{"id":1846,"date":"2025-06-03T10:15:01","date_gmt":"2025-06-03T09:15:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theoptimistmagazine.co.uk\/?p=1846"},"modified":"2025-06-06T16:01:42","modified_gmt":"2025-06-06T15:01:42","slug":"ruislip-urbanists-one-bench-at-a-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jusmedia.co.uk\/theoptimist\/2025\/06\/03\/ruislip-urbanists-one-bench-at-a-time\/","title":{"rendered":"Ruislip Urbanists: One bench at a time"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

From a single bench outside his home to a growing network of libraries, planters, and bird boxes, Alex Russell-Bates is reimagining Ruislip\u2019s streets with a DIY spirit and a vision for better community infrastructure.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Outside of 33 year old Alex Russell-Bates\u2019 home in Ruislip, there\u2019s a single bus stop. No shelter, no seating – just a sign post by the roadside. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For a long time, he had watched elderly passengers wait there, often forced to lean on a nearby bin, or stand up awkwardly – exposed to the elements. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Determined to change that, Alex used wood from his recently dismantled garden deck and built a simple bench for the stop in October 2023. This small act of kindness became the first project of many for what would become The Ruislip Urbanists. <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI just put this thing together and put it out there and every day I left my house, I\u2019d see people sitting on it.\u201d Alex says. \u201cIt made me feel so happy – the fact that it was working and the people were using it and were obviously pleased it was there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was see thing, do thing. <\/em>The positive feedback loop was simply seeing people sit on it. It\u2019s what made me do another one.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alex admits that his first bench was overbuilt, and something that an actual craftsman would \u2018have absolutely cringed at.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But that didn\u2019t stop him. Driven by a desire to make his local area more inclusive and accessible, Alex kept going – bench by bench. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alex\u2019s father-in-law owns a small sawmill, but he often turns down the offer of \u2018good wood\u2019, preferring instead to scavenge and repurpose wood he finds locally, a decision rooted in an ideology of sustainability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He explains: \u201cThe wood I use has an inherent value because of the tree that grew to make this and I want to do that justice. I don\u2019t want it to be a lovely redwood pine that gets thrown away and never gets the proper treatment it deserves. I want to know if it’s going somewhere good.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After a few benches, Alex officially set up an Instagram<\/a> account for the Ruislip Urbanists, creating a hub for people to get in touch and suggest where more benches should be placed, or to alert him if maintenance needed to be done on one. He began tagging his benches with the account to drive people to the right places. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The model is inspired heavily by similar groups in the US, like the Chattanooga Urbanist Society<\/em> who have guided the way Alex operates his own urbanist organisation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite the inspiration, Alex has been managing his entire operation independently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAll the installations have been my own work,\u201d Alex says, \u201cI have collaborated with local artists before for two of the three libraries I\u2019ve made. I just reached out to people who followed the Instagram. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019re enjoying reading this article, why not check out this article about<\/em> Frome\u2019s bold move for housing justice<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOne time a young woman stepped up. She wanted to go into art and thought this would be great for her portfolio. She had it for about three weeks before I came to pick it up. I love this process.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since that first bench, Alex has continued to grow his operations further and further – building local libraries, planters, and bird boxes, (although according to Alex, there has yet to be \u2018any birds using them.\u2019). His final count of all four types of pieces was seventeen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Bench<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Little library<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Bench<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Little library<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

These libraries operate as a communal hub and offer local residents the chance to give away some of their used and read books so that another can pick them up and read them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And it\u2019s this community that Alex says motivates him to keep going:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s about hoping that people care a bit more about where they are and maybe meet or interact with people.\u201d Alex shares. \u201cIt\u2019s been good for me because it lets me meet people in the area, because I didn\u2019t really know anybody and I\u2019ve been here for like five years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m a very strong believer that little changes can make a big difference in shaping people\u2019s environments and the way they live within it. Once you get a few more people out on the street, it sort of compounds on itself because you have a better chance that you\u2019re gonna bump into somebody.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maintaining the various pieces scattered around Ruislip has been incredibly easy for Alex, who – after receiving a message about a broken piece through Instagram – will pop down to fix it, to find somebody has beaten him to it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSometimes, somebody has always gone and fixed it up before I got there.\u201d Alex says, \u201cUsually it’s a temporary fix, but It’s really encouraging to see the people who obviously sort of live nearby have taken their own kind of ownership of it and they do actually value it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He recalls an earlier time when he was trying to maintain a bench and, whilst retrieving it for repair, he was stopped by a passerby – someone who thought Alex was trying to steal it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After Alex explained the situation, the man began to praise his work, telling him how helpful the bench was and alerting him that the local council had been taking benches away. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In fact, it\u2019s the council that poses the biggest challenge to the Ruislip Urbanists, with them often taking away Alex\u2019s benches without notice or returning them to him. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To the council, the benches could pose a safety hazard and local residents may expect the council to be the ones paying if they need maintenance or upkeep – \u2018whether or not they want to,\u2019 or Alex wants to be. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want these things to be a hazard to anyone,\u201d Alex says, \u201cBut, I\u2019m also not a health and safety trained person and I don\u2019t have the resources that a real installation in the public realm would have.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBy doing something like this you could be showing the council what they SHOULD be doing, but I don\u2019t really do it that way. It\u2019s just a case of – this COULD be here.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He added: \u201cI know basically every council in the country is drowning in underfunding, so I don\u2019t expect them to be doing this. It would just be nice for people to be able to step up and help.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bird boxes, libraries, and planters have remained unmoved – asserting that this definitely is a safety issue, even despite Alex\u2019s dedication to rounding out the edges and removing any screws that are sticking out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He hopes to one day have more in-depth with the council and offer a solution; attaching the benches to the ground, to stop them from moving and hopefully making them feel more calm about it all. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The project has been one that largely exists in Alex\u2019s free time – during quiet hours when he works from home, or around the end of his paternity leave – but it\u2019s something he definitely wants to pursue further and more professionally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He says: \u201cI am in the process of trying to pivot my career and am looking for work in a council or something of this ilk. The dream job would be \u2018Safe Streets\u2019 or Trees for Streets programs.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is a passion for Alex – something that is destined to extend beyond his local area and help communities all over. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He\u2019s created something in Ruislip that was once missing. Through his benches, he\u2019s turned the Ruislip Urbanists from one man on a mission, to a whole community – supporting each other through their desire for better social infrastructure.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Meet Alex Russell-Bates, the man behind the Ruislip Urbanists. What started out as a hobby has now become so much more.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":145,"featured_media":1849,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[429,131,28,421,62,25,430,428],"class_list":["post-1846","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","tag-bench","tag-collaboration","tag-community","tag-london","tag-optimism","tag-optimist","tag-ruislip","tag-urbanists"],"yoast_head":"\nRuislip Urbanists: One bench at a time - The Optimist<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Meet Alex Russell-Bates, the man behind the Ruislip Urbanists. 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