A major AHRC-funded research project led by Keele University in partnership with Urban Wilderness CIC, exploring how 20th-century industrial and energy infrastructure becomes heritage — and how communities can shape that process.
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Seeds of Hope was a community-growing initiative by Urban Wilderness CIC, working with young people and local residents across Knutton, Newcastle-under-Lyme, and Abbey Hulton. Through gardening, craft, sustainability workshops and outdoor activities, the project promoted wellbeing, food growing, community connection and environmental awareness.
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ALIGNMENT is a material-rich installation by Natalia Kasprzycka built from Etruria marl clay, waste bricks and found objects at Burslem Port. Commissioned for The Happenings 2021, it explores slow decay, site history and the transformation of industrial landscape.
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“Reconnect & Grow” is a living installation by Tracey Meek at Longton Exchange (Oct-Nov 2021), pairing fungi, moss and organic materials to question our relationship with nature and propose new symbiotic ecosystems in public art.
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TRACOBAND is a choreographed outdoor dance performance by artist Lola Adodo, blending live percussion, community volunteers and historic-inspired movement. Presented at Keele University and All Saints Community Garden during The Happenings 2021.
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Arkadia is a large-scale installation by artists Stephanie Rushton and Mally Mallinson, installed at Longton Exchange in Sept-Oct 2021. Drawing on dystopian and post-human narratives, it transforms found materials, plants and imagery to challenge our relationship with nature, consumerism and climate change.
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A solo performance devised by Sophia Hatfield in collaboration with women’s running groups and the Canal & River Trust, staged along the Etruria Canal on 26 September 2021 as part of The Happenings Festival of Public Art in Stoke-on-Trent.
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The Happenings festival in Stoke-on-Trent explored small-scale, site-specific public art, activating overlooked urban spaces through creativity, care, and connection.
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Urban Wilderness reflects on Public Art Now, an online symposium convened in April 2021 exploring public art as a relational, participatory and accountable practice.
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Towards an Urban Commons brought together academics, artists, activists and community organisations to explore how brownfield land could be reimagined as community-managed urban commons. The Urban Commons Network was established on 20 April 2020 to develop principles, frameworks and shared visions for future governance.
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Tomorrowland supported young people in Stoke-on-Trent to imagine and build better futures through hands-on construction workshops and a 2021 pop-up shop offering £200 bursaries for youth-led environmental and community projects.
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Urban Wilderness CIC delivered photo walks with CAFAG youth club as part of English Heritage’s national Reverberate programme, supporting young people to explore how heritage shapes their lives in the shadow of an abandoned coal mine.
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Mining Migrations was a collaboration between Urban Wilderness CIC, Keele University and Chatterley Whitfield Friends exploring hidden migration histories connected to Chatterley Whitfield Colliery. The exhibition was first presented at Chatterley Whitfield Nature Reserve during the Being Human Festival 2020.
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Urban Wilderness CIC worked with Canal & River Trust to consult young people on their perceptions of Manchester’s canal system and their hopes for its future. Through photo walks, discussion and model-making, the project explored safety, identity and new possibilities for neglected
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A reflective ceramics project exploring pause, return and transform, created through online and in-studio making sessions during lockdown. Clay Comrades produced raku-fired cubes that capture personal reflections from 2020 and the importance of staying connected as a creative community.
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Winter Wastelands brought together creative responses from across Stoke-on-Trent during the winter lockdown of 2020/21. Urban Wilderness CIC commissioned artists and communities to explore connection, wellbeing, ritual and resilience through public art, clay, poetry, digital portraiture and creative rituals.
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The Weight of Things is an outdoor sculpture by David Bethell, hand-carved from polystyrene and covered with fibre-glass, sand, and paint. Installed in Keele Woods, the floating rock sculpture evokes hope and despair simultaneously, inspired by Rene Magritte’s 1953 painting Clear Ideas. The work encourages reflection on impermanence and resilience in challenging times.
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Our Youth Grows in a Wasteland is an audio drama project by Potboiler Theatre exploring young people’s experiences of being outdoors in Stoke-on-Trent. Through collected stories, audio plays, and a verbatim account of the city’s first Black Lives Matter protest, the work amplifies youth voices and local activism within Hanley Park.
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Diverse Landscapes is a digital photography project by Adina Lawrence, exploring heritage and identity through outdoor portraiture in Stoke-on-Trent and North Staffordshire. Models wore outfits reflecting their cultural backgrounds, colour-matched to natural surroundings and photographed with minimal processing to highlight authenticity and connection to place.
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Taking Up Space brings together Black women from Staffordshire to reclaim green spaces through walking, dance, and poetry. Initiated after the 2020 lockdown, the project culminated in dance and poetry performances filmed in Hanley Park.
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