Mellis was invited to do a Pecha Kucha presentation for NLA on digitising community engagement strategies in response to the pandemic. Engagement at a distance has been a hot topic over the past 6 months as community-led practitioners have had to look beyond their post-it notes for alternative ways to involve residents in the development of their neighbourhoods. Mellis’ presentation looked at digital engagement at a small scale in the collaborative development of a housing scheme in Crystal Palace. Other presentations focused on digital tools for design and planning research at neighbourhood and city scale with the event finishing in an interesting discussion of ideas and future strategies.

"Mellis Haward of Archio shared how the practice has done an ‘about turn’ and moved participatory design and on-site engagement tools online, especially with an affordable homes scheme on a small site in Crystal Palace. This was done via a local residents’ design group acting as co-creators with the community land trust using a combination of digital and analogue work. ‘Communities are redefining how they relate to their neighbourhood and taking a new-found interest in their local area’, said Mellis. "

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