Co-create an ARISE tool exploring what makes community special through sights, smells, textures, memories, and valued places and experiences

About the Event:

What makes a community feel like home? Is it a favourite place, a local tradition, the people you meet, or even a familiar smell or sound?

Join us for an interactive ARISE workshop exploring what people value about their community and how we experience the places around us through our senses. Through creative activities, conversation, and sensory experiences involving smell and touch, we’ll explore the places, people, events, and experiences that matter to you — and why.

Together, we’ll think about how these experiences can help us understand what makes communities strong and resilient, including things that traditional statistics and measures might miss. Your ideas will also help our researchers explore how new digital and AI tools might capture the richness of people’s experiences without losing the human meaning behind them.

No specialist knowledge is needed — just your own experience of your community.

About the Community:

The Coastal Resilience Community of Practice was formed as a space for individuals, organisations, policy makers, managers, community members and activists to share insights, build collaborations, and learn about (and from) each other. It is open to anyone with an interest in coastal resilience.

Initially formed as part of the ARISE Initiative (https://easternarc.ac.uk/arise/), we have run one in-person day event and several online meetings. We developed a (free to download (https://easternarc.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/ARISE_CoP_launchbook_final_under5mb.pdf)) book to share initial insights, and a range of themes that have emerged from these discussions. We're eager to learn more.

We are co-developing a strategy that helps put the Community of Practice on a sustainable, long-term footing. At our next event we will also be discussing a knowledge sharing network that meets needs of the community, is accessible, and provides meaningful opportunities to better understand real-world problems in the resilience of our coasts.

If this sounds like something you would like to be part of - perhaps you have already come to some events, or it may be your first time hearing about it - we would like to welcome you at the University of Kent on the 13th November.

All perspectives, experiences, and expertise are welcome and equally valued.

For those who are not attending through their work, we may be able to contribute to the costs of attending this event. Please email arise@easternarc.ac.uk.

If you would like to experience an event where:

People feel welcome, relaxed and connected with others through common interests and passions.

The space is fun, engaged and inclusive.

People want to meet again out of enthusiasm rather than obligation.

Then please join us:

For a day of activities (09:30 -13:00 plus boxed lunches to take away) on 13th November 2026, in person only, at the University of Kent, hosted as part of the ARISE research project.

Closer to the time, we will share campus and arrival information.

Description supplied by the event organiser.