Hospitable Environment works at the intersection of research, practice, and training, using creative methods to explore how knowledge is generated, shared, and lived within communities. Our research-led work includes collaborations with NHS Sussex through the Data Observatory workshop, where we supported health assembly members to collectively explore complex data systems through imagination, creative facilitation, and co-designed principles. We have contributed to place-based research through the Sussex University CoLab Creative Placemaking Residency, working alongside academics, artists, and local residents to explore Newhaven’s future through workshops, mapping, and public exhibition. Our practice is informed by dialogue with leading thinkers in creative placemaking and public life, including collaborations and exchanges with Cara Courage, Dawn Langley as well as work connected to East Sussex Public Health. 

 

Alongside this, we deliver training grounded in Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD), including sessions with SCDA, supporting organisations and communities to recognise and mobilise existing strengths rather than deficits. Knowledge exchange is central to our methodology: this was exemplified through Newhaven The People’s Plan & The People’s Knowledge Exchange (2024), where we curated a retrospective exhibition alongside a live programme of talks and workshops with ten guest speakers exploring how creativity and connected communities contribute to healthier, happier lives. Across projects, from biosocial research events like Bird Bath Dawn Chorus Breakfast with University of Sussex collaborators, to long-running public programmes such as Soup & Social we treat research as relational, embodied, and participatory, ensuring learning flows between communities, cultural institutions, and policy contexts.