In 2020, our Participatory Action Research team in the Department of Geography and Environmental Science, were approached by Reading Borough Council to work with their High Street Heritage Action Zone (HSHAZ) programme to undertake a place-based pilot community engagement project that enabled the authentic voices of residents to reimagine their high streets and explore their lived experiences of urban space. High Street Heritage Action Zones (HSHAZ) are a heritage-led regeneration initiative led by Historic England, working with local councils and communities to improve the quality of life for residents and businesses living and working on historic streets. 

Using participatory storytelling to explore the lived experiences of the people and communities who live, work and play on the Oxford Road, Alice Mpofu-Coles, Robyn Woronka and Toby Barlow, captured the rich and diverse cultural history of the area through photographs, memories, digital interviews and podcasts to co-create a multimedia online storytelling exhibition for Reading Museum – the Oxford Road Project: Reimagining the High Street Through Your Stories.  

Three local artists; Baker Street Productions, Gemma Anusa and Caroline Streatfield were commissioned to create art pieces inspired by these stories to celebrate vibrancy and richness of Oxford Road’s multicultural history. 

In 2022, a second phase of the HSHAZ project was co-designed with local people and community groups who frequent a community space, the Lifespring Church/ Pavilion, to have conversations about community, highlight how the Oxford Road’s vibrant history is connected to and through their lives, and what Lifespring means to them. Collaborating with Baker Street Productions and University of Reading students, the team curated a series of interviews, life histories, artefacts, and photographs to explore and share a series of LifeSpring Stories, which was exhibited in Reading libraries, Reading Museum and Oxford Road venues. 

In 2024, a book, funded by Reading Borough Council and the University of Reading, and co-produced with Baker Street Production, revisited the photographs, stories and interviews from the original participatory research project and combined them with personal reflections to add further depth and richness. Drawing on themes of community, memory and collective identity, the collection offers a unique insight into the lives of a few Oxford Road’s residents and illustrates how sharing our lived experiences can create the thriving multicultural places that engender social change. 

Meet the team