Overview

This Is Not A Gateway encourages people to step outside of professional and academic silos to discuss and shape the future of our cities.

This Is Not A Gateway (TINAG) was founded in 2007 by urbanist Trenton Oldfield and Deepa Naik, an artist and curator. Their vision was to make it easier to access and share new ideas about cities and urban issues. The organisation is a forum for ‘emerging practitioners’ – those who are in the early stages of their professions, either because they are young or because they have switched from another career. TINAG also seeks out perspectives from non-professionals who have first-hand experience of issues that affect urban citizens, such as migration and discrimination.

TINAG holds regular ‘salons’ where participants from a range of disciplines and backgrounds discuss pressing urban questions. The salons are informal, with an emphasis on interaction and networking. TINAG’s first annual festival took place over three days at the end of October 2008 and the group is also developing an online archive of work on urban issues by emerging practitioners.

Trenton says: “By 2030, around 60 per cent of the global population will live in urban areas. We need to develop new forms of urban citizenship and it’s important that we look outside of conventional academic and policy circuits to do this. It’s a lot more complex than is currently understood.” Some of the ‘missing voices’ that TINAG has already introduced into the urban issues arena are young artists and urban theorists working in the UK and individuals who were involved in the Paris riots of 2005.

Summary
• 70% of the global population will live in urban areas by 2050
• More than 2,500 people have signed up for the organisation’s email updates
• Between 50 and 75 people attend each salon event
• More than 650 people have downloaded post-salon essays
• The online archive and library will launch in 2009

» Background

Background

Creating a platform

After moving to the UK, urbanist Trenton Oldfield noticed that there was no straightforward, reliable way for emerging practitioners to share their ideas with others working in related urban arenas. Since mainstream conferences and publications tend to focus on the work of established practitioners, Trenton  felt that it would be useful to have a forum dedicated to the knowledge and experience of emerging practitioners. Several years later, a conversation between Trenton and atrist and curator Deepa Naik brought the idea of setting up a forum to the surface once again and together they decided to set up This Is Not A Gateway (TINAG).

The group’s name refers to the Thames Gateway project and other ‘gateways’ that tend to crop up in regeneration initiatives. Trenton explains: “It’s a playful reference – I was intrigued by the fact that these often ambitious ‘gateways’ really only exist on a theoretical level.”

Establishing networks

In July 2007, TINAG formed a partnership with the Institute of Contemporary Arts through the Cultural Leadership Programme, a Government-funded scheme for building leadership skills across the creative and cultural industries. TINAG is run on an entirely voluntary basis and the partnership with the ICA provides the co-ordinators with support in areas such as event organisation and media relations.

Jaffer Kolb, Features Editor of the Architectural Journal, says “What distinguishes This Is Not A Gateway from mainstream lectures and symposia are the participants involved. Rather then the predictable set of architects, urban theorists and sociologists that dominate the cities circuit, TINAG brings less exposed voices, creating a platform both more original and democratic.”

» The Impact

Overview «

The Impact

Following on from their first successful festival in 2008, TINAG held their second festival in October 2009. The second gathering took place on Hanbury Street, East London between 23-25 October 2009. The festival included over 60 events, spread across 2 venues (Hanbury Hall and the Kobi Nazrul Centre). 140 people contributed to the festival and 1,200 festival-goers attended across the three days.

Events at TINAG 2009 included: A salon on Regeneration & The Public Realm, a discussion on How Women are Designing Cities and a discussion on City As Stage: Art, Narrative & Play.

Regeneration & The Public Realm was an informal tea and conversation on the theme of contemporary urban renewal and its aftermath. In the discussion on How Women Are Designing Cities, the Women’s Design Service led a discussion investigating gender and city planning. It asked the question: Do women have specific urban design needs that differ from those of men? Speakers included Georgia Wrighton of the Women's Design Service.

The discussion on City As Stage: Art, Narrative & Play involved a cross-disciplinary panel discussing how art, narrative, and play changes the interaction between people and their cities. Speakers included Dan Hon (Media technologist) and Lottie Child (Artist).
These three events were highlights of a programme of over 60 events in total.

With consecutive successful festivals achieved in 2008 and 2009, it is no surprise that TINAG will conduct its third festival in 2010. Over the course of four days in October TINAG will bring together, people living and working in Europe to collaborate across fields.

The festival will also provide comprehensive skills development seminars including: A to Z Of Getting Your Book Published; Going Freelance – Taxes & Other Complexities; Organising & New Political Frameworks.
TINAG has now also branched out into publishing. Its first volume: Critical Cities: Ideas, Knowledge & Agitation from Emerging Urbanists, is a comprehensive series of books that document TINAG activities. It includes a collection of interdisciplinary texts from salon speakers and commissioned post-salon essays, contributions from festival participants, commissioned essays, and images.

The aim of the publication is to evidence the outcomes and benefit of cross-disciplinary exchange and learning. Volume 01 was made possible with the support of the Homes & Communities Agency.

TINAG is currently putting together the second volume of works, reflecting the vast body of learning the organisation and its contributors have already amasses in just three years.

» Good Practice

Background «

Good Practice

• TINAG brings work from emerging practitioners to the attention of a broad audience, including established academics and policymakers. More established practitioners are welcomed at events to take part in the exchange of ideas and experience.
• The group’s salons and events place an emphasis on informal discussion and networking. Presentations last no longer than 10 minutes and are followed up with time for audience discussion. The fluid structure and relaxed atmosphere at the events makes them accessible to people who are unlikely to attend conventional conferences.
• People from a broad range of professional disciplines are involved in TINAG. The inter-disciplinary approach means that issues can be explored from a number of perspectives and interaction between professionals from different fields creates interesting opportunities for networking and collaboration.

• Taking part in TINAG events gives emerging practitioners valuable experience of presenting their ideas to public audiences and responding to questions about their work. The organisation also helps emerging practitioners develop new skills through practical workshops on topics such as how to get published and writing proposals.
• Members of the group’s steering committee are drawn from different disciplines and countries. Steering committee membership is reviewed twice a year in order to keep it fresh and relevant to the group’s programme of work.

» Reference

The Impact «

Reference

Contact details

Trenton Oldfield and Deepa Naik
Co-ordinators
This Is Not A Gateway
020 7247 0166

Good Practice «