Nag’s Head Town Centre is busy and vibrant but many visits to the town centre are brief as there are few spaces to socialise and dwell. Through engagement, the community asked for more public spaces to socialise and events that could bring people together.

Social Square would create a space for socialising, seasonal events and community outreach by transforming the square in Nag’s Head Shopping Centre into a flexible social space. The square is already a space used for community events like the annual Festive Lights Switch On, and has hosted stalls about a wide range of issues from health, food waste prevention and alcohol awareness to World Book Night and charity campaigns. Social Square would build on this ongoing events programme and provide community organisations with stalls for outreach events or workshops to strengthen connections with local people and help create a space for community and culture.

To help create a more vibrant space and invite people to dwell for longer, Social Square could involve a local artist and schools in creating a paving mural. This would make sure that the community, in particular children and young people, and local talents would be involved in the making of the public spaces in the town centre. To address the community’s request for more seating, the proposal could also include new benches codesigned with local people. By bolstering and activating an existing space, this proposal would help embed the need for a social public space or square in the heart of Nag's Head Town Centre ahead of any future developments in the area.