Dott Blog - Sustainable Tourism

Past, Present and Future in Allendale

Tue, 13 Nov 2007 12:55:00+0100

I had an evening to remember in Allendale. I am happy to report that I am not alone in this. While visiting the Dott 07 Design Camp sites, Christopher Bacon and his wife Anne told me about theirs. Over thirty years ago, when they were students, they drove up to Allendale from Norwich one day... ‘It was pouring with rain; it was wonderfully dramatic because with the rain and the wind, the hills looked like there were giants crossing the mountains, and we picked up all this purple fluorspar - great big crystals of it; we took them back to his grandmothers house to show her and they’d dried out; like fairy gold they didn’t look beautiful anymore because they weren’t wet. I’ll never forget that day.’ Whatever magic they shared on that wet, bejewelled walk, when Christopher and Anne wanted to move house 12 years ago, they chose Allendale. After a visit to the striking Dott 07 Design Camp light installation at the old Allen Mill, followed by some locally brewed beer in The King’s Head, I’d move there myself! [More]

A Seasonal Palette For Dott 07

Fri, 09 Nov 2007 12:15:00+0100

Landlines, a pilot project developed from Dott's Design Camp, has captured the imagination of farmers, tourists and commuters along the East Coast railway line. Artist Steve Messam and farmer Rod Smith collaborated to redesign the landscape of Beals Farm, Northumberland. The design, the size of three football pitches, was ploughed in such a way to create a temporary landscape design for passing rail travellers - 15,000 per day. [More]

Dott Debates - The Movement Dilemma

Mon, 15 Oct 2007 17:28:00+0100

Thursday 18 October – 13:00-16:00
Location: Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art

The debate suggests that the movement of people and goods around the world consumes vast amounts of matter, energy, space, and time - most of it non-renewable. Should sustainable development therefore be concentrated in cities, where economic progress can most feasibly be de-coupled from transport intensity? Or are there ways to ensure that rural communities have access to services by using transport resources more smartly? And could new forms of sustainable tourism be enabled by access to territorial and cultural assets that already exist? [More]

Camp in the City During the Dott 07 Festival

Tue, 02 Oct 2007 15:39:00+0100

Fancy a trip into the world of sustainable tourism? Well this is your chance to book a spot in the world's first ever eco-friendly urban campsite smack bang in the heart of the city, during the Dott 07 Festival. From Thursday 18 October to Monday 22 October you can reserve your space to sleep under the stars, below Byker Bridge in Ouseburn, Newcastle upon Tyne. The urban campsite is a working protoype, developed by a team of young designers who took part in Dott's Design Camp last summer.

What will this magical experience set you back? It's £15 per person, per night - in a two person tent (based on two people sharing). There will be a single airbed for each person, but you need to bring your own sleeping bag and pillows. Remember you will need warm clothes, the October air is cold. [More]

Young International Designers Have Plans For The North East

Tue, 07 Aug 2007 12:02:00+0100

Young designers from around the world presented their final concepts for the Dott 07 project 'Design Camp' on Friday 20 July in Allendale, Northumberland. Before I begin, I want to put three ideas in your mind, to give you a flavour of the afternoon's designs:

Wake up 15 feet above the ground to a waft of sizzling bacon.
Your breath is stolen by a burst of ghostly blue.
Look up as it billows, and feel the breeze on your face.

Right, with those in mind, do read on and I shall explain.

The young designers taking part in the Design Camp spanned eight nationalities and umpteen design backgrounds: from fine art to product design and interior architecture. In groups they have created concepts to enhance Sustainable Tourism in the North East. Steve Messam, Senior Producer on the project spoke to me about how busy they had all been. [More]

Campers Head for Deneholme

Wed, 25 Jul 2007 08:58:00+0100

Last week participants of Dott's Design Camp worked on their concepts for sustainable tourism while they enjoyed the surroundings of Deneholme in Allendale. The teams used the information they had gathered during the last few days on existing tourist attractions in the North East, and the more specialist research they have done, specific to their particular project: Windfarms; Urban Camping and Allendale Heritage.

After a renowned Deneholme dinner made form local produce (I’ll never be able to look those cute little lambs outside in the face again) a day of brainstorming culminated in each group giving a preliminary presentation of their concepts to the rest of the group.

The Urban Campers considered: turning camping on its head and introducing luxury to the site, think chandeliers, red carpets and tent service. They looked at how the campers once at the site might travel around Newcastle in a sustainable way, involving bikes from the Recyke Y'Bike scheme in Byker; and explored how the strong sense of community that makes the Ouseburn such an interesting place could be involved in the building and running of the Urban Campsite. [More]

Design Camp Explore Ouseburn

Wed, 18 Jul 2007 12:47:00+0100

The designers developing a concept for Urban Camping, along with their mentor for the day, Swedish artist/designer/entrepreneur, Mikael Genberg, explored part of a disused structure at the mouth of the Ouseburn, the proposed site for Urban Camping (exact location to be revealed). Mikael, who has worked on many concepts for accommodation, including underwater hotels and treehouses bounced ideas around with the other designers on how the space could be used to create accommodation for people to 'camp' sustainably in the area, a loose brief, but one that requires the development of a concept that has 'never been seen before' allowed the group to come up with a whole host of ideas.

The designers explored and gathered research from around the Ouseburn, experiencing what it had to offer. A meeting with Peter Kay from the Ouseburn Trust gave a good insight to the history of the Ouseburn and the sense of community that has made the Ouseburn the place it is today, as well as issues that will inform developments in the future. [More]

Design Camp Go Mapping

Wed, 18 Jul 2007 12:32:00+0100

The campers arrived in Durham on Monday morning and assembled in Clayport Library where they were introduced to the concept of Mapping the Necklace and shown some footage of how other groups had mapped the area during the project. A few, perhaps slightly confused but certainly intrigued faces set out into Durham, loaded with tracking devices provided by Durham University to explore and map the area. The tracking devices allowed us to map out the routes that were taken back in the library on a laptop.

Later in the afternoon we reassembled back at Clayport Library so that each group of mappers could present back the ways in which they mapped the necklace. A whole array of concepts had been used, from the eccentric to the mathematically planned. [More]

Urban Camping in Newcastle

Mon, 16 Jul 2007 16:05:00+0100

Dott's Design Camp kicked off on Thursday evening at the Explorers Club in the Robert Stephenson Centre. 17 designers, spanning multiple disciplines, from around the world are working together to develop sustainable solutions to improve tourism in the North East. The design teams are working in four locations across the region.

Throughout the 10-day camp, the teams will work with local co-ordinators and the local community to develop ground-up approaches to the design challenges. Domain experts from around the world will act as mentors to the teams through a series of day and evening sessions.

Camp co-ordinator Helen Jamieson is on-site covering the various locations, writing blogs to keep us informed with what's going on in camp. On Saturday Helen met with the Urban Camping team to take a trip round Newcastle. Here's what happened...
[More]

Were You Mapping?

Thu, 10 May 2007 17:06:00+0100

Mapping the Necklace held an extra special event over the Bank Holiday weekend. I sadly couldn't make it - I was camping in Keswick. Senior producer Susan Williamson was there with fellow mappers and here's what happened... Mapping the Necklace came to life in The Durham Necklace Park over May 5-7 Bank Holiday weekend... and what a great success it was! From Finchale Priory to Sunderland bridge, the 12 miles of river-linked paths and land were explored and celebrated by people of the Northeast, mapping in myriad ways the 1,000 years of visible history. Mappers clustered and logged in and out at the Durham Necklace Park Upload Centre at Millenium Square's Clayport Library all weekend, viewing online realtime Mapper-tracking, making Mapping network connections and then spreading out daily into The Durham Necklace Park where they met filmmakers at pre-arranged venues to record their exploits. [More]

Welcome to Port Clarence and Newtown

Wed, 09 May 2007 10:24:00+0100

The Welcome project team are busy working with community groups from The Clarences and Newtown Community Resource Centre through a series of workshops. During the workshops people taking part develop thoughts and ideas on what makes them feel welcome in their area - or what doesn't. Don't forget you can take part in the Welcome project by sending us your thoughts or pictures on what makes you feel welcome in the North East. Find out how you can take part. Ken Harris, Industrial Chaplain/Chair of The Clarence's Community Partnership and Danielle Barnes, Women and Children's Project Officer are working with the Welcome project to create their own 'welcomes' and encourage participation from friends, colleagues and members of The Clarence's community through a series of open workshops and special events taking place at The Clarence's Community Centre, every Wednesday until the end of May from 1600 - 1800. [More]

What Makes YOU Feel Welcome - We Want to Know!

Wed, 09 May 2007 09:15:00+0100

Newtown Community Resource Centre 'Welcome' group member Alyson Lidford recorded some of the moments in her week that made her feel welcome - or not! Here are just some of her results.

Elephant in the Grass
'I like elephants! I'd love to go on a safari, I have elephants on my window ledges and in the grass outside my house to welcome people!' A Peaceful Welcome
'This is the entrance to the cemetary, its a really peaceful and welcoming place, especially at the moment.'

Mapping! Mapping! Mapping!

Fri, 27 Apr 2007 09:01:00+0100

This coming bank holiday weekend (May 5-7), something wild and wonderful is happening in The Durham Necklace Park - 12 miles of stunning riverside land, meandering along the river Wear and through 12 ex-mining villages with a host of hidden treasures, ancient walkways, bridleways and stunning scenery. What makes this weekend so unique is that this magnificent 12 miles of riverside land, running from Finchale Priory to Croxdale and through Durham City Centre, known as The Durham Necklace Park will be visited by teams of 'mappers'. What? Who? Indeed you might ask because these 'mappers', who have been beavering away for months in preparation for a weekend to remember will be doing things in the Durham Necklace Park that have never been done before and they will be inviting us to join in too. [More]

What Makes You Feel Welcome?

Wed, 25 Apr 2007 16:29:00+0100

What makes you feel welcome? Welcome is a new design project exploring our thoughts, ideas and experiences on what makes us feel welcome, what makes a place welcoming and how we make others feel welcome. The project is currently active in Tees Valley. Communities, organisations and projects involved include; The Clarence's Community Project, Middlesbrough Football Club, Newtown Resource Centre, The Mall Community Shopping Centre, Durham Tees Valley Airport and the education centre at MIMA (Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art). The project is open for anyone to take part - wherever you live. All you have to do is tell us what does or doesn't make you feel welcome in your region. You can write a story, take a photograph, draw a picture, make a video or record some audio - the choice is yours! Find out the full details of how you can take part. [More]

Design Camp - Steve Messam Interview

Wed, 11 Apr 2007 11:10:00+0100

Meeting Steve Messam, the Senior Producer and ideas man behind Dott 07's Design Camp is an experience to remember. We met for lunch, around the corner from the Dott offices and after thirty minutes my lentil soup was forming a cool skin, Steve's cheese bap was still in its cellophane wrap and he was hitting me with so many ideas, solutions and information about the Design Camp project that only a writer on speed would be able to keep up. Thank Designers for the small compact portable Olympus voice recorder to let me off the hook but that Steve-Messam-high-speed-train was on a roll and I could barely breath let alone eat so I decided to leave my soup for another time and listen. The call has been out to designers across the globe, since March 2007, to respond to the challenge to develop sustainable tourism ideas for specific sites in the North East. The various projects will be realised by teams of 6/8 designers who will descend on the region from 12 July - 21 July this summer. The cream of Graduate students are responding in their droves but no decisions have been made yet. The task of putting together teams with skills that are compatable will take time and consideration of the requirements of each project but the basic outline of all five projects is in place. They range from Urban Camping to making wind farms more sustainable and user-friendly. [More]