In partnership with the Rural Development Trust (formerly CAVLP), icecream designed and initiated the ‘Make Your Way’ project in 2018. Each year since then, and over multiple iterations, the scheme has developed active travel trails, printed maps, interpretation, benches, wayfinding, artwork installations, and a bespoke digital platform with a unique brand identity. These deliverables encourage people not only to explore walking and cycling trails but also to engage with the arts, heritage and environment of places across Lanarkshire.
Artist-led workshops and community engagement
The trails, maps and physical installations are developed with the local communities. We devised and implemented diverse engagement programmes involving the public, various groups, and over 600 primary school children, utilising a creative, playful approach. Activities included artist-led workshops, active travel workshops, heritage walks, and mapping sessions, all designed to help people notice their local area afresh, share local information, and explore routes they had never visited or areas with 'hidden' local heritage stories.
Across two concurrent programmes, Artist commissions and residencies were a key part of our approach to engaging local people with their place in new ways. The artists facilitated workshops and guided walks, leading locals through their local landscape, revealing its heritage and distinct features, and exploring themes that depended on the place, the artist, or the community’s interests.
Across two concurrent programmes, Artist commissions and residencies were a key part of our approach to engaging local people with their place in new ways. The artists facilitated workshops and guided walks, leading locals through their local landscape, revealing its heritage and distinct features, and exploring themes that depended on the place, the artist, or the community’s interests.
The workshops and activities delivered across all the Make Your Way iterations featured bespoke-made curious objects - such as periscopes and walking sticks - allowing children and adults to view things in a new way and to start conversations about the locality and its heritage.
The experience and information gathered from workshop programmes and walks have been used to establish the active travel trails, installations, and artworks, as well as archive and heritage information for the maps and digital trails on the website.
Signage & interpretation installations along new trails
The following signage and benches have been designed for specific locations, reflecting the surrounding landscapes, local names and heritage. The stories and heritage interpreted were informed by the community engagement and workshops.
Printed maps and map boards
The Make Your Way project promotes active travel in South Lanarkshire, including rural areas and villages. A series of co-designed active travel maps has been created to highlight walking and cycling routes around each location. The highlighted trails and heritage points are based on community knowledge and input.
Dedicated website
A dedicated online platform hosts interactive, printable trail maps, active travel resources, local information, toolkits, and heritage trail points. The Client and key stakeholders can upload and update online trails, add trail points, heritage and local information, and photographs of local trails.
