Photo of Alex Wilde, coworking member for the Shaping Places for Wellbeing programme. Alex is sitting in the Fixed Desk area of the coworking studio on the first floor. Her laptop is set up with a stand, keyboard, and mouse and is surrounded by notebooks and paper trays. It is an organised and busy workspace. Alex is wearing a black cardigan over a floral shirt with a pair of headphones about her neck. She is turned towards the camera and is grinning.

Civic House Studio Member Profile: Alex Wilde

Published

30 March 2023

Building

Theme

City Making, Cultural & Social Enterprise, Food, Making, Sustainability

Project Manager, Community Practitioner and Artist Alex Wilde has been one of the most stalwart users of Civic House since we re-opened after lockdown. First – as an employee of Sustrans, where she supported the scoping phase of Civic Street redevelopment plans and now, as a Fixed Desk member working in an exciting new role.

Can you tell us about your job and what it involves?

I’m currently employed as a Project Lead for the Shaping Places for Wellbeing Programme, which is my main paid work. I’ve got a varied background that has led me to this point including experience in the arts, community development and city planning. I have a passion for working with people to create spaces for gathering, exploring community identity, growing and sharing food, cultural exchange and peer education. I am interested in the ways we can recognise, engage with, challenge and subvert the systems which shape communities. This might be through building community gardens, setting up temporary cafes, creative workshops, designing new infrastructure, supporting community ownership and taking up space through community activism. I have an arts practice spanning 20 years and have been involved with the community campaign to save Govanhill Baths for over 15 years; with the last 3 years being involved with studying city planning and working on active travel infrastructure.

What attracted you to Civic House Studio Coworking space as a base for your work?

Like quite a few organisations currently my colleagues are primarily working from home. I was looking to get out of my flat but the offices for my employer aren’t in Glasgow. Rather than spend the money on travel I thought I’d rather spend the money on a desk space more locally. I was previously employed by Sustrans, which is a tenant in the building so taking on a desk meant I could still hang out with my old colleagues! I value the social interaction and connections to other people working in related fields and Civic House is such a warm, cosy and bright space to be.

Can you tell us about what sorts of plans are brewing in 2023?

When I am not in Civic House I am usually in Dunoon as that is the town which I am project lead for. I work across different partners including statutory services in health and the local authority as well as third sector organisations. My role is to support organisations in the development of place related plans, to think about the impacts of their decisions on wellbeing, inequalities and climate change. There is a wealth of fantastic work going on in Dunoon and Argyll and Bute and it’s a privilege to be invited into a wide diversity of conversations and have an opportunity for influence on place-based approaches.

Where can we find out more about the work you’re doing in Dunoon?

You can find out more about the programme on the Improvement Service website.

You can also read some of my reflections on the data led process we are using.

Anything else you’d like to add?

For details on my varied background visit https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-wilde-glasgow/
And my website: alexwilde.info