Championing Community Engagement
HTA Design’s ethos is deeply rooted in community. Since its founding in 1969, the practice has pioneered ways to engage local residents in the design process. Lucy explains how this ethos continues today through co-design, interactive events, and creative programming that makes residents active participants in shaping their environments.
Rather than traditional public consultation boards, HTA adopts more engaging methods, from life-size vinyl layouts of apartments to art workshops and cultural initiatives, making design more accessible and relatable. Lucy emphasizes that inclusivity goes beyond engagement: it means actively reflecting the diversity of communities within design teams themselves.
Representation in the Design Process
Diversity within HTA's own team mirrors their work with communities. With 49% female representation across all levels and over 27 nationalities represented among its 240 staff, the practice values a multiplicity of voices. This diversity enriches projects by embedding varied perspectives into the design process.
Lucy discusses the importance of participatory design that fosters genuine collaboration. Whether working with school groups, religious organisations, or multilingual communities, HTA ensures that design solutions are inclusive and context specific. This often leads to innovative, more meaningful placemaking.
Wayfinding Meets Identity
Wayfinding plays a crucial role in connecting people to place, and Lucy shares how HTA weaves this into their estate regeneration work. She highlights the Winstanley & York Road and Aylesbury estate projects, where wayfinding and naming strategies are developed hand-in-hand with the community.
At Winstanley, HTA collaborated with a local historian to spotlight notable women from Battersea’s past, resulting in building names and artwork that celebrate underrepresented figures. Residents voted on names, enhancing ownership and local pride.
Real-World Testing for Better Design Outcomes
Lucy also highlights innovative approaches to inclusive design, such as HTA’s access and mobility panels at Roehampton’s Alton Estate. By inviting residents to test and review plans via lived experience, even using mobility scooters to explore steep terrain, HTA uncovered accessibility challenges that might otherwise go unnoticed.
Their work with "Make Space for Girls" demonstrates another layer of inclusivity. Helping to understand the different ways teenage girls and boys interact with public spaces, and how small details like seating design can impact usage.
Evaluating Success
Measuring the success of community engagement isn’t always straightforward. Lucy explains how HTA uses both pre and post-occupancy evaluations, surveys, and lived experience interviews to gauge effectiveness. Documenting project visions and KPIs early ensures consistency across long-term regeneration projects that may span a decade or more.
For Lucy, a successful project is one where residents feel heard, included, and proud of their environment. This human-centred approach supports more sustainable, appreciated places.
Looking Ahead
Lucy sees the future of placemaking as one rooted in greater empathy and deeper collaboration. She believes that inclusive design must evolve beyond consultation to genuine co-authorship, where residents are not just contributors but co-creators. Accessibility, she notes, is more than compliance, it's about making environments legible, meaningful, and enjoyable for everyone.
Technology will undoubtedly play a role, but Lucy stresses that it should support, not replace, human-centred design. The emphasis, she argues, should remain on understanding how people use, feel, and connect to the places they inhabit. Wayfinding, in this context, becomes much more than navigation—it becomes a narrative thread that weaves people into the fabric of place.
HTA Design’s continued focus on inclusivity, lived experience, and cultural identity positions them as a key force in shaping communities that are not only functional, but deeply resonant and future ready.
To learn more about HTA Design, visit: https://www.hta.co.uk/
Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episo...
Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://eur01.safelinks.protec...