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Urban Ranger

Part 2 Project 2001
Gregory Epps
 Royal College of Art | UK
RANGER
The 'Urban Ranger' training programme has extended the conventional role of Hackney's park keepers to become events co-ordinators and cultural mediators. Could this system enable the intimate passions and skills of the citizen to enter public space and redefine the identity of an institution?

FIELD
An unofficial transaction takes place at Hackney council's periphery. Rangers have the opportunity to appropriate council resources in exchange for hosting events, meetings and training sessions within personalised parks buildings. The first stage of this proposal speculates the council's evacuation of the existing Town hall to seek temporary accomodation in the adjacent park. New public/ private initiatives are envisaged to occur as personal affiliations extend beyond departmental boundaries. The 'Urban Ranger' becomes the new navigational system for the citizen, giving guided tours through this evolving social enity.

SQUARE
The experiences gained from the council's formative year in the park have the potential to generate an unexpected programme for the new Town square. The impenetrable 'box' of the old Town hall unfolds, forming a permeable envelope for the new institution. Patrick's insatiable appetite for fancy dress activates the new Town square as a site for an Easter egg hunt that weaves its route through the council hierarchy. By attending subsequent meetings and training sessions, the spectator is invited to become a participator, disseminating council resources, enabling individuals the possibility to redefine the nature of civic space.


This student's ability to immerse himself within the culture of the institution and become a working member of their team is a commendable approach. He deconstructs the very idea of the town hall, reconfigures it back to the client and radically questions the very nature of the organisation. He is an exemplary student who selflessly pursues the core issues of the subject above style and graphic representation.
2001
'Conflict resolution, multi-cultural body language and unarmed defensive tactics plus medical implications.'
The final exam: A tour through the condensed city
The individual represents the institution; the institution represents the individual?
Scales of meeting derived from an urban ranger union meeting and Tony Lawrence wood design
Blurring the boundary between public/ private services gives rise to a front and back door institution.
The Urban ranger possesses a mental map of the constantly changing institution. Gardeners become table and chair arrangers.
The old Town hall unfolds as the new programme is woven in. The spectacle and the event become the new 'front doors' into the institution.
Shed-like structures punctuate the concrete envelope, forming 'back doors' via personalised workspaces.
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