Space Invaders

Space Invaders is a Phoenix Community Housing initiative, delivered in partnership with Wide Horizons and funded by the People’s Lottery. The project engages local young people in transforming five outdoor spaces across the Downham, Bellingham, and Whitefoot wards of Lewisham through co-designed interventions. Beyond preventing fly-tipping, the project supports a broader ambition around youth placemaking and fostering creative ownership of local spaces. We ran a series of design workshops in local schools, with Scouts groups, and at community centres near each site. Additionally, pop-up events helped gather ideas from the wider community and recruit volunteers for the build phase. Working closely with local young people, we then installed the co-designed interventions across all five locations. Drawing on these designs and ideas, we developed a distinctive visual language that unites the five spaces. Themes of natural habitat, social space, and the celebration of community history and present-day life feature prominently throughout the interventions, which are now being installed by volunteers.