The Aylesbury, South London, was one of the Uk’s largest housing estates and was demolished in a £2.4 billion regeneration project. The scheme aims to provide a ‘blueprint for a new neighbourhood’ and to ‘create a strong and vibrant community’. The ‘Kaleidoscope Project’ was launched to share the memories, experiences and images of theresidents. The planned urban regeneration for the Aylesbury Estate has highlighted the need to capture the rich cultural and social histories. The BIS funding provided an opportunity to build upon our existing relationships with residents through previous student life histories projects the New Deal for the Communities/Creation. The main impact was on resident’s lives and on informing government understanding of the the use of transformational learning using co-design processes. The partnerships have provided the basis for future collaborations between education, industry and the local council.

This paper focuses on one aspect of the Kaleidoscope project titled ‘Telling Your Story’, with aims of capturing life stories of the Estate and a pedagogical enhancement, using transformational learning to enhance the skill base of the Estate’s long-term residents. This was achieved through a series of innovative workshops focusing on dialogues around the cultural aspects of food, craft, history and place, as well as sharing future aspirations. These processes and methods can lead to social innovation: social engagement through building a community of learners and knowledge exchange between residents and academia. A ‘Telling Your Story’ blog was developed by Triggs, McAndrew and Joanna Choukier. Related outcomes for the project was a published booklet whose intent for dissemination was to be ‘given back’ to the residents of the Estate in thanks for their participation in the project. Titled ‘People and the Aylesbury’. The booklet is a record of the events and activities undertaken with residents on the Estate.