A familiar sight around the edges of Preston

How will Preston be once thousands of new homes and miles of new roads are built to its North West?

An arts project is to explore how ‘The Expanded City’ is to look.

Four artists are to head out to the outskirts of the city where development boards stand saying ‘reserved for development’ although we still wait for the spades in the ground.

Preston City Council wants to see new roads, the Preston Western Distributor, and a ‘Garden City’ developed beyond Cottam and Woodplumpton.

They have invited In Certain Places, an arts group in the city, to prepare a report based on their feedback as well as presenting their findings to the public.

Deep mapping is to take place with the four artists recording the edges of the city where new developments are to take place.

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The four artists are:

Gavin Renshaw is interested in the perception of architecture in the landscape, and the notion of navigating by landscape and architectural markers that have become obsolete, such as chimney stacks and church spires.

Olivia Keith is concerned with the traces of tradition and history that are able to ‘make it through’ new development and re-drawing of boundaries.

Ian Nesbitt’s practice is often driven by the people that he encounters, while Ruth Levene’s work reveals the systems that shape our everyday lives. In collaboration the two artists have developed a process whereby they record journeys made in parallel.

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Lauren Velvick, is the curator and writer of the Expanded City project.

They will be keeping a blog with regular updates as to how they are getting on.

What do you think about the forthcoming development in Preston? Let us know your views in the comments below