Alternative approaches

A small number of vocal residents were upset about young people playing and congregating in a small square on the street. Neighbours were falling out over the behaviour of local children, parking, damage to cars and houses from flying footballs. The police were considering driving young people out of the area by employing a high frequency device developed in Australia to move noisy teenagers on. We got involved through Safer Bristol and put a questionnaire out to all residents around the square. Young workers with Community Resolve went out to talk to young people and local children about their views. All responses were fed back (anonymously) to all houses on the street and a general meeting was called. The facilitated meeting that followed was very well attended by local people of all age groups, who had an opportunity to discuss their ideas and start building a way forward.

We work with people from a range of different communities and backgrounds. Our experience is that human beings are essentially very similar.

If we are after harmonious communities, we suggest that this is a better place to start than stressing the ‘diversity’ so much in the front of media and political discussion. We are all ‘diverse’ (ie unique), even if we share skin colour, language or faith. In using such terms to create unnecessary divisions between people, we severely weigh the odds in favour of conflict and division in our local communities.

If similarities are stressed, however, people see their concerns and needs as shared by all those around them, and bypass the tendency to demonise those seen as ‘other’.

We aim to bring together as broad a range of people as possible – across gender, age and background – and then enable them realise how much they have in common.