Instead, freedom is a constant invitation to further dialogue with the world and the revisitation of received ideas and knowledge. (Gibbs, 2013:25) •

POMONA ENCOUNTERS WALK : MANCHESTER EUROPEAN CITY OF SCIENCE 2016 #POMONAISLAND

Colour Walk DR JANE WEBB

The term ‘local colour’ is used to describe the distinctive flavour of a place and its inhabitants. Colour is a metaphor for life, for interest and desire, but how much do we see of any locality as colour? The Pomona event offered the opportunity for experiencing this unique environment in colour, and participants were provided with a simple kit, allocating them a colour and asking them to find it. The goal was not necessarily the finding of the colour, but to induce an awareness of the subtle hues, shades and tones of the Pomona environment. An awareness that would ultimately lead to a more profound way of being in it. Colours were found in clothing, building, pathways and vegetation and photographed next to it.

But what is colour and how does one capture it? Most of us will have a small collection of local colour in the form of intriguing detritus gathered from significant spaces usually on the margins of the land. To make these shade cards I turned to mine as the objects lay on a windowsill, photographed them, digitally plucking their colours from the image. These were translated as a printed sheet of stickers that were then attached to cards — the colours resembling in no way the original objects that formed the starting point. At least not to my eye. But then is it simply my eye that experiences hue in these objects? I think not. In these colours I see the crunch of the pebbles, the taste of the salt, the awkward tilt of the body as it struggles to walk in deep, loose sand, the years of growing up, the roaring suck of the swell, the chill whip of the wind and sound of the sky. The process by which their colours were generated remained unknown to the participants on the colour walk, but to me the method offered an important lesson. Colour is a metaphor for life, for interest and desire but colour is ultimately fugitive. Attention to this important chromatic quality tells of the unique and subtle interconnectedness of land and water, its inhabitants, its sounds, smells, tastes, and tactility, the elements, light and atmosphere of any place — an ecology that can neither be captured nor reproduced. •

POMONA DOCK MAP PUBLISHED COURTESY OF MANCHESTER SHIP CANAL WORLD HERITAGE GROUP

IMAGES SALLY TITTERINGTON

Pomona our Goddess S A L LY T I T T E R I N G T O N & PA U L L O G A N

A day to walk to talk and to reflect on our time discussing the past and future of this island. New people and new ideas. Reasoning and deliberation of the events ahead. Why Pomona? A slumbering beauty full of adventure and discovery. Smiling faces, presentations of thought and sanity. Each time our discoveries, challenging debate and curiosity. What becomes of this space? A wasteland in this busy and provocative city. Can we change or be apart of its destiny? Perhaps not but in the divulging and questioning of its being we perhaps can challenge the presumed certain. An apple, a representative of the goddess Pomona, orchards and fruit trees. Pomona a watcher over people, homes and special places. In celebration of the goddess, this Island and its significance we ate the fruit, refreshed our thoughts, smiled and pondered over our next steps. Pomona is fruitfulness and abundance, and as I munch on my apple, my mind wanders. Whilst Apple® seems to be an amazing inventive and product lead company, Apple® still represents the classic corporate company’s focus for crunching numbers. Ultimately, amassing masses of money and seeking tax avoidance loop holes to assist them in their abundance. Adam was tempted by the Apple, Manchester is like New York, Manchester is now a film location for New York City and New York is called the ‘Big Apple’. There is an old saying ‘An apple a day keeps the Doctor away’. Manchester Small-Scale Experimental Machine (SSEM), nicknamed Baby, was the world’s first stored-program computer that ran in 1948. Alan Turing joined the team to work on the M1 project, at Manchester University, where he introduced “Computing Machinery and Intelligence”, which anticipated the subject of Artificial Intelligence. Turing’s life was ended with an Apple saturated in cyanide and it has been suggested that the Apple logo with the bite out of it is in homage to Turing? Pomona Island (1846 to 1888) was full of positivity and the grand hall Royal Pomona Palace, agricultural hall and gardens celebrated the goddess. There were tea dances, bands, leisure entrepreneurs staged ‘anthropological exhibitions’ (effectively Human Zoos which would be unheard of these days, although possibly experiencing a revival on digital media platforms?) and political rallies (the capacity was 20,000 plus). The North had a voice and power from industry and Pomona was an informal platform for people to frequent, enjoy and express themselves. This too was ended, once again by chemicals, since a nearby chemical factory blew up and the buildings suffered extensive damage. The land was left seeping and weeping poison. Nature, ever forgiving, worked its magic and produced abundance and fruitfully for us today it gives us an incredible wildlife and floral selection.

So, Snow White and Alan Turing each ate a poisoned apple and we all ate apples on mass, taking time to reflect about the Island of Pomona, its history, the people and what this name means and could mean. The site is expected to be renamed and rebranded so that the name and history of Pomona Island can be buried like a Bad Apple. What Human Zoo? What explosion? Chemical Flash Over? No, this is a New Place. You can take the Pomona out of the map but you cannot take the Pomona away from the history. Looking into Pomona Island’s history and thinking about the phrase ‘Those who close their eyes to the past, are blind to the future’, it would seem that the words are related to the god Janus. Janus, frequently symbolised change and transitions such as the progress of future to past, from one condition to another, from one vision to another. He represented time, because he could see into the past with one face and into the future with the other. He represented the middle ground between barbarism and civilisation, rural and urban space so akin to Pomona. The name Janitor is derived from Janus, who is present at the gates of heaven, It is hoped that Trafford Council, as Janitor to Pomona Island, should heed the Trafford motto: ‘Quod Bonum est Tenete — ‘Hold Fast That Which is Good’. This is an incredible Golden Delicious opportunity for the community and for developers to show that modern day philanthropy can exist and the ‘Gateway to the Atlantic’ is a vision that could be of Man working in harmony with Nature. A chance for urban renewal and preservation of green space, so few and far between in an industrial city. The health benefits on physical and mental wellbeing would be immeasurable. ‘The Manchester Man’ by Isabella Banks was first published in 1876 at the height of Pomona Island’s glory. Jabez Clegg is the Manchester Man and this is a quotation from the novel ‘Mutability is the epitaph of words / Change alone is changeless / People drop out of the history of a life as of a land though their work or their influence remains’. We are thinking all these things plus Philanthropic Past Times, Philanthropic Pass Times, Philanthropic Acts and finally how about ‘Philanthropic Revivalism’? •

POMONA OUR GODDESS

‘PHILANTHROPIC REVIVALISM’ COULD BE A NEW TREND AND MOVEMENT, THAT DEVELOPERS TAKE ON BOARD, TO CREATE STUNNING SUSTAINABLE AND SOCIAL HOUSING THAT CAN BE EMBEDDED AND EXIST IN WILD LIFE JUNGLES.

Pomona’s Beauty Spots E M M A H AY WA R D & FA B R I Z I O C O C C H I A R E L L A

“We are in a strange part of town; unknown space stretches ahead of us. In time we know a few landmarks and the routes connecting them. Eventually what was a strange town and unknown space becomes familiar place, abstract space, becomes concrete place, filled with meaning.’’ (Tuan, 1977:51) How do we consciously interpret and navigate the city and what justifies the reasoning for public places of interest, sites and attractions, destinations and landmarks? If we start to question how we experience different situations and diverse environments should we look to how we understand the city in relationship with the countryside? Cities are places of ‘designed safety’ and prescribed or commercialised orientation — a place to shop, to socialise, to create connections (both real and superficial). Or do we aspire to explore the unknown? to discover ‘dangerous environments’ the unmediated landscapes of natural phenomena and untamed or unfiltered experience, encountering our own markers and fashioning our unique memories and markers of space.

“Space may be marked physically, as with animals’ use of smells or human groups’ use of visual or auditory indicators; alternatively it may be marked abstractly, by means of signs. Space thus acquires symbolic value.” (Lefebvre, 1991:41) As we look at proposals for the regeneration of the ‘Cornbrook Hub’ and Pomona Island should we question whether we continue to plan lived experience around commercial centres and activities for facilitating ‘lifestyle’? Are we in danger of blinkering our understandings of our sense of place and our connections to others, community, objects, nature and the ecology of the environment that pulsates and renders our lived experience vivid. Are we aware of the filters through which we make sense of the everyday and define our relationship with the many encounters we make?

“Place is whatever stable object catches our attention. As we look at a panoramic scene our eyes pause at points of rest. Each pause in time is enough to create an image of place that looms momentarily in our view. The pause may be of such short duration and the interest so fleeting that we may not be fully aware of having focused on any particular object; we believe we have simply been looking at a general scene. Nonetheless these pauses have occurred. It is not possible to look at a scene in general; our eyes keep searching for points of rest.” (Tuan, 1977:19) →

IMAGE BY JOHN HOGAN

Such pauses acknowledge the presence of place and often brief experiences with places have more of an impact upon us and our memories than the places we encounter everyday. As a form of orientation we naturally associate things and points of reference with particular routes, pauses or location points between space and time, constantly experiencing whilst on the move. Through physical encounter and the identification of essential features / beauty spots of a landscape which become personally significant we begin to understand the significance of place and invest meaning into space which has over time become inherently forgotten, fragmented or marginalized.

“If time is conceived as flow or movement then place is pause. In this view human time is marked by stages as human movement in space is moved by pauses.” (Tuan, 1977:14) Discovering the city often uses commercial psycho-spatial systems of reference that mediate our relationships with people, landmarks and architectural objects. Our connection with nature is negotiated through the exploration of natural spatial phenomena, sometimes shaped by humans, but when exploring un-chartered territories we encounter landscapes that are dependent on discovery. A passive experience of navigating the terrain has not been prescribed or facilitated, therefore we are free to create an un-regulated personal geography, establishing our own markers as points of reference, signposting memories through physical encounter, exploring freedom. As you navigate Pomona Island identify and mark your own places of significance. Embellish the Goddess with a spot, emphasise her beauty, a humanistic cosmetic application to create a distinctive system of experience, a Mythical Aura of Connectedness to a Para-Normal place to be imagined and conquered, in-between worlds. •

TUAN, Y. F. (1977) Space and Place: The Perspective of Experience, University of Minnesota Press. LEFEBVRE, H. (1991) The Production of Space, Blackwell Publishers Limited.

Kingfisher GILLIAN BYROM-SMITH

We recently visited Pomona for the first time and I was blown away by this inspiring place. I was born and brought up in Manchester and have recently returned, but I had never heard of this fantastic place before. I’ve always loved industrial archaeology and ecology; this place has it all. My response to our visit is my poem ‘Kingfisher.’

Kingfisher Today I saw my first kingfisher; a bolt from the blue, a lightening strike, a feathered dart. Hooded Cormorants, darker than shadows, stand guard over this vital place; street lights, made jagged with broken glass, their stanchions. Ghostly grey heron make small, deliberate steps, returning to their hiding place amongst flotsam. Today I saw my first kingfisher; a bolt from the blue, a lightening strike, a feathered dart. Buddleia blooms, besieged by butterflies, turning this place a haze of purple. Ripe fruit bursts from untamed bushes; food for those in need. Today I saw my first kingfisher; a bolt from the blue, a lightening strike, a feathered dart. Amongst tawny waters, the riles and bubbles that prove life. Battered gates harness the unstoppable force, eager to continue its travels. The buzz of bees, the hum of trams, mingle with mixed-up aroma of pollen and rich earth. Today I saw my first kingfisher; a bolt from the blue, a lightening strike, a feathered dart. But this place is overshadowed by concrete and steel, glass and greed. An island in a metropolis; Arcadia in dystopia. This is Earth’s breathing space; her heart beats here. •

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Pomona: An Island Phantasy PETER BYROM-SMITH

When first asked would I be interested in being part of ‘LiFE’ research project and hearing about the whole, or at least part of, their Pomona idea, I liked it. I am very interested in many things in and out of my professional portfolio as a composer and the idea of a modern and sustainable design for future living developments was definitely my cup of tea. From initial meetings with my joint colleagues and the discussions about the project, I was asked to give / write a ‘musical response.’ So, after visiting the island, taking in the landscape and viewing from all sides possible; the docks, river, flora and fauna, the canal and locks, not to mention the amazing variety of wildlife, both in and out of the water / on and off the island, absorbing as much as I could physically and mentally; anything and everything really I suppose, I felt inspired. Almost immediately I returned to the tram, my head was a buzz and in a spin; which for me is always a good thing! Inspiration is a funny thing really and before I knew it a musical response / inspirational ideas, appeared between my ears, so to speak — my head in a fluster of ideas. As usual, I let these ideas ferment a little, as I looked at photographs, read up as much as I could of the island and its environs, the problems, possibilities and how to develop this space for a future living designed environment; not only here of course, but nationally, indeed worldwide. This ranged from links Fabrizio initially sent to me and led to further investigations of my own. All the while, sound images appeared, like crashing colours of tonal imagery, until at last, the composition was finished and complete — well, in my head at least. Now the really hard work began writing the actual music, putting all this kaleidoscopic stuff onto paper with my usual pen scribbling. I chose piano as the instrument of choice for

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this particular piece, for quite a few reasons really, but one of the main ones — practicality. A piano is easily ‘wheeled’ out, so to speak, requires, → generally, one performer, which means that as this project moves and develops and is presented at many events / conferences / workshops, it is a lot easier to set a space for a piano than an orchestra or rock band. Also, of course, the piano can be rich in tone, dynamic control — from a whisper to extremely overwhelming in volume too. Piano pitch covers almost all ranges of orchestral instruments, from low frequency, stomach disturbing pitch, to the almost inaudible, dog loved tinkling sounds. Such a colourful palette of tonal stimulation available and throw in a virtuoso performer, we can all understand why so many composers of the past chose this monster hybrid of wood, wire and metal as their instrument of choice. Using harmonic, melodic and rhythmic ideas in a variety of ways — forms, shapes etc, appear, my musical palette and very large and interesting canvas to paint in sound my musical imagery. The music is spacious and calm in parts, whilst there there are interludes, which allude to all the possibilities of how the project may develop — both academically research wise and practical physical progress too. Ranging from fast, jagged discourse to a more peaceful, almost calm and reflective in space and time; ebbing and flowing from the slow beginning through a variety of musical episodes to a return to the beginning figure, giving a feel of reflective thought of the journey just shared. So, anyway all this being said, this is my musical response ‘Pomona — an Island Phantasy’. •

77 → soundcloud.com/peter-byrom-smith

PERFORMING PLATFORMS

IMAGE BY MARIE-THERESE WIDGER

No White Space MARIE-THERESE WIDGER

As a response to the perception of Pomona Island as a ‘Wasteland’ my drawings are at once interrogation, experiment, and appeal. My first instinct is to interrogate our contemporary notion of ‘wasteland’, defined as; ‘A bleak, unused and neglected urban area’, urban wasteland is seen as a marginal environment in which marginal cultures exist, largely regarded as problematic or irrelevant within the narrow set of interests that foster this ‘agreed’ definition. It seems that this has become the empirical view. The reaction therefore is to clear, cleanse and ‘redevelop’ with equally limited vision. The vocabulary of developers reinforces this view, interestingly ‘regeneration’ repeatedly refers to a commercial visualisation and takes no account of any other ‘actuality’ of these spaces, what is already being ‘generated’ by an environment, edited out. Conventional architectural drawing dissolves environmental distractions into graceful white space. Architects instinctively employing this emphatic device to give the illusion of an uncomplicated situation, design placed in isolation, best appreciated by not referencing the reality of the place in which it is proposed. Does the ‘white space’ in fact betray an unhealthy way of thinking? Viewed from an ‘ecocentric’ perspective or from that of a different group of stakeholders, Pomona Island ceases to be wasteland, so what else is it? If we originate new vocabulary we could conceive it in new light, by renaming, redefine our collective appreciation. In all its aspects might Pomona be better comprehended as a ‘Pioneerscape’? Plants, animals, people, adapting to minimum resources to claim a position, an intriguing process, however one which is unfailingly curtailed, never left to fruition. How valuable it could be if we considered and incorporated this inherently rich natural development into our future urban visions. Could changing visual language reveal this? My drawings are an attempt to show what is more commonly erased, to subvert planners and architects conventional approach to drawing recalibrating worth by playing with proportion and relationship. The images then are intended as a proposition for fellow designers to consolidate our thinking and to draw in expertise from other pertinent disciplines, to turn an idea, into a more informed philosophy.

Can we persuade planners and developers to take creative risks? To make an opportunity for minute observation of and adaptation to an unchallenged ‘Pioneerscape,” both from an environmental and human standpoint, and in so doing find the tools we need to solve future problems? Could this be Manchester’s great contribution to the part it plays as one of the ‘100 resilient cities’ a progressive innovative global movement for future flourishing urban spaces? Manchester, once a world changing capital, free thinking and a hub of inventiveness has been diminished as such by corporate agreement on what is conventional ‘aspirational’ urban environment, the result — streamlined but soulless. To re-claim itself globally as a ‘creative hub’ Manchester must live and breathe creativity, understanding it surfaces only where there is room to experiment; we cannot ‘construct’ spaces for ‘creativity’ we must ‘allow’ them. As a city, retrieve the courage to restore the fruitful ground where innovation is seeded. My appeal is that Pomona Island becomes the ‘cultivar’ for a new ‘aspiration’; the definition of which includes ‘hope’. Hope — a confident feeling about what will happen in the future. •

IMAGE BY MARIE-THERESE WIDGER 84

Interviewing Pomona C RY S TA L C H A N

Being new to Manchester, I first knew Pomona Island through others’ accounts, which represent many people’s efforts to visualize and contextualize the Pomona issues. Then I saw the place, from afar and close, walked through it, listened, smelled and touched it. But at best I know it by anthropocentric epistemology — geography, history, current affairs — with a general impression. Still, I know little about it. Through the weekly class discussions, I came to understand this so-called wasteland, and the manifold meanings of the term. Not a natural form but an artificial and cultural notion, waste, in this situation, is recruited for the purpose of corporate interests. Pomona Island makes an outstanding although not unique case study of how ‘unintentional’ landscape ‘design’ can manipulate the environment, a sheer manifestation of how design is shrunk to an instrument of economic imperative (Fry 2009: 26). Just as nature will eventually tell us best not to patronise, the Pomona yew, daisy, bramble, fireweed, silver birch, butterfly bush, to name a few, counteract the suppression with a strangely beautiful liveliness. This being of nature naturals (vital nature) is not what this city is known for, but at this moment, is in its reality. Design and Perception to Become Redirective Practices Modern science and capitalism have dominated our relationship with the planet for more than two centuries, marking the period of the Anthropocene. We are in this historical time at which our activities exert the most powerful impact in the alteration of the Earth as nature natural (inert nature) bound for our insatiable desires. Design as an invented profession of the industrial age is unmistakably a prominent drive to this point of no return. Design theorist Tony Fry argues that design practice needs to be radically and structurally remade into “a key force of redirection toward sustainability in order to move from ‘sustainable development’ (and all it stands on) to the ‘development of Sustainment’” (2009: 10). In becoming such “redirective practice”, mention not its abandon of being solely a styling tool, is to transform into a meta-discipline that engages and facilitates other disciplines into dialogues and knowledge exchange (ibid: 55). This practice of design is to reclaim its power and to reorientate it, to provide grounds for other human practices to converge on and subscribe to the redirective agenda (ibid). It often goes unknown, but one of the practices which plays key roles in this reorientated agenda is our perception, which we must redirect and renew. →

Our Missing Response-ability “What is missing?” architect-artist Maya Lin asks us to discover the absence of the non-human species in our environments. Her 21st-century global memorial of the planet visualises the loss of our time; a poignant one being our missing, if not extinct, sense of responsibility to nature. Responsibility is uninviting in its formalism similar to obligation or duty, like saying to protect nature. Social sculptor Shelley Sacks gives another interpretation — “response-ability” — human’s capacity to respond. To respond is first to perceive. Most of us are fortunate to be born with the organs to experience the five senses, however, only to confine our perceptions. Sacks proposes some of the other abilities that we need to develop: the ability to empathise, to develop conscience, to perceive the idea in things and interconnections in the world (Sacks 2010: 1). The potential of these further senses, however, is limited by our anthropocentric superiority. If we think we are the only species capable of thinking, feeling and expressing, our relationship with other species is bound to utilitarianism or environmental protection trope. If we release ourselves from this boundary, or in other words, to adopt a non-hierarchical way of thinking toward ecocentrism, we will find new sensorial directions. New Organs of Perception

“The human being knows himself only insofar as he knows the world; he perceives the world only in himself, and himself only in the world. Every new object, clearly seen, opens up a new organ of perception in us” (Goethe, quoted in Robbins 2005: 113) Little known and understudied, poet Goethe’s science is an urge to reconnect humanity with the natural world which is alienated by the abstraction of Cartesian-Newtonian science. To the commodification and exploitation of nature seen at our time, his science has a particular value to be rediscovered for the remaking of our practice of perception. In school, the sciences are to be correctly learned through scientific methods — formula, graphs, scalpel and a microscope. Goethe’s science is phenomenological, based on our perception of the subjects of study using our abilities to observe, respond, empathise and imagine. Not only does the Goethean process create a dialogical relationship and ethical responsibility between us and the subjects, but it also reorientates our senses and develops new organs of perception in us.

Interviewing Pomona Interviewing is a method of enquiry widely used in everyday life, from the workplace to research; in the recent decade it has become an established part of user-centred design. The word “interview” denotes a conversation for the purpose of obtaining information. But interviews usually become two-way exchanges as connoted in its old use — “to see one another”. To understand Pomona Island through “inter-viewing” the “users” — the plants, animals and insects — uses the interview method in user-centred design as a metaphor rather than as an actual instrumental purpose. Conducting an interview is not only about or limited to verbal exchange, but a process of intellectual, perceptual and experiential exchanges which can be carried out in non-verbal format. What is more important is the relationship built between the interviewer and the interviewee, to echo with the Goethean process. We can expect the “conversation” with non-humans to be curiously varied from the usual form. It does not matter even if it is inconsistent or incomprehensible. Tactile, spiritual or visual, each exchange will be internalised as new organs of perception in us, the interviewers. We will only know when these new organs effect our perceptions on another day, to another island and in everyday life. •

FRY, T. (2009) Design futuring. Oxford: Berg. ROBBINS, B. (2005) New Organs of Perception: Goethean Science as a Cultural Therapeutics. Janus Head, 8 (1) pp.113-126. SACKS, S. (2010) Instrument of Consciousness. University of the Trees.

HERB ROBERT

COMMON KNAPWEED

COMMON BIRDSFOOT TREFOIL

HAWKWEED

BEE ORCHID

YARROW

HARTâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S TONGUE FERN

BLUE FLEABANE

BLACK MEDICK

OXEYE DAISY

SILVERWEED

COMMON VETCH

COMMON SPOTTED ORCHID

YELLOW IRIS

Over 150 flora species have been recorded on Pomona Island thanks to the field work of a team of ecologists from the Manchester Ship Canal World Heritage Group. Thirty three of these flora species are species that are on the SBI ‘Site of Biological Importance’ Flora List.

Yellow wort / Blackstonia perfoliata

Oxeye Daisy / Leucanthemum vulgare

Common knapweed / Centaurea nigra

Common Bird’s Foot Trefoil / Lotus corniculatus

Species / Scientific Name

Northern Marsh Orchid / Dactylorhiza purpurella

Common centaury / Centaurium erythraea Black Medick / Medicago lupulina Common Spotted Orchid / Dactylorhiza fuchsii

Pendulous Sedge / Carex pendula

Bee Orchid / Ophyrus apifera Ribwort Plantain / Plantago lanceolata Silverweed / Potentilla anserina

Hybrid Orchids / Dactylorhiza hybrids Meadowsweet / Filipenda ulmaria

Selfheal / Prunella vulgaris Blue Fleabane / Erigeron acer

Herb Robert / Geranium robertianum

Common Sorrel / Rumex accetosa Hawkweed / Heiracium

Yellow Flag Iris / Iris pseudacorus

Goat’s beard / Tragopogon pratensis

Hemlock Waterdropwort / Oenathe crocata

Imperforate St John’s wort / Hypericum maculatum

Hart’s tongue Fern / Phyllitis scolopendrium

Perforate St John’s wort / Hypericum perforatum

Common Figwort / Scrophularia nodosa

Cat’s ear / Hypochaeris radicata

Yarrow / Achillea millefolium

Meadow Vetchling / Lathyrus pratensis

Bush Vetch / Vicia sepium Common Vetch / Vicia sativa Curled Pondweed / Potamogeton crispus Water Dock / Rumex hydrolapathum

Fake Pigs SU TURNER

When the idea of Pomona Encounters was first put to me, I wanted to research how others had envisioned a different future for our wild spaces. I read with delight about some of the rewilding projects taking place around parts of Britain and this was something I felt I could use as a starting point. In total, there are now thirteen active rewilding projects in England, Wales and Scotland. Many of these involve rewilding green spaces and allowing the land to become more bio-diverse by planting new woodlands, cleaning up and restocking once polluted rivers and reducing intensive sheep grazing so that areas become more open and wild. The idea also includes the reintroduction of fifteen key species into the countryside amongst which are: Wolves, Grey Whales, Lynx and Wild Boar, species which, charitable organisation Rewilding Britain and activist George Monbiot, are convinced will encourage bio-diversity and ‘reverse centuries of ecological damage’. I very much wanted to see a future Pomona Woodland Island populated by wild boar. Whilst researching this, I also found that with wild boar come Britain’s most popular bird the Robin. This little garden bird was once found all over woodlands, following the wild boar. A habit they had evolved to, through learning that, where there were boar, with their grubbing and turning over of the earth, there were worms. Unfortunately, for Robin, Boar are no more and they have had to find another sort of ungainly, earth turning creature to follow around; enters the great British gardener. In a recent article in The Guardian newspaper, George Monbiot observes that, to a robin, “You and I are just fake pigs”. This serves as a wonderful reminder to us all that the human is not the centre of the universe to other creatures, but simply another creature sharing their space. Reintroduction of the wild boar would be a great leveller in more ways than one. After reading about this wonderful animal and how it would keep my new Pomona Woodland alive and thriving, I wanted to herald its beauty and promote its helpfulness as well as lament our lack of it in the countryside. Pomona Encounters encouraged performance and imagination, so with that in mind, I imagined that I could perform a poem, something I had never tried before. My poem is printed here for all to view. •

Monbiot. G (2015). Let’s make Britain wild again and find ourselves in nature. The Guardian online: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jul/16/britain-wild-nature-rewildingecosystems-heal-lives (accessed 23.09.16)

Fake Pigs With a moving of the air And a fluttering of sound Rich, fertile earth grubbed and turned. Noses and feet working together Bringing food and life. Quiet forests comically disturbed Bracken and ferns, no match at all Red, flashes in anticipation of a feast To follow Quiet forests now lie still Great plains flattened and unremarkable No clowning around in bracken and ferns. A solitary fake pig turning the earth Red, flashes in anticipation of a feast To follow

Bird Feeder MARK MCLEISH

What directed my creative process was Pomona Island status quo. Many current available images are plan views of the space or ‘birds eye’ views. Taking the idea of a bird being a form of observer and visitor, I wanted to expand through tangible souvenir-like interactions. I started with a drawing of a figure, possibly Pomona herself as a bird feeder. It became important to reference the ghosts of the Island echoing its past as a pleasure garden and how this can be taken away with an evocative or haunted object. I made an instructive kit that held ingredients to make bird feeders for a space of your choosing. A British porcelain bird acts as a memory aid or token for Pomona Island and a physical reference to replenish the feeder. •

Pomona Island EZMA ZHAO

Pomona Island A warm sunny day, surrounded by greenery, wildflowers, A faint sound of city life. The illusion of being in the countryside. Sightings of gulls, swifts, herons and cormorants A nature reserve? Like an earthly delight painting at night With sinister clues to the goings on in the moonlight. Bobby trapped railings, remnants of murky dealings Money giants in the distance with plans to build castles A protest of making, pen, paper and walking, For no man’s land to remain a no man’s land. Lawrence Durrell’s quote of landscape being a ‘spirit of place’ and that landscape shapes people and behaviour patterns. (P. 49 ‘Land Art in the UK’)

Seems fitting for what is missing from the chaotic obstacles of living we face, with the need to escape the noise, smells and competition of the urban jungles. With very few places to escape to and bring back that small sense of calm and escape and peace from walking through a woods or a park or just around a field creating the illusion of being somewhere else. Pomona is and could continue to be a place to escape, instead of walking through streets littered with rubbish. Walk around Pomona where there are wildflowers, greenery and wildlife. After walking around Pomona I saw the potential as a nature reserve and reading ‘Feral’ by George Monbiot was inspired by the diverse wildlife that is in the UK. With ospreys, beavers and wild boar and future plans to include wolves to the UK. Attempts to bring back natural habitats that have been uprooted by landowners in pursuit of game hunting and farming. With countless claims in the UK and Europe of large wild cat sightings, tales of this wild mammal roaming the countryside are potent. The battle for Pomona creates a platform for a story about a mystical beast: due to sightings of the wild cat, the Island cannot be touched.A childlike story and perspective of the creature that can be whatever the mind decides what it’s to be? What if the creature was seen? Markings left in the dirt? Nests found amongst the brambles? The land would be protected. As a nature reserve, for visitors to appreciate wild green spaces that hold tales of mystical creatures on Pomona. •

MONBIOT, G (2013). Feral: Rewilding the Land, Sea and Human Life. London, Penguin Books. MALPAS, W. (2008). Land Art in the U.K: A Complete Guide to Landscape, Environmental, Earthworks, Nature, Sculpture and Installation Art in the United Kingdom. Crescent Moon Publishing.

Growing Fabrics of the Future C H R I S T I N E R YA N

The sea that Pomona feeds into is miles away but the path beside the river has a distinct brackish quality and the air smells salty (Flynn 2015). We’re entering a new Material Age. It is driven by creativity, sustainability and environmental responsibility. We are beginning to build materials using living systems (Lee 2014). For my current research, I have been exploring the crossovers between design and science by growing my own fabric from microorganisms through a process of fermentation. The fabric is called Kombucha and is grown from a symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast (SCOBY) with sugar, tea and cider vinegar. This originated as a by-product when producing the Kombucha fermented tea drink. The microorganisms feed on the sugary nutrients in the liquid, building nanofibers of cellulose that bond together into layers creating a non-woven mat on the surface. Once it is grown (2-4 weeks), harvested, washed and dried, the resulting fabric can be as fine and delicate as tissue paper or as thick and flexible as leather. There is no waste as the fabric is biodegradable. Once the fabric is harvested you can recycle the previous fermented liquid and start the whole process again; it is a continuous cycle of reuse and regeneration. I have found that I can control its thickness, translucency, surface and scale. It can bond to itself, absorb natural dyes and can be sewn. As a living material it is unpredictable and dynamic. I am fascinated by its ever-changing transformation during its growing period and whilst it is drying. There is a tension and excitement in this process in which I am the initiator but not the controller. With the underlying concept of the passing of time and processes of change, Pomona Island is in many ways similar to Kombucha. The ‘fabric’ of the place is growing from natural and social organisms working together in their own symbiotic ways and feeding on Pomona, its surrounding cultures and the rich heritage of the place. Like Kombucha, the outcomes are evolving in a way that is somewhat unpredictable. There is no waste as it develops organically in a cycle of regeneration. •

FLYNN, H. (2015) Caught by the River (accessed 22.8.2016) www.caughtbytheriver.net/2015/10/26/pomona-island-manchester-hayley-flynn LEE, S. (2005) Fashioning the Future: Tomorrow’s Wardrobe. London: Thames and Hudson 99

LEE, S. (2014) Biofabricate (accessed 21.8.2016) www.biofabricate.co/about

Japanese Not Weed

[1] WILLIAMS, F., ESCHEN, R., HARRIS, A., DJEDDOUR, D., PRATT, C.,SHAW, R.S., VARIA, S., LAMONTAGNE-GODWIN, J., THOMAS, S.E., MURPHY, S.T. (2010) The Economic Cost of Invasive Non-Native Species on Great Britain. Knowledge For Life [online] Avaialable at: www.nonnativespecies.org/downloadDocument.cfm?id=487 [Accessed 22 August 2016] [2] Japanese Knotweed, Management and Consulting (2016). Japanese Knotweed fact file. [online] Available at: http://www.knotweedmanagement.co.uk/fact-file [Accessed 22nd August 2016] [3] Japanese Knotweed Removal Ltd (2011). Japanese Knotweed Identification. [online] Available at: http://www.japaneseknotweedremoval.co.uk/japanese-knotweed-identification.html [Accessed 12 March 2016] [4] Environment Agency (2013), ‘The Knotweed code of Practice’ [online] Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/536762/LIT_2695.pdf [Accessed 22nd August 2016] [5] MABEY, R. (2012) Weeds: The Story of Outlaw Plants. London, Profile Books. [6] CABI (2016) Fallopia Japonica [online] Available at: http://www.cabi.org/isc/datasheet/23875 [Accessed on 22nd August 2016] [7] CABI (2016) Fallopia Japonica [online] Available at: http://www.cabi.org/isc/datasheet/23875 [Accessed on 22nd August 2016] [8] INGOLD, T. (2013) Making: Anthropology, Archaeology, Art and Architecture. Oxford, Routeledge [9] SHAW, R. (2014) Japanese Knotweed, Journalism and the General Public. Eppo Bulletin44 [online] Available at: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/epp.12114/epdf [Accessed 14 August 2016]

RIVE STUDIO Laura-Jane Atkinson Eade Hemingway

Rive studio is currently looking into how the impressive behaviour of Japanese Knotweed (JKW) could be repositioned in a way that could fruitfully harvest future capabilities for fertile sites and their communities such as Pomona Island. JKW is notorious for being incredibly durable and spreadable, able to break apart buildings and destroy house values. The annual cost that JKW has on the British Economy is estimated at £166 million [1]. It can grow up to 20 cm a day, and its roots can span 7 metres in every direction [2]. It has the ability to spread from tiny cuttings and reports suggest that there is no 10 square km in the UK that is without JKW [3]. For these reasons it has several pieces of legislation written in an attempt to abolish it [4], and is regularly demonised amongst members of society. However, Rive Studio is looking at how this plant that we have in great abundance in the UK could be perceived as an asset rather than a pest. We consider the exploration of JKW to have potential in two settings: A, the current situation and perceptions of JKW in the UK; and B, what a future with JKW could look like. →

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Category A: There is an abundance of JKW here in the UK, and whether it is alive and growing in the wild or it is being treated and disposed of, it currently serves no purpose. If this waste could be used as a material resource, it may contribute to solutions for escalating current material issues such as resource depletion and waste. Additionally, the money made from selling it would offset some of the negative financial effects on the UK economy that the plant currently has. And, due to the way the plant distributes it’s nutrients, if JKW is cut when it’s alive the rhizomes weaken and it becomes easier to kill in the future [5]. Consequently, if we were to harvest JKW it would be easier to fulfil the government’s aim to eliminate it from the UK if that continued to be the desirable outcome. If, therefore, JKW were to be used as a resource today it could in fact fulfil economic, political and environmental goals and therefore could play a part in altering the negative perceptions society has of JKW. Category B: However what perhaps is more interesting is how JKW could be seen differently in the future and the effects this could have. If people were open to seeing JKW as a resource rather than a pest, it’s resilience may be seen more valuable than problematic. The fact that JKW can survive both at temperatures as low as -17˚C but can also grow in extremely hot conditions [6] may start to be appealing in a world of increasingly severe weather conditions. As other plants die off because of a lack of bees to fertilise them, people may become grateful for plants such as JKW that can propagate without bees [7]. It may also be valued when plants such as JKW flower later than other plants giving bees much needed nectar and hence encouraging the diminishing bee population, and therefore the propagation of other crops in the area. The very characteristics that have made JKW so unpopular could be the same reason it becomes valuable in the future. In category A, we are looking as JKW as a temporary by-product of the removal process in the form of waste. In category B we are situating JKW in the future; planning that the plant will still be alive in UK and perhaps even actively grown as a resource. This would require a huge change in society’s perception of the plant, both with the public, the environmental agency and the government. Although JKW is edible and we do support its use as an edible resource, we are focusing our project on finding non-edible uses for the plant as they are somewhat less explored. We will be looking at it both as a material resource for goods (building materials, packaging, craft objects, functional products); and a tool for services (building demolition, bee conservation). We are researching JKW through playful experimentation, establishing different situations that will allow us to document it’s behaviour and speculate over the realistic or imagined possibilities this suggests. We have been dissecting, boiling, burning, heating, soaking, blending, stripping, drying, dipping, unpicking and crushing the plant, using these material interactions to form a relationship with JKW. As Tim Ingold describes, we are thinking through making; giving our ideas a foundation in experience [8]. This initiative proposes that this ‘alien’ species whose original name in Japan translates to ‘remove pain’ [9], could indeed serve to remove the pain of our depleting resources, more severe climates and landfill extremities. As a society we need to learn to live with Japanese Knotweed to allow this relationship to fulfil its potential. •

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LED Interactive

JACEK BIES

Over the last 5 years I have been involved in two different industries: Electronics and Print. Both environments are very intense and innovative. The crucial difference is one of them is a pure science and the other has an element of art.

I planned an experiment to visit these installations several times during the day and night to find ways of maximizing public engagement. My study showed that visitors, not locals, tend to explore and interact with the pieces more. I contacted Chicagoans, Newell & Unger in order to meet and discuss their work on the Wabash Lights and find out their thoughts about this phenomenon. From their side I understood that local people get excited only when something is new and unique. To keep them happy, a project needed to be useful, too.

On one hand, I have been bringing devices to life by building them from scratch; on the other, observing the print process from preparing artwork to a final print. During my MA course I was looking to find a happy balance between technology and art. By intersecting my experiences I decided to research programmable LEDs and sensors to explore a new way of working with graphic elements. My work represents an interaction between the light and the self. Lights give us different colours and effects; we in turn give them a meaning by interpreting and acting upon them. Thanks to the Pomona Encounters Walk I realised how lights can be adopted across the city. What is important and how to get public to engage in a dialogue with my work. Using code as a working material enabled the audience to become an essential part of my work through their presence and interaction. I combined the software, the light and the space. I was interested in how people feel about interactive art and whether they experience fun, pleasure or stress. My decision to design an ‘open’ system where light effects can be changed by human intervention allowed me to understand the relationship of artwork-designer-audience. On my recent trip to the U.S. I was looking at interactive light installations in public spaces. I chose Chicago as my research destination because I found three interactive pieces that could help in taking my work to the next level. — The Wabash Lights (2016) by Jack C. Newell and Seth Unger —Crown Fountain (2005) by Juame Plensa —Lightscape (2011) by Site Design

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Looking at Pomona as a lonely space influenced me to think how to bring people together. I reflected on my work thinking what can be done to keep the audience engaged for a longer period of time? I was looking to bring a good memory or a feeling into my project. Elements that make people want to come back to explore the work. I was aiming to find the same effect that causes people to watch a movie or listen to a song over and over again. I wanted to introduce an intuitive element so people would connect with exploration.

I used my pre-built 1,000 LEDs system to test ideas. By allowing people to interact with a number of scenarios and sequences I wanted to show the essence of LED technology. I went completely the other direction. Instead of adding more pixels into my installation, I decided to keep it low resolution and research the organic behaviour of light. It was only after I identified drawing as the possible interaction in my project that things began to click into place. My work was recently presented to Transport for Greater Manchester and present at the European Science Forum at Manchester Central as part of Manchester European City of Science 2016. •

Play With Your Food: DIY Dyes NICA AQUINO

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I am originally from a low income community in Los Angeles, CA. In this community, I work for a non-profit program, teaching art and social justice to predominantly first generation American students. Many students in this community often live in food deserts and lack accessibility to fresh, healthy food and basic nutrition education. In collaboration with other educators in our program, weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve taught the students the history of food, food politics, basic nutrition and cooking. Many of these students, whom are interested in art, also lack accessibility to art stores that are either too far or unaffordable for their parents. Growing up in the Los Angeles punk scene, I learned the art of DIY (do it yourself) at a young age; how to be self-sustaining and taking ownership of what you have, in a society that decides for us that we have no control. In the Philippines, one of our known legacies is our ability to live off what the land gives us to create our textiles. For example, using mother of pearl to make accessories or using pineapple fibres to make clothing. DIY and learning to improvise with what you have even goes way back to my ancestry. In lieu of teaching the students more about food, I thought a fun way to get them more engaged would be through art and the DIY aesthetic; how to make natural dyes using food. I experimented making dyes with beetroot, red cabbage, carrot, spinach, radish & coffee. I then dyed Bristol paper and cotton fabric to contrast the different effects of the dye on different materials. You can also use these dyes to make simple water colour illustrations. Overlapped on the paper, I made relief prints of the food used to create the dye. The visit to Pomona was an inspiring experience for this project. It spoke of fruitful abundance, locality and space. How can we transform this space for the people? With such vast space, I can see the land functioning as an area for local food growth and sustainability for surrounding communities. I see this not only resulting in feeding and providing for the people of Manchester, but also a space that can add more rich colours and textures to a very diverse city. â&#x20AC;˘

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Pomona JOHN HOGAN

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I am extremely interested in ecology with particular regard to the high therapeutic value of exposure to nature, upon an individual’s positive mental health. Greater Manchester health and wellbeing authorities have acknowledged the great importance of protecting and promoting an individuals mental health within the borough: “Our vision is that by 2020, the people who live in Greater Manchester will be benefiting from greater prosperity and a good quality of life resulting from our new model connecting our people and our talent across a greener city region.” (GMCA, 2016) Ecological knowledge should inform the design, planning and development of the urban landscape. Greater Manchester is an urban area with vast ecological diversity. Areas within the city and surrounding suburbs are intertwined with rich wildlife habitats. It is greatly advocated by the local authorities that these areas are to be nurtured and cherished. A number of historical parkland and other areas of the green belt are under protection from the plans of building developers. I decided to create a speculative design as an alternative green project to the Peel developer’s plans. I have great admiration for the Eden Project in Cornwall and decided to use this as inspiration for my project. My new vision for the Island encompassed three views envisioned for the site. The views illustrate two dome like structures similar to that of the Eden Project, that would sit either side of the original dock areas. The domes would house both tropical jungle plants and desert plants respectively. I envisioned another building that would serve as both a tourist center and a natural history educational facility. This would have a roof of wild flowers, grasses and succulents. The remaining areas on the site would be developed into a natural park, with intertwining pathways and seating areas. Much of the original fauna and flora would be maintained, along with hundreds of extra mature trees planted, adding to the already substantial ecosystem and wildlife on Pomona Island. I would encourage the local population, especially the disadvantaged such as the homeless and unemployed, along with the substance abusers that use the site presently, to be a major part in my proposed ecological development. Individuals would assist in the planting and cultivation of the site, not only in its development but also long into the future. I also envisage a separate organic food area, to enable people to cultivate and grow their own food, enabling education, physical and mental health wellbeing. The domes would be eco friendly, because they are internally heated they would provide micro climates in which many sub tropical plants could survive outside quite happily alongside them. Many palms, cyads, ferns, and bananas would grow successfully. •

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EPILOGUE

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D R D AV I D H A L E Y

The end of summer Fruits ripens and heat rises Evaporation Migrants find refuge The atmosphere is charged Clouds climb, stormâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s coming Humid silence The island awaits, heavy Thundering rumbles Trees bend in the wind Rotten fruit falls as clouds build As the day darkens Rain comes, island stirs She breaths and her breasts rise up Winds and water flow Buried poisons seep Rain beats down on verdant leaves Sweet earth, now washed clean Foghorn memories Engines hum and chains rattle Rats run for cover Lightening flashes Pomona in the stormâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s eye Thunder cracks and booms The storm passes by Migrants leave sanctuary And a man walks his dog Island over time Pomona yields to the storms Give way to harvest

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APPENDICES

Contributors KATE BEVAN seymourk@hotmail.co.uk

FABRIZIO Cocchiarella f.cocchiarella@mmu.ac.uk

HAYLEY FLYNN theskyliner.org@gmail.com

Kate Bevan is a socially engaged artist who makes ‘live readings’ and ‘narrative-mapping’ as part of her practice. Kate uses walking art to ‘think / not think’, to ‘absorb’ place /placeless-‘ness’. Seeking to include the ‘excluded’, often working with vulnerable adults.

Programme Leader for BA (Hons) Three Dimensional Design and Research Group Leader for LiFE ‘Living in Future Ecologies’ at Manchester School of Art. Through practice as an academic, researcher and designer, projects aim to inspire a new generation of critically aware creative professionals and contribute to shaping future scenarios for living.

Self-appointed Caretaker of Pomona, and quite possibly its biggest fan, Hayley Flynn writes about cities and their eccentricities, and loves to be amongst the wilderness — be that concrete or country. She has written for The Guardian and Caught By the River, and is the author of Manchester in 50 Buildings (Amberley Publishing, 2016). Hayley is currently studying for a Masters in Place Writing and was the UK’s only City Curator (National Trust). She was shortlisted in Manchester International Women’s Day Awards 2015 for ‘Breaking Through in Art and Culture’. Hayley is also a tour guide.

‘It Starts with a River’ p.17, Special Edition STEPZ. ‘Loitering With Intent’ People’s History Museum, Salford (July 2016) ‘I am [A Human Being]’ Portico Library, Manchester; Gabriel Fine Arts, London; Manchester Metropolitan University, Reform Radio (June 2016) ‘I Care’: Festival of Community Psychology, Manchester (Nov 2015) ‘Platforma’ University of Leicester (Nov 2015) ‘Comfort and Chaos’ Manchester Metropolitan University (Feb 2015)

Specialist expertise and experience is routed in the production and manufacture of product, furniture, artefact and installation projects. The discipline of Design is viewed as an interface in which to mediate and translate critical methodologies and commercial practices. Through leading the LiFE research group as an interdisciplinary platform, a multi-specialist holistic lens aims to critically intervene in the sustainability discourse, developing ‘capable futures’ in which to innovate the everyday. → art.mmu.ac.uk/research/life

DR LUKE BLAZEJEWSKI lukeblazejewski@gmail.com

GIORDANA FERRI giordana.ferri@fhs.it

Dr Luke Blazejewski is a wildlife photographer and conservationist living in Manchester. He is interested in the relationship between people and nature in cities, and how people’s growing fascination with the exotic has led to a fundamental disconnect with the natural world. Luke seeks to challenge this imbalance by raising awareness of urban biodiversity, celebrating the beauty on our doorstep.

Giordana Ferri graduated with a degree in architecture from the Politecnico di Milano. She is the executive director for the Social Housing Foundation, which develops the master plans for new residential dwellings. She has been co-director for the master Housing Sociale e Collaborativo, since 2012. She was a visiting Service Design Professor for the Facoltà del Design, Politecnico di Milano.

GILLIAN BYROM-SMITH gillbyrom@yahoo.co.uk Gillian left her home city of Manchester to study drama and English in York, before returning in 2016. She worked at the ‘coal face’ of literature, in bookshops, for many years. She is married to the composer Peter Byrom-Smith with whom she has received several joint commissions for work. Song settings of her poems have been performed at many concerts including Ilkley and Ryedale Literature Festivals. Gillian has recently completed a novel, an opera and her first poetry collection will be published in 2016. → gillianbyromsmith.wixsite.com → gillian-byrom-smith PETER BYROM-SMITH peterbyromsmith@gmail.com As an internationally renowned composer his music has been performed, recorded and broadcast around the world including, the U.K., Europe, the U.S.A., Japan, Singapore and New Zealand. His own individual compositional voice crosses boundaries: a melange of sounds, bringing together elgarian melody, jazz harmony and rock rhythms. He has written and arranged music for stage productions and films. He also regularly works with musical artists from all genres both in the studio and live performance. He regularly receives commissions for new music and is invited to give guest lectures. Many recordings and publications are available of his music. → peterbyromsmith.com → soundcloud.com/peter-byrom-smith 114

In recent years, she’s been involved in Service Design for residential dwellings. She has focused on building co-housing projects and experimental programs where residents actively participate in building. She writes articles for various magazines and is a member of the Service Design Commission for the Compasso D’Oro prize. → www.fhs.it EDDY FOX e.fox@mmu.ac.uk Eddy came to landscape architecture by a very roundabout route. Whilst living in Barcelona and working as an English language teacher, he watched in amazement as the city was transformed in the build up to the Olympics of 1992. Much of the transformation was through the appropriation of spaces throughout the city for people. The extraordinary energy and confidence of Barcelona at that time expressed itself in the design of squares, parks, boulevards and incidental spaces, which dramatically changed the environment, quality of life and image of the city. This inspired Eddy, and led him into the profession which he eventually discovered was behind much of this work.

Hayley’s blog Skyliner documents unusual public art, history and architecture around the city of Manchester and works collaboratively with photographers such as Andrew Brooks to explore seldom seen places, or capture redevelopment sites in the last days before demolition. It is a living archive of a constantly evolving city and was winner of Best Arts and Culture Blog in the UK (2014). → theskyliner.org GRAPHIC OBJECT emma@graphicobject.com fabrizio@graphicobject.com Graphic Object is a collaborative studio shared by Fabrizio Cocchiarella and Emma Hayward. Emma (a florist of objects) is an experienced stylist and image composer who applies her sensitivity for colour, pattern and materiality through her specialist skills as a textile designer to translate narrative into mythical and explorative editorial spaces. Fabrizio (experiential concepts and fantastical objects) is an expert tinkerer and playful thinker who combines his metaphysical meanderings with his skills as a designer and maker, knowledge of manufacturing, concept interiors and installations. They apply craftsmanship, creative thinking, narrative and concept simulation to spatial projects to describe our individual and collaborative practice as ‘Spatial Image Making’. Projects are viewed as a lens through which they reinvent ways of looking at the world to explore and re-define relationships with the spaces and objects we encounter. → graphicobject.com DR DAVID HALEY david@davidhaley.org Ecological artist David Haley publishes, educates and makes artworks internationally, with poetic texts, walking and installations on questions of ‘capable futures’, climate change, species extinction, ecological arts, urban development and transdisciplinarity. Haley is a Visiting Professor at Zhongyuan University of Technology and was ‘Ecology In Practice’ Director and Senior Research Fellow at MIRIAD, Manchester Metropolitan University. He is Vice Chair of the CIWEM Art & Environment Network, a Trustee of Futures’ Venture Foundation, a member of UNESCO UK MAB Urban Forum, the Society for Ecological Restoration, Ramsar Culture Network Arts Steering Group and National Association for Fine Art Education Steering Group.

GEORGE HAYDOCK george@weareinvite.com

VALERIA RUIZ VARGAS v.vargas@mmu.ac.uk

DR JANE WEBB j.webb@mmu.ac.uk

George is a film maker living in Manchester and has directed a number of short film projects including Concrete Sleep (2013), Pomona Island (2014) and Jupiter (2016). He tends to explore perception, place and identity and enjoys trying to create parallels within his work — either through technique, subject or narrative.

Currently Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) Co-ordinator at Manchester Metropolitan University, Valeria Ruiz Vargas leads the Environmental Management System policy area on ESD (i.e. Teaching and Learning). She regularly develops collaborative multidisciplinary, pedagogical and research projects. Valeria has expertise in the practice of appreciative inquiry approaches based on creative arts to facilitate change in social and environmental practices for multidisciplinary settings. For over 10 years, she has applied music, sculpture and other art forms to facilitate resilience of (human and nonhuman) communities.

Jane Webb trained in anthropology and has been working in design education for twenty years. As a historical ethnographer, Jane uses place and artefact to elicit histories of everyday life. She is currently writing a book on colour and dress to be published by Bloomsbury next year.

George’s work has been included and screened at many festivals globally including BFI Future Film, San Francisco Urban Film Festival, Green Film Festival in Seoul, Crystal Palace IFF, International Nature Film Festival Gödöllő + more. SALLY TITTERINGTON & PAUL LOGAN urbanpicnicthecreativebureaux@yahoo.co.uk paul@paullogan.co.uk Paul Logan studied many years ago with Sally Titterington at the then Leeds Polytechnic. Both studied furniture Design. Paul went on to continue his studies at the R.C.A whereas Sally fast tracked it through various London based creative disciplines. Both have crossed paths over the years both geographically and artistically from Milan to New York and back! PROFESSOR STUART MARSDEN s.marsden@mmu.ac.uk Stuart is Professor of Conservation Ecology at the Manchester Metropolitan University. He is particularly interested in threatened species and habitats and how conservation solutions can be found that benefit both wildlife and people. He works mostly in the biodiverse tropics on groups such as parrots and other birds, and amphibians, but also has a passion for urban ecology and human well-being. He works mainly with PhD students from Europe, Africa and Asia, and has a commitment to increasing capacity to study ecology in developing countries.

JAMES WALSH mancunianbirder@gmail.com James Walsh is a Mancunian Ecologist and a University of Salford graduate with EcoTourism qualifications. James has a very deep personal connection to Salford Docks — three generations of his family, including father, grandfather & great grand-father were Salford Dockers. There is a sculpture tribute to James’ father, William Walsh, a National Dock Labour Board Welfare Officer, adjacent to The Lowry Bridge on Trafford Wharf at Salford Quays. James has surveyed Pomona as an ecologist and photographer for 10 years, including professionally with the Greater Manchester Ecology Unit for a year. He has personally recorded 100 bird species on Salford Docklands and has written many published articles about wildlife in Salford for the local community.

→ stuartmarsden.blogspot.com → savepomona.wordpress.com

James was the MC on the microphone for the inaugural Salford Docklands Birdwatching Cruise, and has made TV shows promoting the wildlife of Salford, including Stories Of The River Irwell and the BBCs’ Urban Jungle. A wealth of local knowledge, James knows every square inch of Salfords’ Docklands and plenty about the heritage and environment of this fascinating inland area of docklands.

ADAM PRINCE adamdprince@hotmail.com

Twitter: @MancunianBirder → mancunianbirder.wordpress.com

Adam Prince started campaigning four years ago for the national heritage asset London Road Fire Station, which was deteriorating under delinquent ownership. The well-publicised campaign resulted in the eventual sale of the building. The campaign research and engagement influenced a model for mixed use properties for international tourism. Adam’s campaigning has led to changes in multimillion-pound designs for other buildings. He has now moved on to promote civic engagement through Manchester Shield. The group’s aim is to encourage architectural participation and better ways of researching and involving people in aspirations for Manchester rather than disenfranchisement.

DR VINCENT WALSH vinny001@mac.com

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Vincent is an award winning urban food practitioner with fifteen years’ experience of developing innovative community food projects across temperate and tropical climates, delivering food projects across the arts and sciences. Fundamental to building his achievements, both inside and outside of the university, is his extensive international research network. Co-producing research and developing action-led activities is all about people and the ability to develop a “hivemind” of knowledge networks across disciplines. His investigative focus uses resilience methodologies to create integrated alternative food production and urban distribution systems, forming new techniques with novel interconnectivity for decentralised urban agricultural.

JUDITH VAN DEN BOOM & GUNTER WEHMEYER j.vandenboom@artez.nl gunter.wehmeyer@gmail.com Fusing urbanism, design and innovation strategy, Gunter Wehmeyer (MA UOK) is fuelled by solving complex challenges in the fields of Urbanism, Social Innovation and Green Infrastructure. He worked in Landscape Urbanism / Urban Design with extensive project and company work in China, HK, UK and Dubai on large-scale urban design and innovation strategies, both in the corporate environment as well as entrepreneurial start-ups. Judith’s methods of research, design and projects are inspired by her approach as practical idealist. Judith van den Boom (MA RCA) is a designer, lecturer and head of the Product Design department at ArtEZ Academy Arnhem, the Netherlands. Their collaboration stems from an active mentality to work together on the expanding consciousness and the role of design in today’s rapidly transforming natural, cultural and urban landscape. → thinspaces.org

MA PLATFORM ↓ CHRISTINE RYAN christine.ryan62@gmail.com

JOHN HOGAN john.hogan785@live.com

Christine’s creative practice explores the natural world and her connection with land and sea. She is interested in natural processes that reflect the passage of time and how these relate to the transformation of materials. Christine tries to communicate, within her work, the notion of change over time through growth and decay. In keeping abreast of new technologies within the textile world, she has been using living organisms to grow biodegradable and sustainable ‘fabrics of the future’, which have been described as ‘materials of tomorrow’ (Lee 2005).

John is currently studying an MA in Illustration at Manchester Metropolitan University. His main practice is concerned with psychology and social anthropology. The themes of his illustration aim to identify human psychology and the auspices of the envirobiopsychosociospiritual parades that encompass human growth and function within society, in particular the reasoning behind the mental health aspects of human experience, and whether or not the individual determinants relate to social inequalities and poor mental health status.

CRYSTAL CHAN crystalchanwai1@gmail.com

MARIE THEREAS WIDGER marietheresewidger@gmail.com

Wai-kwan Crystal Chan is a current MFA Design Cultures student at Manchester School of Art. She has worked in project management and curating at MaD (Make a Difference) Institute, a cross-disciplinary cultural platform in Hong Kong, for more than five years. Seeing herself as a mediator between disciplines of creativity, she finds gratifications from ingenious and balanced use of resources for positive change. Her current research evolves around design activism and design museums. She has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Art History from the University of Hong Kong.

A recent student at Manchester School of Art, Marie has spent the past four years studying Illustration and Animation to MA level. Drawing is central to her practice. Her use of economic mark making in whatever medium she works with is a process of discovering in ‘the way things are’ the most potent distillation of ‘essence’. Marie has a special interest in the crossovers between, poetry, text and drawing exemplified by traditional Japanese and Chinese calligraphy. As subject matter she is drawn to reportage and environmental observation. Collaborations with both MMU Department of Chemistry and The Royal Northern College of Music have been catalysts for broadening her work.

EZMA ZHAO ezmamacro@yahoo.co.uk Ezma is a textile and fibre artist, sculptor, embroiderer, poet, photographer, writer obsessive walker and traveller. Ezma grew up surrounded by valleys and countryside, with an abundance of nature for inspiration. With strong ethical awareness of her making processes and source of materials, she has an obsessive passion for making and finding alternative ways of using waste material in a productive, chemical free, zero carbon footprint way. JACEK BIES jbies.liga@gmail.com Jacek is a multi-disciplinary visual and interactive designer believing in simplicity and creative solutions. Whatever he is working on he tries to make it as easy to understand as possible. Jacek enjoys technically challenging projects but even those should be communicated easily. Most of the time it is a metaphor that can help to explain complicated things or situations. During Jacek’s MA studies, he explored technology and art, aiming to bridge the gap between these two disciplines. He is exploring the world of programmable LED’s and their use in objects and installations in public spaces. Pomona inspired Jacek to think differently about his work and inspired him to find more sustainable ways of working. While choosing materials to work with, he uses recyclables and low voltage LED lights. He aims to tell a story through his light design, but it makes a huge difference when the light object can be made environmentally friendly. → jacekbies.co.uk

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MARK MCLEISH markiemcleish@hotmail.co.uk Mark is a Fine Art Jeweller working with an endless supply of materials, predominantly celebrating the non-precious. He follows the work through tangible states that are in constant search of completion, referencing personal provenance with objects that act as memory aids. Mark’s work resonates with autobiographical subject matter and he often starts with the written word; mainly a question. He is interested in how objects are involved with our individual lives and how they become altered by the investment of emotive charge. Mark’s research fosters physical heterogeneous artefacts that become a convocation stimulus for the real world by being worn or interacted with. NICA AQUINO nica.u.aquino@gmail.com Nica is a first generation Filipina-American analogue photographer, multidisciplinary artist and educator from Los Angeles, California. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Photography from the Pacific Northwest College of Art in Portland, Oregon, and is currently studying a Master of Arts in Visual Culture at Manchester School of Art in Manchester UK. Nica’s work explores place, identity, socio-economics & the cross-cultural experience. Her current masters research explores US imperialism, postcolonialism and Filipino identity as a first generation American. → nicaaquino.com → nicaaquino.tumblr.com → instagram.com/nica_aquino

RIVE STUDIO laura-jane_atkinson@hotmail.com, eade. hemingway@gmail.com Rive Studio was formed in October 2015 by Laura-Jane Atkinson and Eade Hemingway. The ethos of the studio is to explore tangible and speculative material based solutions to social and environmental problems. SU TURNER su49turner@gmail.com Su’s time at Manchester Metropolitan University is spent studying for an MA in Textiles Practice. When she completes this course she plans to work as a fabric designer using hand and machine embroidery on high quality fabrics sourced from Britain and Europe. Su’s practice is informed by the increasing prevalence of slow fashion and the decisions that contemporary designers are taking to combat the unsustainable fast fashion of today. She aims to produce fabrics that will last a long time; that people connect with and want to hand down to future generations, fabrics that will promote an ethos of keep, care and repair.

Mancunian Birder Links & Further Reading ↓

CONTINUED FROM P. 14 – ARTICLE BY JAMES WALSH

Birds Are The New Global Connection To Salford Docklands mancunianbirder.wordpress.com/2015/11/22/birds-are-the-new-globalconnection-to-salford-docklands

Pomona Flora List published courtesy of the Manchester Ship Canal World Heritage Group thenorthernspring.wordpress.com/2015/07/28/pomona-flora-list

Salford Star coverage of Pomona www.salfordstar.com/article.asp?id=3001

Pomona Docks are the last real area of Greenspace remaining at Salford Quays youtu.be/O56CLJu7Ogk

James Walsh’s speech to Trafford Council November 2015 thenorthernspring.wordpress.com/2015/11/12/savepomona-james-walshspeech-trafford-council Little Ringed Plovers on Salford Docklands mancunianbirder.wordpress.com/2015/11/12/little-ringed-plovers-onsalford-docklands Sand Martins on Pomona mancunianbirder.wordpress.com/2015/11/12/sand-martins-on-pomona Sail Of The Century mancunianbirder.wordpress.com/2016/06/04/sail-of-the-century Photo: Shaun (Manchester Ship Canal World Heritage Group) thenorthernspring.wordpress.com/2015/08/16/manchester-european-cityof-science-event-says-save-pomona An article James Walsh wrote with Stuart Marsden stuartmarsden.blogspot.co.uk/2016/04/pomona-island-ducks-docks-andurban.html?m=1 Save Pomona Gatherine Shows Peoples’ Love for Pomona and its Wildlife thenorthernspring.wordpress.com/2015/08/02/save-pomona-gatheringshows-peoples-love-for-pomona-and-its-wildlife Celebs Join Force To #SavePomona thenorthernspring.wordpress.com/2015/08/18/natalie-bennett-maxinepeake-dave-haslam-john-henshaw-john-thomson-and-linford-christiejoin-savepomona

Pomona — A Heritage & Greenspace Issue mancunianspring.wordpress.com/2015/04/13/pomona-docks-a-heritageand-greenspace-issue Pomona — An Eden Project North mancunianbirder.wordpress.com/2015/04/13/pomona-an-eden-project-forthe-north Pomona — The New Frontier For Ecosocialist Activists mancunianbirder.wordpress.com/2015/11/07/pomona-the-new-frontier-forecosocialist-activists Mediterranean Gull — Salford Docklands youtu.be/7T0DEM-GQXo THE MANCUNIAN SPRING mancunianspring.wordpress.com Twitter: @MancunianSpring THE NORTHERN SPRING thenorthernspring.wordpress.com SALFORD DOCKLANDS Facebook: Salford Docklands Heritage & Nature Group MANCHESTER SHIP CANAL Facebook: Manchester Ship Canal World Heritage Group Woolston Eyes Conservation Group www.woolstoneyes.com

Alternative Plans For Pomona thenorthernspring.wordpress.com/2015/07/27/alternative-plans-forpomona-unveiled

Frodsham Marsh Bird Blog frodshammarshbirdblog.com

Pomona — In It To Win It thenorthernspring.wordpress.com/2015/08/08/pomona-in-it-to-win-it

The Green Atlantic Gateway mancunianbirder.wordpress.com/2016/09/09/the-green-atlantic-gateway

Who Is The Mysterious Pomona? thenorthernspring.wordpress.com/2015/08/02/who-is-the-mysteriouspomona

www.birdguides.com/webzine/article.asp?a=5912

Pomona — An Issue Of Democracy thenorthernspring.wordpress.com/2015/08/01/pomona-an-issueof-democracy Pomona has 33 Flora Site of Biological Importance species thenorthernspring.wordpress.com/2015/07/27/pomona-a-flora-paradise NO MORE Heritage/Environmental Destruction thenorthernspring.wordpress.com/2015/07/27/press-release-heritagegroup-says-no-more-heritageenvironmental-destruction The Salford Docklands Project mancunianbirder.wordpress.com/2015/08/24/salford-docklands-fromstrength-to-strength Pomona — Our Garden Of Eden mancunianbirder.wordpress.com/2015/08/15/pomona-our-garden-of-eden Rare Flower Found On Pomona thenorthernspring.wordpress.com/2015/08/19/rare-flower-found-on-pomona Pomona Bird List published courtesy of the Manchester Ship Canal World Heritage Group mancunianbirder.wordpress.com/2015/10/23/world-heritage-grouppublishes-official-pomona-bird-list

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Premier League Birding mancunianbirder.wordpress.com/2016/09/11/premier-league-birding The Salford Docklands Big Five mancunianbirder.wordpress.com/2016/09/10/the-salford-docklands-big-five

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS IMAGE CREDITS ↓ IMAGES ALL CONTRIBUTOR’S OWN UNLESS OTHERWISE STATED IMAGES BY HAYLEY FLYNN: SKYLINER.CO.UK COVER & P. 1 / 4 & 5 / 6 & 7 / 10 & 11 / 34 & 35 / 110 / 112 & 113 / 117 & 119 / 123 ILLUSTRATIONS BY CAROLINE DOWSETT: CAROLINEDOWSETT.CO.UK P. 90 & 91 / INSIDE FIRST COVER ILLUSTRATIONS BY DANIEL RUSSELL: DANIELRUSSELL.CO.UK P. 12 & 13 / 72

Amidst an age dominated by both the digital and virtual it has been through the power of conversation and physical human and non-human interaction which has facilitated and informed the materialisation and conceptual integrity of the many visions presented here in this publication, embedded ultimately in the physical experience of the spaces which we encounter everyday. The 1st year of LiFE has met many new people, networked, built new understandings and connections, and has been the link between people, places and ‘things’. Through the shared interests of those who have found themselves working together, debating, conceptualising and seeking out alternative ways to intervene with changing ‘future ecologies’ the fruits of conversations have begun to mobilise into real projects that nourish shared research interests and experiences. Inspiring teaching practice that both enriches learning and inspires a new generation of ‘futures’ thinkers finding ways to reconnect with nature. The editors would like to thank the community that has evolved around Pomona Island. Our early encounters with Pomona were through Professor Stuart Marsden after being introduced as ‘a person you must meet’ by Professor Alice Kettle. An article by Jonathan Schofield from Manchester Confidential was circulated that referenced the history and transience of Pomona, and linked the ‘Save Pomona’ group. Subsequent visits to Pomona with Stuart and James Walsh started to inspire a network of creative responses. George Haydock’s film beautifully records and translates the relationships of the many stakeholders on Pomona, not just humans but wildlife and the nature it has become. James Walsh has been an inspiration with his thoughtful determination and passionate connection with the island and its wildlife. Hayley Flynn captivates interest with her thoughtful words, describing, explaining, documenting and disseminating the hidden myths and monuments that give our city its eccentricities and distinctiveness. Hayley’s writings on Pomona have helped to establish the My Pomona group that responds to the island as a continuous creative project. Adam prince has opened up conversations with the developer of Pomona Island to encourage public engagement and discussion. He has fuelled a campaign that puts environmental and social justice at the heart of its endeavour. Luke Blazejewski has a wealth of knowledge and translates the wildlife ecology into a romantic vision, capturing its simple beauty through photography with a deep knowledge of the humanistic nature of the specialist landscape of the island. Thanks to Peter and Gillian Byrom-Smith, a composer and a writer who’s work is inspirational and values justify a reasoning that goes beyond the status quo. Also, Kate Bevan from the Loiterers Resistance movement, a dedicated explorer of the city, ‘loitering with intent’ to re-think and re-experience the everyday. And, a special thank you to Sally Titterington, whose creative energy, generosity, commitment and support has consistently helped to fuel discussion and creativity! Many thanks to members of the LiFE research group and MA students from the LiFE Professional Platform whose commitment and dedication to rethinking our futures and questioning the very practices they seek to develop. Their flexible thinking and agile creativity has enabled them to carve their own trajectories into the professional world. Also thanks to Judith van den Boom and Gunter Wehmeyer. A design duo with the powers of inspiration and creative interpretation, envisaging futures to inspire and build new design scenarios. A special thank you to James Brady from Gaia Project. His insight and expertise in supporting the dissemination of this work has nurtured and enabled this collaborative publication. Pomona Island has been and will continue to be an invaluable place, not just for its ecology but for its relationship with the people that have come to appreciate what this kind of city space means in our current social climate. Pomona has inspired a human practice, very simply built from conversation and creativity. But, ultimately, it will be Pomona’s non-human communities, ‘weeds’, trees, birds, slugs… and the resilience of living systems that will thrive again, if we humans let them become Fruitful Futures.

IMAGE BY HAYLEY FLYNN. ARTIST UNKNOWN.

#pomonaisland

#welovepomona