However, a unique project titled ‘Storying Sheffield’ has brought a much-needed light to this darkening mindset. From within the University of Sheffield, a group of undergraduates were given the opportunity to venture beyond their sheltered cavern of Western Bank Library to meet some of the inspiring inhabitants living in and around Sheffield.

Through a series of narrative workshops, including a brilliant poetry workshop provided by Simon Armitage (aka Morrisey-look-alike), students and residents worked collaboratively to create a series of tales to tell in this pretty rare exhibition. They have created a number of stories revealing the true life within Sheffield and the real essence of the City, reminding us of the vitality of human nature and the importance to be found in aspects of the everyday.

Many of the individuals involved have led far from easy lives coming from backgrounds of social exclusion, mental illness or long term health issues. They have told their stories how they have wanted them to be told, voiced by themselves rather than through a stereotypical narrative often provided for them by their social situation. We are given an honest portrait of what makes them who they are beyond such circumstances, displaying a beautiful truth, rarely found in a world of super-injunctive fraudulence.

Their stories can be discovered in all shapes and sizes, from films about ice-skating, a football net woven full of tales, to live art-works-in-progress of the exhibition as the day unfolds.

Also showcasing at the exhibition comes the profound, student-made film, ‘Women of Steel,’ recording the admirable efforts of women working in the steel industry during WWII. This was a sell-out when played at The Showroom Cinema and is now being produced into a TV drama.

This free public exhibition promises to be a rare and astounding showcase of the genuine lives led in Sheffield.

So get yourselves down to the Jessop West Exhibition Space between 10-6, Friday 17th June to hear some fascinating tales worthy of being told.

Isla Badenoch.

The brief is for a design proposal for a forgotten space in the city. It’s required to respond to the site, and provide a function for the local community. Given this, the scope is broad, and could include new public amenities, a commercial space, or a work of public art.

Despite the fact that none of these designs will be built, what’s interesting about this competition is that it asks members of the public to survey and propose ideas for areas of the city that they live and work in. Rather than business alone being a driver of development, this competition suggests one way in which the public can influence the planning of their city – a concept that ought to be highly valued, particularly given the current state of Sheffield city centre, which has been sold to a private property developer who has let it sit empty for nearly 5 years.

A similar Forgotten Spaces competition took place in London in 2010, and was overwhelmed with entries. If the same happens in Sheffield, there should be a really interesting catalogue of spaces and ideas for creative development.

Forgotten Spaces is open to students, designers, artists, and members of the public working with professionals. There are cash prizes of £5,000, £2,000 and £1,000 for the best 3 designs.

An exhibition of the entries will take place in September at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, with the winner to be announced at the end of September, tying in with the award of the Stirling Prize at Magna on October 1.

Registration closes on March 30, with all competition entries required by May 12.

www.architecture.com/forgottenspacessheffield

This is all good in principle, but sadly, and perhaps inevitably, the app only really highlights pieces of a very graphic ‘brand’. Sheffield itself is somewhere lurking in the background, colour saturated to oblivion underneath some fairly inane slogans.

What’s striking about the app is its lack of animation. You begin with a menu of generic icons for Business, Culture, Photos and LinkedIn. Each one takes you to a list of titles, which then link to still images with facts laid on top of them. Sheffield Is A City That Makes Things Happen. Sheffield Has A Work Ethic You Can Rely On. Sheffield Is The Place To Meet. Ad iNfinitum. For some reason there’s also loads of Hang Gliding going on in the photos.

On top of the visual stasis, the app doesn’t really utilise one of the main purposes of technology like this, namely that you can get any information, live, in the format you want. It has no means of updating, or even pulling in external data. It could have done something as simple as displayed a feed of Sheffield Flickr images, so that you could show what people in Sheffield see, now. Or it could have combined the facts about venues with listings of what’s happening there now. Without anything like this, there’s no reason to come back to it for a second time.

Despite not being aimed at me, or your general resident, it still seems unrealistic that when asked by a potential business partner – what’s Sheffield like? – that you would instantly reach into your pocket and give them someone else’s powerpoint presentation on the subject. You’d come across as weirdly brainwashed, as if you had no impressions of your own, or even photos of the place snapped on your iPhone. Imagine doing the same when asked about your children – “I don’t really know, but here are some photos of other similar kids.”

For what it does, I think I’d rather have a set of novelty playing cards