A project designed to provide easier access to local information and gather feedback from communities
As a result of COVID-19’s challenges, many towns have begun to make local decisions to begin to redefine a sense of place to try and rebuild the connections in their communities. One company that enables this is ‘Hello Post Lamp’ (HLP), which provides easier access to local information and community feedback from the area. By inviting people to have playful conversations with familiar street objects such as lamp posts, mailboxes, statues and bus stops using a mobile phone, HLP encourages people to interact with their environment to create positive social change, more inclusive communities, improve local democracy and help build the towns of the future. This software gives people the opportunity to give feedback about the area, as well as helping sustainable tourism by spreading information and messages about businesses in the area.
Such a scheme, Helo Port, is being run in Porthmadog for twelve months. It was decided that this is the most suitable town for the scheme, as a good mix of locals and seasonal visitors, as well as WI-FI technology and ‘Pattern’ software have been installed along the high street by Menter Môn.
This will be the first project of its kind in Wales and it also adds value to Gwynedd Council’s ‘Bridging the Generations’ project, a friendship bench scheme. AGW will be contributing to three benches in the town to accompany this project, which will tie into the technology network infrastructure in the town.