Saturday May 21st saw the Newcastle suburb of Mayfield with a little transformation. Transformed into something quite appealing indeed for many of the locals and visitors on the day. What this tiny corner of Mayfield had gone and done on this Autumnal day in May was it turned itself into a, better block.

This wasn’t the first Better Block I’d been to. Long term readers might remember a post on the first Clovelly one in Sydney a few years back. While completely different in what they wanted to do, one thing was a simple theme. They wanted something better than what they had.

The Better Block concept was one that came out of Antonio, USA, a few years back. The concept was a common one for people around the world and adopted (officially and unofficially by many). Whether as permanent changes or simply playing with ideas and getting locals more connected, talking about what they would like to see done differently to the area.

This is a community model of care that I whole heartedly embrace. Watching the whole day come together and seeing the excitement on people’s faces as they begin to visualise something different to what they currently have. It’s exciting and quite inspiring to watch.

Best of luck Mayfield. I think you’ve got something quite wonderful going on.

See here for more pictures from the day.