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Today, London's allotment gardens face the threat of sell-offs for housing development. The design imagines a scenario in which local plot-holders would form a Community Land Trust (CLT) to transform their allotment boundary into a tangible barrier against encroachment and, at the same time, a space of mediation between them and neighbouring residents. By transforming boundaries with local-stone gabions and timber frames, the design creates an 'inhabitable wall' that both parties can build and enjoy. This may engender new forms of mutual support. CLT members would gradually add amenity spaces like tool sheds, workshops and communal kitchens with tables, seed nurseries and plant libraries. This architectural intervention strengthens the CLT's influence and resists encroachment in the suburban landscape.
The inhabited boundary encourages the participation of both residents and allotment users in forming a CLT.
This project explores an alternative inhabitable boundary that encourages community participation as a collective. Through self-building, it enables the creation of new amenities such as tool-sharing, workshops or educational facilities.
Different community groups will inhabit the framework over time.
By involving both the allotment users and local residents in the self-building process, a design that can be easily learned and reproduced is necessary.