Towards Ecological Citizenship in social housing through Making Nature Principles and an Ecology-of-Things

This research was undertaken through an inter-disciplinary and cross-sectorial collaboration for practical insight and understanding between arts and science researchers, local government and industry stakeholders and land managers. This paper documents part of a process of funded research that seeks to apply Making Nature Principles (Gant, 2020) to the creation of regenerative objects and products for social housing in Sussex, UK. The products are developed to provide sustainable alternatives in a local authority-housing sector facing policy demands for net-zero targets, Local Nature Recovery Strategy (LNRS) and Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) whilst also needing to ensure cost effective and practical value to diverse range of citizens and stakeholders. We approach the research with the hypothesis that Sussex (a highly wooded county) could / should be able to contribute to sustainable, local timber resources for social housing with potential cascading benefits for society, economy and the environment.