'Telling your Story': People and the Aylesbury Estate

One of the largest housing estates in the UK, The Aylesbury, South London, is undergoing transformation as part of a £2.4 billion regeneration project. The scheme aims to provide a `blueprint for a new neighbourhood¿ and in the process, `create a strong and vibrant community¿. As the demolition of the Estate began in October 2009, the Kaleidoscope Project was launched to share the memories, experiences and images of the people who lived there. This paper focuses on one aspect of Kaleidoscope ¿ `Telling Your Story¿, which had two main aims: The first was to capture the life stories of the Estate at this moment of change and the second was pedagogical, to use notions of transformational learning to enhance the skill base of some of the Estate¿s long-term residents. This was achieved through a series of innovative workshops focusing on dialogues around the cultural aspects of food, craft and a sense of history and place. At the same time, the `people-centered¿ workshops provided the opportunity to share aspirations for the future through a resident-led blog. These processes and methods can lead to social innovation: social engagement through building a community of learners and knowledge exchange between residents and academia.