Edible Mapping at Wester Hailes

I thought I would start off our blog posts for Water Logic with a short commentary on Group 2’s first edible mapping experiences. On Monday 28 January, we took our second walk along the canal with community group members. This time we began in Wester Hailes, walking from Calder Road to West Side Plaza, passing the Bridge 8 Hub, a social enterprise providing access to sustainable outdoor activities such as cycling and canoeing, a former community garden that has fallen into disuse and Westburn Woods which has been the site of a community project. Along with these points of interest, we also came upon what we surmised to be a mated pair of swans, a definite highlight of the canal journey. I think we all felt the contrast between the relative quiet along the Wester Hailes route and the bustle and general city noises heard along our first route, walked on 22 January, where we started at the Union Canal Basin. Redevelopment will occur on either side of the Foutainbridge route, with the two brownfield sites that FCI have described and planning by Glencairn to re-develop part of Lower Gilmore Place which includes an associated application to Sustrans for a pedestrian/cycle route that integrates vehicle access and parking (I learned the latter through FCI member, Simon Zisman).

It was apparent that the Wester Hailes route had areas that were just left, or abandoned, with lack of litter pick up on the opposite bank and an overgrowing community garden with remnants of a tended life (a bench was still visible on the plot). The ‘wildness’ out at Wester Hailes, however, provided some undisturbed habitats for these swans to nest, for instance, and also provided this human with a place that felt like a retreat from the city, in what seemed like a transition zone moving from city to more remote countryside. Preserving this for local wildlife while engaging communities with the canal along this route, taking the context-specific advice from SCOREscotland, for instance, who have asked for consideration of widening some parts of the canal path, providing cycling and growing hubs, will be an important “balancing” act. I look forward to reading students’ thoughts in subsequent blog posts, and seeing mapping with photos and videos from our walks on the Walking Project page.