Inclusive Public Places, Richmond, Vic

The University Of Melbourne - Semester 2 2019.

Project Description

The corridor of open spaces along Lennox Street, Richmond are examples of ‘contested’ space, with very different people (refugees from different backgrounds, people of different ages and cultures and those with ‘challenging’ behaviours like drug addiction) using the limited spaces available. These issues are at the fore in mid-2018 as the trial of a Medically Supervised Injecting Centre (MSIC) will commence in July, will be within the corridor study area and will have repercussions for how people use the public realm in this area. We wish to partner with the students of Studio ‘D’ (a Masters of Urban Planning ‘capstone’ studio led by Dr. Andrea Cook) to capitalise on the timing of the MSIC to gather place-based data and generate some community-driven inclusive placemaking in this corridor. The studio leaders and four local partners (the City of Yarra, the Neighbourhood Justice Centre, the Yarra Drug & Health Forum and the Residents for Victoria Street Drug Solutions) have an established research and teaching relationship and we are hoping to build that relationship in Studio ‘D’. The students and partners will conduct social/spatial research in the case study area and make design and policy recommendations for how to improve the spaces as inclusive spaces.

Location

Learning Methodology

This studio involves two three-hour learning sessions per week across 12 weeks and is open to students in the Master of Urban Planning. The studio partners with the City of Yarra, the Neighbourhood Justice Centre, the Yarra Drug and Health Forum and the Residents for Victoria Street Drug Solutions to explore questions of sociability of space, spatial and social justice, diversity, inclusion/exclusion, and displacement in this dynamic inner-city location.

Students will engage in social research with local community members in a supervised manner, to collect local knowledge and experience of public spaces and to reflect the community’s diverse aspirations around access and inclusivity. Students will work with agency and community partners, and with each other to find policy and design responses to the ‘wicked’ social conditions of the area manifesting in the public space.

The studio takes a place-based and applied the approach to social planning in diverse and contested locations and challenges students to produce innovative planning/policy outcomes to challenging questions of ‘who belongs’. It is expected that students enrolling in this studio will develop the following placemaking skills:

• Identifying, assessing and engaging with a range of socio-spatial issues and perspectives;
• Identifying and proposing creative solutions to complex social planning issues observed;
• Identifying and responding to ethical challenges related to social and spatial justice, both as both as related to the site and as relevant to social planning more

How does this studio match PlaceAgency Objectives?

This studio will engage planning studios in strategies to critically engage with challenging communities resulting in strategies that lead to inclusivity. It is asking us to find strategies to embrace others instead of displacing marginalised communities. It is making students face ethical social planning so they may become better practitioners in their professional life.

Activities – Studio Outline

Activity	Description	Key dates for activities	Key learning objectives
Welcome to the Studio	Introduction to the project	Tue 24 Jul 2018	Identify planning issues
Site Visit 1	Meeting partners and walkabout	The 26 Jul 2018	Critical thinking & ethics
Research 101	Designing research and policy	Tue 31 Jul 2018	Identify planning issues
Applied Research	Unpacking local issues	The 02 Aug 2018	Critical thinking & research
Research 101	Using social research methods	Tue 07 Aug 2018	Conducting research & teamwork
Site Visit 2	Site auditing / mapping	The 09 Aug 2018	Critical thinking & research
Research 101	Scoping theory	Tue 14 Aug 2018	Critical thinking & research
Applied Research	Site analysis: well-being lens	The 16 Aug 2018	Identify ethical challenges
Applied Research	Site analysis: cultural lens	Tue 21 Aug 2018	Identify ethical challenges
Applied Research	Piloting community engagement	The 23 Aug 2018	Respond through creativity
Site Visit 3	Mapping visual data	Tue 28 Aug 2018	Conducting research & teamwork
Applied Research	Site analysis placemaking lens	The 30 Aug 2018	Respond through creativity
Site Visit 4	Engaging community: interview	Tue 04 Sep 2018	Conducting research & teamwork
Site Visit 5	Engaging community: interview	The 06 Sep 2018	Conducting research & teamwork
Applied Research	Site analysis: citizen lens	Tue 11 Sep 2018	Systems thinking in planning
Site Visit 6	Pop-up intervention for data	The 13 Sep 2018	Conducting research & teamwork
Research 101	Social research & analysis	Tue 18 Sep 2018	Critical thinking & research
Studio Improv	Content determined by students	The 20 Sep 2018	Variable
Community presetation	Presenting to practitioners	Tue 02 Oct 2018	Communication
Community presetation	Presenting to practitioners	The 04 Oct 2018	Communication
Studio Improv	Content determined by students	Tue 09 Oct 2018	Variable
Studio Improv	Content determined by students	The 11 Oct 2018	Variable
Research 101	Getting to the finish line	Tue 16 Oct 2018	Project management & evaluate
Evaluation	Evaluation workshop	The 18 Oct 2018	Project management & evaluate

Students

The following students are enrolled in this studio and have chosen to appear on the Place Agency website. You may access more information about them and their interests by clicking each of their photos.