My name is Nora Aridi and I moved to the Isle of Wight three years ago. I originally trained as a Landscape Architect and recently gained a diploma in Eco-psychology and nature-based practice. My primary passion is in our everyday spaces - or public realm - and everyday appropriation of them. This passion stems back to 2004 when the Splaces project was born. Splaces is essentially a project that identifies leftover or underused marginal public realm spaces in towns and cities, with the intention to reintegrate them back into their local ecosystem. Through Splaces we can claim our place in the city and welcome the right for other living things (fauna and flora) to dwell in harmony with one another.
Essentially these small pockets of hope are seen as a way to explore how we can design, build and live in nature created by the local community, so that nature and local culture become indistinguishable from one another. In 2004 while living in Beirut, walking was my main means of movement around the city. Upon wandering along the multiple veins of the urban outdoors, an increasing number of underused, often times neglected, and hidden spaces came to sight. This became the birthplace of Splaces and led me on a journey towards a thorough understanding of their potential to ‘heal'. When moving to the Island I began to fully experience the healing power of nature, and while the Island has many beautiful natural spaces it is also lacking in some areas. I soon became aware that many of the public realm areas void of green space were also in parallel home to social and ecological neglect and/or misuse. One particular town was Ryde. Ryde was thus seen as an ideal candidate to showcase the potential for Splaces to heal.
A walking route in Ryde consisting of 16 Splaces has been chosen as a pilot area for this project. The vision is to heal locally by creating spaces of resilience and opportunity for reconnection through reciprocity. Deeply rooted in Eco-psychology this project invites local residents to discover, participate in, and shift perspectives of an individual’s personal relationship to self, their community, and their environment. Through a co-creation process of the Splaces with the local residents and skilled professionals - and nature - we are able to create public realm areas that match the needs of the local community while enhancing diversity in our natural world. In this process of collaboration ownership can be returned to the hands of local residents; who then enter an agreement with one another, and local councils to look after and manage their local Splace. All the while reaping the benefits of what is created in that location, ie. a fruit/veg garden; a slide; a bio retention feature; a kindness bench; a tree; a nest of birds; a green corridor; a biodiversity research hub; a play area; and/or an art corner and so on. The success outcome of Splaces is very much dependent on support from all levels of the community. Therefore, it is necessary that a number of collaborators are involved in assisting both the local residents and themselves to create a healthy community and environment.
