3 Sketch Proposals pinned up on Monday. I selected Tranformative - with the rather poor interim title of Snakes and Ladders, because tranformation is what is required in this area and my attachment to the planted river and the little Japanese influenced doodle that inspired it I did after having a good trawl through all my previous Japanese garden research. Lots more work to do and I knew before I went in that my tree strategy was really not finished and that I needed a lot more work on sequence and circulation.

This was the state of play after last weeks studio session with Jamie and Julia. Top concept design is 'Restorative', I was thinking of the idea of a holiday at home and restoring the relationship between the people of the area and their parks.The second design is for 'Transformative' where a dramatic difference was my theme. I wanted to find a way to make the architecture of the surrounding blocks resonate with the park's lines and forms. The third is 'Playful', and for me this was a carefree doodle based of the concept of drips and ripples. Drip by drip the change will be made to the area, spreading like ripples.

Working up the trace layers for Dickens Park.....I have found myself focusing all week on how I can get the locals out of their flats and into my parks. As far as I can see the locals have been badly let down by Southwark around Elephant and Castle. The exicitng promised plans for the shopping mall and the roundabout itself have vanished and the Heygate was one big series of ignored consultations & conveniently misquoted research results, which ended in the disaspora of almost all it's residents and almost no decent return for the people in the area. I feel I have to design something to help the locals heal their own community. It's all about building a neighbourhood identity, and creating a beautiful place where people can meet each other, work on things together for their own environment and EVERYONE is welcome, not just arty farty types and already empowered people who can easily end up setting the agenda. Social change through parks and streetscape. SO! My 'Playful' scheme for Dickens Square is centred around the motif of drips. Drip by drip the area can come alive. Plus it's great to be at the drawing board and not the PC!