ABSTRACT
Live Projects are about people and building relationships with people. Understanding processes of regeneration and renewal entirely depends on the people involved and the quality of the relationships built. As students and mentors begin to understand complex systems and networks and stakeholder maps, that leads to the understanding of social organizations. Most importantly, students are unthreatening and impartial, standing in the middle between the authorities and residents, and empowering residents through discussion and equal exchange to raise their aspirations and to become engaged and knowledgeable clients who understand the processes of design and development. The projects usually have complex client bodies and a number of stages and demand a wide range of innovative participatory practices. Students every year have a growing body of work to build on and learn from. Primarily, though, the intention is always, as Doreen Massey states, 'to mediate between the wider strategy and the personal citizen's response'.
