Assignment 2: Vision Paper

Sunshine: Makings of Melbourne West’s Social Super Hub

Fig 1. Sunshine Metropolitan Activity Centre Layout 2019 (Brimbank City Council, 2019, p. iv)

Fig 2. Designated survey location 2019 (SV2, 2019)

Envisioned to be the “Capital of Melbourne’s West” by 2050 (Brimbank City Council, 2019, p. 12), Sunshine is currently undergoing substantial changes in its developmental spheres, such as economic, socio-cultural and environmental, in order to achieve this vision set by its planners. Part of this vision is aimed at turning Sunshine into a transport “Super Hub” (Brimbank City Council, 2019, p. 8), under which a new rail link project has been initiated that would not only connect Sunshine to major cities and the airport, but would also present the suburb with many economic opportunities in terms of local job options and new company investments following the development.

Currently, as one of Australia’s “fastest growing regions” (Brimbank City Council, 2019, p. 8), Sunshine accommodates a vastly diverse community, in terms of culture, age group, employment and services (see Fig. 1 for the diverse activity zones in Sunshine). In order to gain insight into this community’s expectations and vision for its suburb, a street survey was conducted on April 17, 2019 (see Fig. 2 for location of designated survey spot) wherein a set of questions were asked to a range of people in the designated survey area, related to the strengths and weaknesses of Sunshine and what the community feels would be necessary to change and/or develop further.

This report will use the responses collected from the survey and will assess Sunshine’s Super Hub development under five broad sectors – economic, socio-cultural, environmental, urban form and governance. It aims to identify opportunities and threats to an upliftment in these sectors in order to achieve the vision set by Sunshine’s town planners and its community.

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Economic and urban form upliftment The council’s plan for Sunshine envisions it as “a centre with a proactive and engaged business community” (Brimbank City Council, 2019, p. 12). According to Baum and Gleeson (2010, p. 145), a high economic deprivation rate has caused a considerable amount of unemployment and consequent economic disadvantage in Sunshine. The developing Sunshine Super Hub’s transport construction project will create opportunities for local jobs and a subsequent boost in the suburb’s economy (Department of transport, Victoria State government, 2019). However, this report focuses particularly on the upliftment of existing local businesses within the suburb, which is a cause for concern when considering Sunshine’s economy in terms of the council’s vision.

Part of Sunshine’s strength and opportunity for the planned vision lies in developing its variety of local shops and services that frame the residential areas and form the service zones. The majority response collected from the community through the survey agrees with the statement that Sunshine is a strong economic hub (in terms of jobs and industry) for the region and that this is something that needs to be preserved in its ongoing developmental changes (SV2, 2019).

However, due to targeted development over the central business area, the local businesses along quiet residential parts of Sunshine are either closed or boarded up for good (SV1, 2019), as can be seen in fig. 3. This limits public service choices and community and workforce participation (McDougall & Maharaj, 2011, p. 137), and impedes the development of Sunshine as a Super Hub. What also threatens the council’s vision is the aesthetic or urban form of some of the service streets in Sunshine (for instance, City Place or Suncresent). Lack of street and peoplefriendly shop fronts (see fig. 4) which would make the service streets appear more inviting (Nicasio, 2018), discourages customer activity.

Upliftment in the urban form of these local shops would gradually occur owing to new business investments due to the Sunshine Super Hub development. This would subsequently, not only enhance the regional productivity of Sunshine, but would also provide its community with improved social choices, opportunities for social interaction and save travel costs (McDougall & Maharaj, 2011, p. 137). Investments in the local business sector would facilitate the council and planners’ vision and the community’s expectations and improve Sunshine’s urban form and economy.

Street furniture Outdoor seating for cafes and shops Boarded up shops Empty and uninviting street fronts Fig. 3 lack of noticeable customer activity in local businesses along City Plaza and Suncresent (Manasi Chopdekar, 2019)

Fig. 4 busy service area on Church St., Brighton 2015 (Discoverist, 2015) – compare with fig. 2 (labelled elements in fig.3 facilitate customer activity, which is absent in fig. 2)

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Socio-cultural upliftment “A diverse and engaged community” is what is envisioned for Sunshine by the Brimbank City Council (2019, p. 12). At present, approximately 50% of its population is born overseas and more than half of its community speaks foreign languages other than English (Brimbank City Council, 2019, p. 8). When capitalized on this diversity, opportunities to create a strong, diverse base of community services, sense of place and heritage emerges (Brimbank City Council, 2019, p. 11).

In the previous section of this report, it was stated that the developing Super Hub would bring in more business investments and allow for further development in terms of urban form and economy. This is a key motivating factor for multi-cultural immigrant settlement (SV2, 2019), thus facilitating the ethnic diversity of the suburb and its socio-cultural upliftment.

Some key responses from interviewed immigrants of Sunshine’s community included how they felt how easy it was to adjust to a new place because of Sunshine’s already diverse community and the availability of multi-cultural shops and services (SV2, 2019). This allowed them to feel a sense of place within a short time of arriving and settling in a new region. This is one of Sunshine’s biggest strengths – the ability to make its diverse immigrant community feel an ease in adjusting to a new environment.

Popular feedback from the community through the conducted survey states its agreement on how Sunshine values and celebrates this ethnic and cultural diversity and how this is something that ought to be preserved in the ongoing development (SV2, 2019).

A threat to this vision is a pre-existing stereotype or mindset against certain cultures that is held by a portion of the community, which facilitates isolation and generates mistrust among the different cultural groups (SV2, 2019).

Select responses from the survey talk about how they, as locals or minority immigrant population feel overwhelmed by the Vietnamese majority (SV2, 2019) in the suburb, which further serves to create a barrier between the different cultural groups.

Only when these different immigrant and local groups and individuals feel an ease in communication and trust with each other, and safe and secure in their surroundings, there is an upliftment in the “sense of togetherness, community pride” (Beebeejaun, 2012, pg. 540).

Encouraging the diverse groups of Sunshine’s community to interact with and get to know each other better would facilitate the council’s vision of creating “a centre with a strong sense of community and pride of place” (Brimbank City Council, 2019, p. 12) and enable massive upliftment in its sociocultural sector.

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Environmental upliftment Envisioned as “a diverse and comprehensive place” for shops, services and recreation spaces (Brimbank City Council, 2019, p. 12), Sunshine already contains some beautiful and wellmaintained parks and reserves for recreation, like the heritage-listed HV McKay Gardens near Devonshire Rd (see fig. 5) and the Lynch Gardens near Hampshire Rd (Brimbank City Council, 2014, p. 10). In some areas, large scale open spaces are also present within walking distances from residential blocks (Brimbank City Council, 2014, p.

10).

However, the responses collected from the survey show a significantly low rating for the amount of green spaces in the suburb (see fig. 6) and some of the interviewees have responded by stating that having more green public spaces (see fig. 1 for existing green spaces), and having more occupied recreation spaces, would be something that they would like to see as a change/development in Sunshine (SV2, 2019).

Development of Sunshine Super Hub would facilitate the economy of the suburb and allow for creation of a “new Station Plaza and forecourts” and “good public links to the station” (Brimbank City Council, 2014, p. 10). This would facilitate public accessibility to green spaces, an attractive aesthetic to the suburb and a lively space for community interaction.

Public transport improvement under the Super Hub development would also reduce the carbon footprint (Hack, 2012, p.56-57) of the suburb, thus uplifting its environment and facilitating the planning vision.

Fig. 5 HV McKay Memorial Gardens (Manasi Chopdekar, 2019)

Availability of green spaces - low Feeling unsafe because of crime – significantly high

Fig. 6 Community feedback on availability of range of services (SV2, 2019)

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Upliftment in governance Creating “a vibrant, safe and attractive place” (Brimbank City Council, 2019, p. 12) is one of the long term visions planned for Sunshine. According to the council, a threat to this vision comes from poor public understanding related to the suburb including “perceptions of safety and security” (Brimbank City Council, 2019, p. 10). A significant amount of people have also stated during the survey conduction that they have felt unsafe in the designated survey area (see fig. 6) and some other places in Sunshine due to substance abuse and gang crimes (SV2, 2019). More often than not, these gang crimes were stated as having originated from minority communities of the suburb (SV2, 2019).

Part of community’s feedback also talked about how increased police surveillance and stricter laws and regulations is something that they would like to see in Sunshine (SV2, 2019). Previous sections of this report talked about how development of Sunshine as a Super Hub would uplift its economy, urban form, environment and facilitate community interaction. All this together would uplift the governance of the suburb and significantly reduce crime rates owing to a busy, bustling economy and subsequent customer and pedestrian traffic, and increased community interaction that would lead to a sense of communal trust and pride.

Conclusion What comes across as a common factor in the upliftment of Sunshine that would facilitate the community and council’s long-term vision is ‘community interaction and participation’. According to Alix Goodwin (2004, p. 5), successful regional development requires community and the council to work together. For this to happen, there is a need to ensure that the community feels a sense of place and pride in living in Sunshine.

Hence, I propose a vision for the suburb that would aid in fulfilling the council’s vision of Sunshine and the community’s expectations for its future –

‘Sunshine 2050 as a Social Super Hub: a community-oriented suburb that facilitates community participation and interaction’.

Development of Sunshine as not just a transport, but a social Super Hub would aim for more community interaction and bonding, and fair representation of minority groups in the suburb. This would facilitate uplift in the governance by reducing crime rates (Goodwin, 2004, p.5), in the environment by community green space development and maintenance and reducing carbon footprint, in the urban form and aesthetic by working on improving service street fronts that would facilitate customer activity, in the sociocultural sector by generating better trust and mingling among members of its community and in the overall economy of the place by developing inactive local business areas to increase customer activity.

It is the diverse and rich community that makes up Sunshine, which is a massive opportunity in itself to creating the council’s long-term planned ‘Capital of Melbourne’s West’ as it represents the different cultures, activities, values and thoughts that make up the community of Melbourne West.

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Manasi Chopdekar (935401) Cities: From Local to Global (ABPL20035) Assignment 2: Vision paper

References Baum, S., & Gleeson, B. (2010). Space and Place: Social Exclusion in Australia’s Suburban Heartlands. Urban Policy and Research, 28(2), pp. 145.

Doi:10.1080/08111141003693133

Beebeejuan, Y. (2012). Including the excluded? Changing the understanding of ethnicity in contemporary English planning. Planning Theory and Practice, 13(4), pp.

540. Retrieved from https://wwwtandfonlinecom.ezp.lib.unimelb.edu.au/doi/pdf/10.1080/14649357.2012.728005?need Access=true Brimbank City Council. 2014. Sunshine Town Centre - Structure Plan. Retrieved from https://www.brimbank.vic.gov.au/plans-policies-and-strategies/plans/sunshine-towncentre-structure-plan Brimbank City Council. 2019. Sunshine Rising Draft Action Plan 2019 – 2024 (April 2019). Retrieved from https://www.brimbank.vic.gov.au/have-your-say/have-your-saydraft-sunshine-rising-action-plan-2019-2024 Department of Transport. (2019). About the new trains. Retrieved from https://transport.vic.gov.au/our-transport-future/our-projects/high-capacity-metrotrains/about-the-new-trains Goodwin, Alix. (2004). Quality of Life: A Case Study in Community Participation in Decision Making at the Regional Level. State of the Regions 2004, pp. 5). Retrieved from https://dhcd.nt.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/5954/alix_goodwin.pdf Hack, G. (2012). Shaping urban form. In B. Sanyal, L. J. Vale, & C. D. Rosan (Eds.), Planning ideas that matter (pp. 56–57). Cambridge: MIT Press. Retrieved from https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/unimelb/reader.action?docID=3339462&ppg=44 McDougall, A., & Maharaj, V. (2011). Closing gaps on the urban fringe of Australian capital cities: An investment worth making. Australian Planner, 48(3), pp. 137.

Retrieved from https://wwwtandfonlinecom.ezp.lib.unimelb.edu.au/doi/pdf/10.1080/07293682.2011.581244?need Access=true Nicasio, F. (2018, April 8). 17 Proven Ways to Drive Foot Traffic to Your Retail Store [Blog post]. Retrieved from https://www.vendhq.com/blog/foot-traffic-retail-store/

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Image sources Fig. 1 Sunshine Metropolitan Activity Centre Layout. (2019). Retrieved from https://www.brimbank.vic.gov.au/have-your-say/have-your-say-draft-sunshine-risingaction-plan-2019-2024

Fig. 2 Designated survey location. (2019). University of Melbourne.

Fig. 3 Chopdekar, Manasi. (Photographer). (2019, March 20). Lack of noticeable customer activity in local businesses along City Plaza and Suncresent [image].

Fig. 4 Discoverist. (Photographer). (2015). Busy service area on Church St., Brighton 2015 [image]. Retrieved from https://churchstreetbrighton.com.au/news/discoverchurch-st-brighton/ Fig. 5 Chopdekar, Manasi. (Photographer). (2019, March 20). HV McKay Memorial Gardens [image].

Fig. 6 Community feedback on availability of range of services. (2019). Aggregate data from site visit 2 survey

7 Manasi Chopdekar (935401) Cities: From Local to Global (ABPL20035) Assignment 2: Vision paper