Settle the Street

Homelessness is rising sharply in the UK, and a vast proportion of that population is rough-sleeping on streets of cities.  This issue affects thousands of people, and the need for sustained and situated support is reaching a crisis point.  Settle the Street proposes that these needs can be met in situ.  Located in the most affected borough in London, just outside the Home Office and the Department for Housing, Settle the Street radically reclaims the street for those living on it; creating a collective settlement born out of protest.  The streets are reclaimed first through an influx of moveable and semi-permanent structures that congregate first to accommodate those without homes, and then to welcome the arrival of charity workers who can ensure there is continued support for rough sleepers, so that they can go on to find safer spaces to call home.  Settle the Street is a challenge to those able to affect change at a policy level, that highlights the power of sustained and situated collective action. 

>>> This year we have been investigating how landscapes can be redefined through collective practices, this has been framed in multiple ways.  We have been engaging with human and more-than-human beings, with materials, policy and environments to speculate on how collective, situated and radical landscape practices can bring about change.