Space To Grow

The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea is filled with contradictions. It’s one of the richest and the poorest areas of London. It’s known for the Notting Hill Carnival – famously vibrant and energetic – and it’s where seven years ago 72 men, women and children lost their lives in the tragedy of the Grenfell Fire.

It’s against this backdrop that professional footballer-turned-activist Tayshan Hayden-Smith launched Grow to Know; a not-for-profit organisation and changemaking collective; catalysing local, national and global joy and justice.​

Speaking on the latest episode of the Carbon Copy Podcast, Create Space for Nature, Tayshan explains how Grow to Know came about and why connecting people from his area with the natural world felt like the right thing to do in the wake of Grenfell.

“It all happened quite organically and quite naturally…. [After Grenfell] Life was still, and in that stillness, we were just going with the flow and ended up taking over five or six different spaces in Ladbroke Grove, turning them into gardens. We brought to the fore some of the spaces that had been forgotten, which then brought people forwards.

And I think this is what community is all about. How can we foster connection so that we can understand each other? How can we reclaim our narratives and our identities in a very gentrified space? That’s kind of what underpinned a lot of the work that we do now. It’s just being bold, brave, unapologetic, taking action.”

Creating space for communities to grow is something that resonates strongly with Kathryn Machin, WWF UK Head of Community Engagement Campaigns:

“The topic of access to nature and nature connectedness is one that underpins a lot of what we do at WWF. We know that just 20 minutes a day spent in nature can have huge benefits for mental health and wellbeing, and yet there are people across the UK, particularly in cities like London, for whom accessing the space to reap those benefits is a real challenge. Projects like Tayshan’s are doing fantastic work breaking down barriers and ensuring that communities are empowered to make a difference in the place where they live; and changing the narrative with grassroots, citizen-led action.”

The importance of access to nature for inner city communities is often overlooked and underestimated. Typically, we think of urban green spaces more in terms of their functional benefits; improving air quality and local biodiversity or increasing resilience to both drought and flood. However, the benefits to people’s wellbeing are perhaps the most profound of all.

We should not be surprised that creating space for nature to grow and creating space for people to grow are two sides of the same coin.