- Ask 'What makes this place different from another?' Which are the natural, man-made and cultural elements which combine to tell you that you are in your place and not another community two, 20 or 200 miles away? Are there local details and regional touchstones you can identify? Incorporate your findings on a parish map and put it up in a public place for all to see, discuss and act upon.
- Take parish walks by yourself and with friends to look for and discuss the features which make your place distinctive.
- Organise walks with local planning officers and councillors so you can discuss how change, if necessary, should be made.
- Become a 'local correspondent'; express your knowledge and concerns about locality to the editors of your local newspapers and local radio programmes.
- If you have distinctive buildings, shops, woods in your area, tell the owners how much you appreciate them.
- Take photographs, make drawings, incorporate them into your parish map or put up an exhibition in your community centre, library or village hall which shows the mixture of things which you feel it is important to hang on to.
- Produce postcards which capture the essence of your place.
- Poems, books, photographs, plays, paintings, music, songs, films and festivals can reflect the character of your area and its people. Can you encourage new work which enhances place?
- Explore local sources of stone, brick and wood, and how they might be used today.
- Ask for local produce in local shops, in season.
The Local Distinctiveness Project is seeking alternatives to the spread of uniformity throughout Britain. It is exploring how people recognise the distinctive character of their surroundings, and why this is important to them. Using examples, we hope to encourage the creation of newly distinctive features as well as sensitive responses to existing ones.
Common Ground, 45 Shelton Street, London WC2H 9HJ (tel 071 379 3109; fax 071 836 5741).