REGENERATIVE + RESILIENT MELBOURNE REFLECTIONS ON A STUDY TOUR MAY 2013
CONTENTS INTRODUCTION PURPOSE PARTICIPANTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
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PERSONAL REFLECTIONS PROJECTS VISITED
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CONCLUSION
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Photo: Chrisna du Plessis
INTRODUCTION This digital diary is a snap shot of the learning, wisdom, and inspiration gained by students from the University of Pretoria who had the opportunity to conduct a study tour during May 2013 of a few catalytic projects in Melbourne. They form part of a larger South African National Research Fund (NRF) project conducting research on urban resilience in the face of climate change, rapid urbanisation and poverty, at Masters and Doctoral level, supervised by Prof. Chrisna du Plessis. In order to provide a vision for their collective work, they have dubbed themselves TRUST, a Think tank for Resilient Urban Systems in Transition. This overarching vision provides the loose framework within which their personal research is being conducted; entrusted with the potential to design the future they look toward projects of hope, positivity and trust for inspiration. And in Melbourne they found it.
The study tour results from established ties between two lecturers at the Universities of Pretoria and Melbourne whose collaboration is slowly formalising. In February 2013 a twelve day studio was held in South Africa with twenty-five students from both universities exploring opportunities and strategies for regenerative design in Pretoria CBD. Next, was this study tour to Melbourne which enabled TRUST to experience in praxis many of the ideas they had read about, but had not yet seen implemented. It was an opportunity to experience the nexus where ideas and reality tangibly meet.
PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
The primary purpose of this study tour was to visit projects that embodied principles of resilience, regenerative design, positivity, conditions for life and a vision for creating a thriving future for all life on this planet at various scales.
These high expectations were met by the capable guidance of Dr. Dominique Hes from University of Melbourne and Ralph Webster of PAD creations. Together they exposed us to a variety of methods and innovative ideas used in projects that enable a thriving future. From the leadership at Streat to the challenges faced by the community at Kinglake, we learned that patience and a clear goal were vital to the success of any project. In addition, having a flexible approach meant people could adapt their methods to changing circumstances and new opportunities. At each project we were asked to document and reflect upon how these learnings could advance our research. These reflections are noted herein and consist of each student’s personal reflection, as well as collective learning from each project they visited.
PARTICIPANTS
Our host in Melbourne was Dr. Dominique Hes from the University of Melbourne and Ralph Webster from PAD Creations was our gracious city guide. The South African contingent led by Prof. Chrisna du Plessis, consisted of Albert Ferreira, Darren Nel, Edna Peres, Emmarie Otto, Sizwile Dlamini and Trudi Swanepoel.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
It is with gratitude that we thank Dr. Dominique Hes for her time, knowledge and support during our stay in Melbourne and also wish to thank Tom Kvan, Dean of the Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning at the University of Melbourne as well as Alan Pert, Director of the Melbourne School of Design for their sponsorship and support. Without their generosity, this study tour would not have been possible. We also thank Ralph Webster for taking time out of his practice to drive us to all the projects we visited, for compiling an informative reader for us prior to our trip and arranging our programme. In addition we thank him for his valuable input during our visits and good company. A special thanks to Jen Miller, general manager at STREAT, Micheal Trudgeon from VEIL, David Pryor from the Melbourne city council, Ian our guide at CERES, Sarah for meeting us at The Queen Vic Market and Daryl Taylor at Kinglake for the instructive conversations. We also thank a number of students from the University of Melbourne for joining us on our visits, Adrienne, Julia, Cynthia, Alison, Alberto, Mimi and Goli to name a few. We gratefully acknowledge support received from the South African National Research Foundation Grant no 78649.
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PERSONAL Melbourne is such an interesting city and its diversity can be seen from its people to its places. The city engages all your senses. The tastes and smells of Melbourne are as eclectic as the people in this city; from its Chinatown district that houses all the tastes of Asia to a small Art Nouveau Parisian avenue cafés.
ALBERT FERREIRA
Albert is an Assistant Lecturer at the Department of Town and Regional Planning, University of Pretoria. He is currently busy with his Master’s degree at the department on the functional and response diversity of retail in the city of Tshwane.
The sounds of Melbourne are found on its streets, its bars and cafes. Spontaneous groups form around musicians and buskers. From Dub-step to classical music, men dressed up in bunny outfits playing themes songs of famous 90’s TV shows and even original song-writers, you always hear something different on the streets. The sights of Melbourne are summed up by the architecture, aboriginal and fine art and street art or graffiti. This living heritage was visible in one of
the small avenues in the city where a boy and his father co-create a new addition to the expanding artwork on the walls, post-boxes and dustbins. Summing up my experience of Melbourne is a difficult task, but what I can start off with is thanking everybody involved making the experience possible. To Chrisna and my fellow students, thanks for organising a great trip. Both Ralph and Dominique together with the University of Melbourne for making the Melbourne study tour happen; I can guarantee we would not have had the same experience without them. It was also great to meet up with the Aussie students again, and new friends were definitely made. The locations we visited gave me the “road less travelled” adventure I was not expecting. From an urban sustainability village, to a social enterprise, to a walkabout in the inner city of Melbourne we got a guided tour by not only Ralph and Dominique, but also the creators and contributors of the places we visited. I am really interested in creating my own NGO or NPO and the work that is done in Melbourne gave me inspiration to reach for that dream. If I can only achieve a fraction of the impact of the community initiatives we have seen, I would be satisfied.
it would seem that our South Africa counterparts driving skills have some competition in Melbourne! Our hotel, Quest on Little Bourke Street, to my surprise, was in Melbourne’s Chinatown. We went for dinner at a little gem of a restaurant called the Golden Orchid where we celebrated our safe arrival in a different land. For me the city was like something out of a movie. I found myself in a mix of pedestrians, bicycles, cars, buses, taxis, trains and trams as if they were all part of some intricate dance that was beyond any one person’s understanding. Melbourne is a place where there is hustle and bustle at all times of the day. It’s a place where art is celebrated, formally in theatres or informally on the street. With its laneways lined with cafés serving amazing coffee, to the crazy ‘hook turn’ at an intersection with a tram line, it is a place that draws you in and fully engages all your senses. This is what a city should be like! As my own study seeks to explore complexity, how we make sense of it within the urban system and how our urban areas change and adapt over time within parts of the city and the city as a whole, I was in my own little bit of heaven. I could now properly grasp what Jane Jacobs and others meant
REFLECTIONS DARREN NEL Darren is an Assistant Lecturer at the Department of Town and Regional Planning, University of Pretoria. He is currently busy with his Master’s degree at the department. Darren’s research is on complexity, resilience and urban change and he is exploring a methodological framework to describe urban systems and how they change. Shorlty after arriving at ORT international airport packed, ready, excited and unaware of what was to befall myself and my fellow travellers, we set of on our adventure to the land Down Under. After close to 15 hours of being cooped up in a flying, pressurised, sardine can (with some occasional feeding, at regular intervals) we arrived in the charming city of Melbourne, confused and tired despite all our efforts to sleep on the way over. We took a mini-bus taxi to our accommodation and
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when they spoke of the importance of small blocks and why it is essential to have pedestrians on the sidewalks to allow for more interactions. In a car you are completely isolated from the world outside and you miss the most amazing details. So when our remarkable hosts Ralph and Dominique informed us that we were getting a small tour on foot, by a member of the city council I was particularly excited as we would now gain even more insight into the city. We were shown how the city has been able to adapt and change while still retaining much of its old identity. Being in Melbourne and being able tp experience the city while meeting interesting people at the projects we visited has opened up new possibilities, perspectives and understandings for me to consider in my studies. In some cases, they even allowed me to reconsider my own ideas. It has freed my mind to new possibilities and for that I am grateful.
PERSONAL EDNA PERES Edna is a PhD Candidate at the University of Pretoria who is conducting her research on the application of ecological resilience theory to the Tshwane urban system. She has a Master’s degree in Architecture and is interested in urban issues, the power of design and creating the setting for a vibrant future. I arrived in Melbourne thinking “this feels strangely familiar”; however as time passed Melbourne revealed itself as a unique and engaging city, full of surprises and a passionate people. The city encouraged us to encounter her uniqueness in the form of bustling lanes, coffee aromas, tasty food created by the youthful staff at Streat, the stimulating environment at the Venny, the considerate community at CERES and the big existential questions that were discussed in the beautiful hills of Kingslake.
We were fortunate to be guided by Dominique and Ralph who never faltered in making us feel at home and who were always willing to impart their knowledge and insights of the projects and city with us. Their hospitality was echoed by a number of University of Melbourne students and who took time out to join us. Learning about Melbourne through their varied perspectives gave me the opportunity to create a rich mental tapestry of the city. As we visited these remarkable projects, I began realising the importance of having a clear vision as the force behind any project. From the first project we visited, STREAT, right up to the workshop with the Kingslake community on the last day, the role and value of a clear vision or purpose became apparent in guiding the team through tough and testing times. Without a clear goal that everyone could buy into, it seemed little could be achieved.
I realised that a clear vision did not mean that these projects occurred spontaneously; they were the result of a long process that could often take decades of perseverance, patience, collaboration to be achieved. What’s more, the process was adaptable and iterative, evolving toward the goal. This lived experience taught me a valuable lesson for my research: that I cannot try to solve every problem during my PhD and that it is only a step closer toward the vision and the purpose I have recognised to be my life-work. Working in a transitioning context which is riddled with so many challenges and injustices that often lead to hopelessness, having had the possibility to travel to Melbourne and experience first-hand a number of inspirational projects gave me the much needed boost to continue my work, believing it is not futile on a planetary scale. I saw how much could be achieved with vision and perseverance. Being able to visit projects that are successfully implementing many of the strategies and ideas that I have been researching has regenerated my hope to be an agent of change toward a more thriving and compassionate future back home.
at the Victoria market, permeable surfaces in the parks and walkways and other water sensitive urban design (wsud) solutions and rain gardens which we came across, in Ceres and the green roof in Venny Chidren’s Park. The visual sharing of this important information on boards around the city, educating citizens on water management interventions and to see the water conservation garden in the botanical gardens made me realise how important it is to make ‘’people’’ in the city aware by making them a part of these management strategies by letting them know where what is happening and why. It was also inspiring to learn about the Melbourne Urban Forestry Strategy which encourages the concept of biodiversity and shows how Melbourne is dedicated to increasing its tree cover canopy from 22% to 40% to reduce pollution and the urban heat island effect, and proactively replace the loss of trees, which will occur due to age, recent high temperatures and lack of water over the next couple of years. This is an example of how a city is beginning to acknowledge the value of their green assets and proactively managing it in a participative and visual manner.
REFLECTIONS EMMARIE OTTO Emmarie Otto is a professional Landscape Architect and currently an MSc candidate researching resilient cities and ecosystem services. The research will focus on the role of ecosystem services and their interaction with land use and how the ecosystems (specifically freshwater) changed over time. Emmarie was recently involved in drafting the Green Infrastructure Report for Gauteng Province in South Africa which critically examined current initiatives and perceptions of green infrastructure in Gauteng cities. It was inspiring to see how dedicated Melbourne City is in managing their green assets, like their water resources and urban forests. It is evident that throughout the city there is mulching (as a means for water retention), sustainable urban draining systems (suds), such as the water tanks
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This motivated me to realise the importance of prioritising the simple, yet most needed urban issues by creating small interventions that collectively can change the bigger picture. I saw the necessity behind creating real forests in our cities, capable of supporting biodiversity for different species and trees of different ages, thereby creating the necessary forest layering for future green infrastructure. I also realised that it is essential not take water resources for granted, which is also a very real issue in the South African context where a severe water supply shortage is projected by 2025. I was encouraged to see examples of proactive and pragmatic water management interventions in Melbourne, that could offer tangible and applicable solutions for South African cities as well. Applying strategies for water sensitive urban design (wsud), would benefit South African cities far beyond just conserving the natural resources. It would revitalise and regenerate their entire existence.
Photos: A. Ferreira & T.Swanepoel
PERSONAL SIZWILE DLAMINI Sizwile Dlamini is an Msc (Real Estate) candidate with an Honour’s degree in Town Planning. Her research is looking into how functional diversity and response diversity determines the resilience of urban systems, focussing specifically on housing delivery. This was my first overseas experience and as nerve wrecking as it was, Dominique and Ralph went out of their way to make me and all my colleagues feel at home. I’m naturally a shy and conservative person, so for me this trip was also a way of coming out of my shell. I have learnt that it is ok to give people access into your space, realm and being.
Through the various places and projects we visited, I came to learn how important it is to allow ourselves to explore and try out new ventures. I realised that I’d love to start growing my own vegetables when we visited CERES. In Kinglake I had the most amazing scones and cream, and doubt I’ll get that taste anywhere in South Africa. At the Venny, I appreciated that children in Australia can still have a safe haven, where they get to laugh, play and be themselves for a few hours every day in a public space. I enjoyed interacting with Dominique’s students and I learnt quite a lot from each and every one of them. Lastly, I learnt that I need to pack more warm clothes when I visit Melbourne next! I’m very grateful to everyone that did their best, to make our stay in Melbourne comfortable, informative and productive.
TRUDI SWANEPOEL
Trudi Swanepoel is a Master’s degree candidate at the department of Town planning and her Master’s dissertation falls within the larger NRF project exploring a range of interventions to deal with resilience and regenerative development, but focuses specifically on changing mindsets and paradigms to build capacity for resilience.
I found it inspiring how much thought went into the children’s parks not just in Melbourne but in Brisbane and Sydney too. The capacity of leadership to realise the potential of education through well designed play areas really encouraged me. Moving away from the jungle gym and swing set mould to mentally stimulating games and obstacles. The way in which sustainability and environmental awareness was integrated not only in The Venny project, but into CERES and in schools was also noticeable. I experienced Melbourne as a thoughtful city in terms of the free reign given to its communities for expression and also the public response in
Photo: Emmarie Otto
“There can be no keener revelation of a society’s soul than the way in which it treats its children” – Nelson Mandela.
these areas. As a global community with its variety of ethnic and cultural groupings I believe it is a massive challenge for planners to be sensitive to all the public’s different wants and needs. For example, at some stage the Melbourne city council erected structures in Chinatown to celebrate the cultural identity of Little Bourke street, but unintentionally used adornments that had negative connotations for the Chinese community. It was surprising to find that these structures were not destroyed nor did people boycott the municipality. Instead the mistake was acknowledged and remedied. I believe that we would not have been able to put such a comprehensive tour of Melbourne’s inner workings together if we tried. I am very grateful to Melbourne University, Dominique and Ralph for their hard work not just while we were there, but also preparing all the details that went into this remarkable experience.
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Photo: Emmarie Otto
REFLECTIONS
It ends with an amazing meal and begins with an inspiring story...
THE THE PROJECT STREAT might seem like a normal café, part of the larger Melbournian café scene. But it is so much more. Beyond the excellent food and friendly service a great community amenity is provided by the STREAT initiative. The cafés are run as a social enterprise which is different from normal businesses, because the café is used as a platform to uplift young homeless and unemployed people to a new healthy and productive life. A large portion of the company’s earnings is used to train youth in the hospitality business through intensive programs that go far beyond just transferring job related skills. They are about giving young people the opportunity to help themselves as well as give them emotional support to overcome challenges such as poverty, unemployment, depression and anti-social behaviour including drug and alcohol abuse. STREAT also embraces the culture and feel of street life and
encourages people to experience the city through eating ‘street’ food in an attractive, well designed café. It does something few charitable organisations achieve with limited budgets. They are creating a sustainable business model that shows that being charitable and caring for your community does not mean surviving on hand outs. The business is currently only operating in Melbourne as they are still designing a business model that can be expanded yet remain profitable while continuing to provide a crucial community service. However, its success is building enthusiasm in other industries and a large scale bakery has taken an interest in partnering up with STREAT to develop a similar business model for a artisanal bakery in Melbourne. It also led to the publication of a popular slow food recipe book. We wonder where else the ripple effects may lead?
LESSONS LEARNT
South African youth face similar intense challenges in their personal development and this business model if managed correctly could provide the training and confidence they need to succeed in an often hostile work and home environment. It was inspirational to see how an idea generated by an interested group of people translated to a thriving business and along the way has helped many young people. They show how buying a meal can aid in solving a complex issue such as homelessness and that people tend support organisations that have good objectives.
LATENT POTENTIAL STREAT as a organisation is providing an excellent service to the community, but also suggests that the concept of a social enterprise has the potential to operate not only in the hospitatlity industry, but other industries as well. This could also be a way for larger organisations to give back to the community by funding similar initiatives or starting their own projects. What stands out is the organisation’s main goal, which is to enrich the community rather than themselves.
STREAT
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THE STOCK THE PROJECT The Newmarket Stockyards were originally used as holding pens for cattle that were to be shipped off or slaughtered as part of the food industry in the area. As the city grew, so did the pressure on this site to be relocated which was eventually achieved to a site further out of town. In doing so, this large land parcel was available for redevelopment. The Stockyards were redeveloped into a ‘newurbanism’ development, which aimed to keep the historical context of the area, but at the same time to include the new urbanism principles of walkability and passive design. The neighbourhood is largely residential, consisting of a variety of housing typologies which offer a high degree in design and material variation while keeping to the overall guidelines of New Urbanism.
The overall plan is knitted together with a variety of lush green linear parks onto which houses front, and which lead to a large central neighbourhood commons and which contain remnants and elements of the old stockyard fences have been used. Orientation through the development is difficult with issues of legibility and lack of a diversity of uses or hierarchy of spaces coming through. However, the success of Stockyards for us seemed to lie in the spirit of this development being that of feeling far away from the city, yet really within it.
LESSONS LEARNT
Stockyards seems to be a classic New Urbanism ‘text book’ approach. The residential character, quiet streets and parks offer respite from what can be a frenetic city life. From a South African perspective where there are large parcels of post-industrial land or greenfield sites within city areas that lie undeveloped for a number of reasons ranging from politics to finance, it would be valuable to analyse the ‘text-book’ approach used in Stockyards for its success and shortfalls in order to gauge that best approach for integration in an urban South African context.
LATENT POTENTIAL It appears that there is a huge potential to increase the diversity of uses within the neighbourhood itself in order to decrease the dependence of local residents on their cars to get to places of employment or amenity. There is potential within the central village green to activate the edge by adapting to small shops and offices to activate that space 24/7 which may also assist with legibility and improve the hierarchy of spaces where the largest spaces have the most functions on their edges.
YARDS
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THE THE PROJECT The design concept behind The Venny park was inspired by the thinking of the Danish landscape architect, Carl Theodor Sorensen. His theories were influenced in part by the environment in which he worked; this was an environment characterised by the tradition of city farms that were found in Denmark, Berlin, England and Whales, within which a diversity of animals, vegetable gardens and mounds were contained. Sorensen had a very functional approach to design and observed that children prefered to play with pieces of scrap than formal play equipment, hence the concept of backyard playground. This allowed children many more opportunities to develop their own play experiences out of recycled and old material which in turn created possibilities for them to exercise choices for new ideas.
Furthermore, the concept of the park also introduces play as a tool for early interventions into community health, where vulnerable children are offered guidance in a safe playful environment. The eye catching Venny building caters for the administration office, storage areas, services and play needs of the children and minders and consists of storage containers that are strategically placed to house important services while framing a central activity space onto which they open up. The architecture delivers a robust design which provides flexibility and multi-use that is based on passive design principles with ample natural light insulated concrete floors that are integrated with artwork from the community using The Venny and a planted green roof with solar.
LESSONS LEARNT
We tend to overdesign for children and do not allow them enough space and opportunity to create their own toys, not providing enough faith in their creative ability and not valuing their explorative senses enough and not allowing them to discover their ability to construct choices and provide them with the courage and skills to make the necessary life decisions in years to come. Giving children the safe and stimulating space to learn by themselves, through their own experiences and mistakes is often more valuable. This approach to education in a land like South Africa could offer a more inspiring perspective in childhood development where there is not an excess of financial resources in low income areas, but an abundance of creative ones.
LATENT POTENTIAL
Although it is necessary to keep the park closed, it might be good to see more activity and physical links with the surrounding communities; perhaps by making it a little bit more open and expanding the food garden to become a more active player in this larger park by supplying food to the community. It might also be good to see some more planting and rain gardens in the play area, perhaps a tree to climb or a seasonal pond and fountain to play in.
VENNY
Photo: Emmarie Otto
Photo: Emmarie Otto
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BROADMEADOWS THE PROJECT The Hume city council is located partially in the Northern part of the Melbourne Municipality, with the suburb of Broadmeadows located 16 km from the CBD of Melbourne. Broadmeadows was home to the Aboriginal Wurundjeri tribe, where European pastoralists later established themselves in this area. Beyond its agricultural practices, manufacturing formed the base of the economy of the area and has declined recently. The spatial characteristics of Broadmeadows are those of urban sprawl, weakly integrated public transport, high reliance on private automobile transport, no clear urban core, vulnerability to natural disasters and lack of affordable or alternative housing for the changing demographic consisting of increasing immigrant populations.
The Victorian Eco-Innovation Lab (VEIL) in collaboration with the Hume city council has developed projects and interventions to transform the Hume city council and Broadmeadows in to a climate resilient and integrated community since 2009. The project team consists of students from VEIL (University of Melbourne) and their supervisors who in collaboration with other universities have developed the Vision: Broadmeadows 2032 document that describes how the concept “Eco-acupuncture” can be used today to change an area’s future into a more resilient and localised one (Read more @ http:// www.ecoinnovationlab.com/revisioning-broadmeadows). Various sites were selected that have potential to create and amplify localised eco-intervention. One of the key sites that were identified in the
recent Broadmeadows Studio 2013 was the Central Activity Area in Broadmeadows. This area has major public transport infrastructure, the Hume City Council building, Hume Global Learning Centre, Broadmeadows Town Hall, police station and a major shopping centre. The area is however not well integrated with these uses, and is separated by large tracts of parking compounded by the spatial and operational separation of public transport (trains and busses). This generates the need for private transport for residents and visitors alike. As part of our study tour of Melbourne the VEIL students that are involved in the Broadmeadows Studio Atelier 2013 located in the Town Hall, presented their projects to us. Their main concept was that the projects act as catalysts in the larger area to move the unsustainable sprawled neighbourhood to a more sustainable and resilient future that can spread into the greater area. Ecoacupuncture initiatives ranged from transforming the mostly unused Town Hall into a multi-religious facility, a performance arts centre, various urban agriculture projects including establishing markets, developing adaptive neighbourhoods and finally the Ericson factory’s transformation.
HUME Photo: Chrisna du Plessis
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BROADMEADOWS LESSONS LEARNT
By locating the project sutdios in the Town Hall within the study area, the students were able to engage with the area/s of intervention which is often lacking in normal university design programs. Collaboration from the city council, industry professionals and other universities gives momentum to their explorative design efforts.
applied not only in other regions in Australia but also internationally as many themes and applications are transferable. The experience was very important as it showed how resilience thinking can actually be applied in practice, which is critical if we want to not just survive as human beings in a world that is rapidly changing, but actually thrive.
Eco-acupuncture interventions show great potential in creating resilient and sustainable neighbourhoods in a grass roots fashion. The interventions that were proposed were diverse in nature and show potential for actual implementation.
LATENT POTENTIAL
The overall collaborative nature of the VEIL team creates an environment that can create innovative and novel ideas for current and future challenges. This explorative research shows potential to be
More research can be done around what resilience means and how it will be implemented in the urban context. A move needs to be made away from strictly talking about making communities disaster resilient and focus on creating identity and a sense of place. Through a participatory research effort our research group TRUST asked the VEIL research team a few questions in attempting to
explore how we can translate resiliency concepts from its ecological context to the urban context. The responses to the questions were diverse and show a general understanding of resilience although the VEIL team might find it useful to investigate a broader understanding of what resilience might mean in their specific context. Beyond the eco-acupuncture initiatives, broad spectrum spatial planning and larger projects are needed to create a coherent whole in the area (the Broadmeadows Activity area structure plan 2012 does begin to include this). One element that was missing in most of the project proposals was the allocation of higher density housing in the Central Activity Area. By including higher density housing as a critical element in all projects, energy will be given to all the other initiatives and this will increase the feasibility of public transport provision. The renewal and success of the inner-city of Melbourne was due to the transformation of the space to be multifunctional and critically the inclusion of housing. Here, the main challenge will be to provide affordable housing options for incoming immigrants and other groups and this can be done by introducing mandatory affordable housing and social housing in all new projects in the area.
HUME A place to call Hume… Hume is where the heart is… There is no place like Hume…
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LENTIL AS ANY THE PROJECT Lentil as Anything, the brain child of Shanaka Fernando is a unique non-profit community organisation. It is involved in numerous enterprises that provide community support. One such enterprise is the “the pay as you feel restaurant” which we had an opportunity to visit. This isn’t your typical restaurant with set menu prices; here customers donate what they feel the food is worth. This initiative has worked well for the last 13 years.
LESSONS LEARNT
What stood out when we visited Lentil as Anything, are the values that underpin their projects and which are used to guide and inspire their volunteers and patrons. This section will look at why and how these values can be applied to a South African context where similar initiatives could make huge strides in creating positive and inspiring enterprises.
Caring for people: We have all had an opportunity to care for others at some point in our lives. A lesson that we could learn from Shanaka Fernando is to do this without ever expecting anything in return and not to perform an act of kindness to a few people and feel that we have done enough. In South Africa, creating urban environments where the value of caring leads to giving in the way that Lentil as Anything have used it, means that the underprivileged might find support that adds value in their lives. Promoting Multiculturalism: The atmosphere at Lentil as Anything welcomes different cultures as they share in the common ritual of eating a meal. Such a space could be especially useful in South African cities, where racial, cultural and social divides exists. Almost two decades into its democracy, blame and unnecessary tension between dominant ethnic groups continues.
Over and above that, a cultural divide exists within ethnic groups themselves. It is important for citizens of a multi-cultural country like South Africa to feel that their citizenship unites them. Relaxing places like Lentil as Anything may provide common ground. Reforming Society: Lentil as Anything support programs to reform and assist with societal problems. In South Africa a number of social ills exist. It is ranked as the country with the 7th highest crime rate globally (Global Economic Crime Survey, 2012). There are also issues of HIV/AIDS, corruption, and drug abuse. We need to start a different conversation to deal with the ills that ensnare South African society and finding alternative methods for reform such as those for volunteering used by Lentil as Anything, could be the foundation of that debate. Spreading its ethos and values: In their projects, Lentil as Anything have tried to widen the net in terms of community engagement. A question that comes to mind when one looks at impacting others positively, is that while individuals may have done so much in terms of reaching out to others, what role has South Africa as a whole played in spreading positive ethos and value as a nation? How can opportunities for projects, places
THING
and ideas that educate and share these values be created in Pretoria? Could a restaurant model like this be an option? Encouraging: Lentil as Anything encourages young people to work and volunteer at their restaurant, giving them an opportunity to do something, feel useful, and supported. The South African youth unemployment rate currently stands at 36% (StatsSA, 2012). There is a need for government, to look into alternatives that will assist the youth to be active citizens. One way may be to involve the youth in community based initiatives like this, as opposed to looking for a 08h00-17h00 job, or relying soley on subsidies.
LATENT POTENTIAL
While trust and openness underpin the “the pay as you feel restaurants� that are run by Lentil as Anything, it is important to note that it costs the same to run a non-profit as it does a business. While they use trust as a driving factor to ensure that donation are made by those who can before a meal, there is a need to encourage worthwhile donations. At the end of the day, if more money is raised, then the restaurants can be run well and more mouths can be fed.
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BRUNSWICK THE PROJECT The Centre for Education and Research in Environmental Strategies, or CERES for short, provided us with the most inspiring assortment of alternative environmental strategies and a workable and vibrant community project with a number of different focus areas. Located on 4.5 ha in the suburb of Brunswick, this non-profit organisation began about 30 years ago on a decommissioned rubbish tip. Its gradual transformation into what is now a thriving urban community farm, permaculture nursery, bookshop, fresh produce market, organic home produce store, research centre, bike shed repair shop, solar powered electric vehicle depot, restaurant and coffee shop, educational facility and demonstration venue for alternative building design and lifestyle, bears witness to the strong vision that its founding members had in creating a positive place for the community.
The founding principles described to us by our extremely passionate guide, Ian, are to honour the legacy of the historic tribal traditions of the land, create social equity, promote a responsible attitude toward the environment namely that of partnership and lastly to create a community of passionate and like minded individuals.
LESSONS LEARNT
One of the clearest lessons was that being green does not mean skimping on design excellence. The ‘green’ house built in CERES as well as the info centre, offices, restaurant and nursery are examples of the exquisite quality that responsible sustainable building can embody with the additional benefits
of biophilic design. The timber exterior of the building is allowed to weather to tell the passing of time, while also blending into the patina of the surrounding landscape. Pitched roofs allow for the collection of rainwater in discrete and integrated ways, while the pitch allows for solar panels to harvest solar energy. The interiors are built using passive design strategies, relying as little as possible on artificial light, mechanical climate control and heavily processed materials. The rest of the park has features that demonstrate how principles of permaculture, market spaces and education can co-exist. The entire park is a learning experience. Rather than being told what the alternatives are, children (and adults too), are encouraged to learn about them through participation and observation. What was once a rubbish heap has gradually been transformed into a vibrant, thriving, living socialecological environment where human intervention was used to harness potential and release positive energy. The power of this metamorphosis provides not only a strong narrative for change, but also an example of perseverance and resilience.
Photos: Chrisna du Plessis
CERES
LATENT POTENTIAL Within such a richly stimulating environment, it is a major task to try to find latent potential. The success of a strong vision within a flexible loose structure has been working so far. However as CERES’ success grows, so too it may become vulnerable to pressures for further management and regulation from government and sponsors, stifling the very flexibility that created its success. Despite this caution, there is perhaps potential here to create bite-size adaptive CERES models/ start-ups, that can be applied off site in individual homes, neighbourhoods, parks, parklands, and shopping centres, and thereby increase pressure to change the way that regulations work. This idea of a distributed network may also be able to regenerate communities that are themselves undergoing a transition like that of Broadmeadows/ Hume. There is also potential within CERES to create an internship and volunteering programme where interested people can take time off to work and live on site and demonstrate the CERES lifestyle; similar to a retreat, this reconnection to natural cycles and process could be beneficial to the many contemporary malaises in society.
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Photo: Swarm Planning
ROGGEMA LEC THE LECTURE
LESSONS LEARNT
The seminar was hosted by the Swinburne University of Technology with the aim of facilitating a discussion and exchange of knowledge and ideas. A presentation called Swarming Landscapes, Building Resilience for a Climate-proof Future was given by Dr Rob Roggema, a Senior Research Fellow at Swinburne University.
Dr Roggema has begun to look into this wicked problem of climate adaption for cities by proposing a ‘Swarm Planning Framework’. The inspiration for this framework comes from the self-organising and emergent behaviour in communities of bees, birds, fish, etc. A swarm is able to self-organise and by doing so, reduces its vulnerability to sudden changes within its environment. As a result of this swarming behaviour, which allows for the development of emergent structural patterns, the swarm has high resilience as it is able to minimise the impacts of complex, unpredictable change in its environment.
In the future our cities will be facing increasing impacts from climate change. The threat of climate change is compounded by constrained energy supply, as well as the resulting pressures of population growth within our urban areas. In order to cope with this uncertain and hazardous future, our urban planning systems need to move from their current regime of protecting vested interests to one more flexible and adaptable to the changing ‘risk-landscape’. This requires the future designs of cities to be innovative, anticipative and adaptable to an uncertain future.
The idea of a swarming city is especially applicable within South Africa, which is notorious for its poor planning and governance. Self-organised, ‘swarming’ cities may be the future and the solution to many South African urban planning and governance issues.
our current approaches. This is true not only for the leaders of our cities but the residents as well, as the swarm planning framework is a radical shift from the existing, control based systems of spatial planning and governance toward more adaptable and change-based strategies.
A self-organised city and planning environment, with a limited amount of control and facilitation, may be able to work within these time horizon limitations while still providing some form of long term planning and vision. This concept provides opportunities for cities to respond not only to specific disasters but also to build the general resilience of the urban area. This is because it allows for the system to respond to, but also anticipate sudden or long term shocks or changes by adapting its form and behaviour in a timely manner.
Although a new approach to spatial planning in the context of climate change and adaption is sorely needed, how we will ‘sell’ the idea to the people and politicians will require its own innovative approach.
LATENT POTENTIAL
A swarm planning approach will allow for greater flexibility within rapidly transforming urban areas like those we find in the informal settlements in South Africa. However, if it is to be implemented it will require a change in the current mind-set away from
Photo: Swarm Planning
- TURE
Photo: Emmarie Otto
This is particularly true when put into the context of spatial planning and the various time horizons that cities work in, political (i.e. 5 year terms) and planning (i.e. 20 year long-term plans) for example, that are not always compatible or integrated, therefore making long term planning difficult.
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MELBOURNE THE PROJECT Our interest in exploring the Melbourne inner city was to gain some insight into the strategies implemented by the city’s urban design department over the past three decades that transitioned the inner city toward a more liveable place. These strategies appear to have been guided by a simple principle – to bring people into the streets of Melbourne 24/7, so that a thriving and liveable inner city could be created. Most inner cities undergo cycles of growth, collapse and renewal, and we are interested in the qualities that make them capable of embracing change in order to maintain their vitality and enhance their purpose and value for their citizens. We hope that we might translate some of these insights into the context of Pretoria/ Tshwane.
LESSONS LEARNT
During the tour, we discovered a number of interesting strategies that showed a valuable approach toward inner city renewal. The first, possibly most important catalytic decision, was to bring in attractive residential uses into the predominantly business district, thereby creating a captured audience that could inhabit the streets of the city over a greater number of hours. The second decision was to increase bulk. This was done in using two distinct methods; by allowing additional floors to be built above existing buildings or through the alteration of heritage buildings either through façadism (where historic facades were preserved behind which a new building was built like the Ernest Young building) or adaptation, to house completely new functions (like the GPO). The second method was by appropriating the
area above the disruptive train tracks to create a platform for an iconic art museum with public amenities and a prominent public square. The third strategy involved activating public environments and celebrating the inner city’s tradition of pedestrian lanes and arcades creating short-cuts within its large city blocks. The lanes which may otherwise have been dead spaces, have become lively areas in which interesting small enterprises and businesses feed off of the concentration of pedestrian traffic. Urban art and graffiti fill public space. Pedestrian movement is promoted with widened sidewalks that have overhangs for climatic comfort as well as some streets closed to any vehicular traffic except for trams. This leads to the fourth strategy which is investment in public transport and public environment connecting parks, cycle routes, art and sculpture to create “places� in which buskers, tourists, entrepreneurs, citizens and tourists can merge their collective urban experiences on the sidewalks of the people-oriented city. The last highly visible principle was that of awareness toward resource efficiency, an enhancement of vegetation to increase well-being, water sensitive landscapes and the construction of sustainable and Positive buildings to engage with the big issues facing urbanised societies. These lessons are of great value to Pretoria/ Tshwane which is struggling to revitalise its CBD.
CBD
LATENT POTENTIAL
Within a city that is clearly engaging its challenges and making huge strides to improve, it is difficult to suggest opportunities which may have been missed. However, within the CBD there may be a chance to bring in more biophillic aspects into the public environment in order to enhance the human scale and liveability of the city and bring in some variety. There might also be an opportunity to explore productive planting. The possibility of mobile street vendors might create a kinetic quality that adds to the richness of the public realm so as to entice the public and tourist alike.
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QUEEN VICTORIA THE PROJECT
while having an enjoyable experience.
On a cold Autumn morning we were warmly greeted by the grandiose edifice of the Queen Victoria Market, aromas of roasted coffee and freshly baked goods. There are unique sections of the market buildings and grounds which reflect its numerous functions throughout its history. The current market area saw a penitentiary, cemetery, hay market, school, and drill hall amongst the many uses housed there over time.
The market takes its responsibility towards the environment very seriously; it maintains 1328 solar panels which cover a third of the Market roof. It was the largest urban grid-connected solar photovoltaic installation in the southern hemisphere when it was erected in 2003. They sustain a rainwater harvesting project to provide an alternative water source for flushing the public toilets. They are also reinforcing different recycling programs and a “Bag the (Plastic) Bag” campaign where they offer alternatives such as biodegradable corn starch bags in place of regular plastic bags.
The market currently houses a meat hall, fruit and vegetable market as well as organic fresh produce market, a food court, a deli hall with a variety of food and goods from around the world, an art precinct as well as a variety of different personalised shops. The market is not only fulfilling consumers’ needs, but also creates the environment where market-goers are provided with choice to make wellinformed decisions about the goods they purchase
They are planning on furthering their current recycling of animal scraps which are collected and processed for stock feed and fertiliser; along with fats from grease traps and cooking oils from deep fryers, by processing the resources into stock feed
or converting to biodiesel; in addition they recycle paper, cardboard, plastic packaging and bottles, glass, aluminium cans, timber and steel. The Queen Victoria Market also has a recycling depot project in the pipeline to augment their current efforts.
LESSONS LEARNT
The Queen Victoria Market provides a vibrant example of a commercial building that creates the opportunities for a number of start-ups and small scale entrepreneurs to make a living from the Market at a much smaller scale than a commercial project would allow them. This set up also provides the public with the luxury of choice for an alternative consumer experience, by buying high quality produce directly from the producers at a reduced rate with a personal touch. Sellers and buyers establish relationships and over time these add to the personality of the market. While practical considerations in the market are great examples of economic and social regeneration, the integration of environmental ethics into ordinary activities is perhaps the most inspiring. Without feeling forced, alternatives are embedded within every ritual at the market and this level of vitality and personal experience is highly inspiring.
MARKET
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The winding road is edged with white wooden sculptures, the remnants of a forest which now forms a stark contrast to new growth, emerging from beneath the dead wood canopy, seeking new life...
KINGLAKE THE PROJECT A scenic drive along a winding road on a cold and gloomy day, led us from Melbourne to the warm and friendly Rosewood cottage in Kinglake. This cottage was one of the houses reconstructed after the 2009 fire storms completely devastated the area. We joined interested parties at a discussion led by Dr. Dominique Hes to explore ways in which the heart of this area, its community, may be regenerated. The Kinglake community is in the process of exploring regenerative solutions to identify ways of rebuilding the community and built environment and it has seen a number of meetings with interested parties occur in order to carve a new path for the future. Kinglake residents lost 190 of their fellow citizens in the 2009 bushfires. This disastrous fire displaced 2000 people and destroyed 750 houses. Of the 4000 people who lived in the community, 2500 chose to
return to Kinglake. The fires were partly started due to faulty electrical infrastructure, and the slow recovery from the severity and impact of the fires has been exacerbated by Kinglake being located in-between management structures and thereby not really finding support from the urban or the rural institutions surrounding them. The community is now seeking ways self-organise and collaborate to rebuild and regenerate their area, through the Kinglake Ranges Community Resilience Committee.
LESSONS LEARNT
The bushfire was not a normal disaster and its severity could not be predicted. It destroyed the community and the supporting structures on which they depended, leaving this area hugely vulnerable. However, this very disadvantage, if overcome, could be an example for many other communities facing similar challenges globally. The community’s
acceptance of a regenerative design approach, which considers the entire system and not just a part of it is hugely inspirational as it provides a process that aims to create fertile ground for new growth. Dominique’s presentation also made reference to other inspirational case studies, including “Greening Greensburg‘’ in Kansas, a small town that has been gradually reinventing itself as a model for sustainable and green living, after a tornado in 2007 destroyed virtually everything in the area.
LATENT POTENTIAL
The fact that the community is not really rural and not really urban makes them largely reliant on their own devices to make the rebuilding of their community a success. This could provide wonderful and extraordinary solutions to form new carefully considered benchmarks for contextual and good quality design, which could also challenge or change some of the regulations that the community currently feels is keeping them from their desired quality of life. Working with council to overcome ‘’overregulation’’ issues that the community believes is holding them back from reinventing Kingslake, might produce new and more appropriate solutions. With this comes the
Photo: Emmarie Otto
TALK
notion that the community become responsible for seeking new ideas and solutions, such as by crafting a vulnerability master plan informing where best to resettle with clear guidelines for more environmental solutions for buildings and developments in the less vulnerable areas. The community should consider the reasons why they returned there and tap into this already ‘’positive energy’’ to build a more resilient future. One opportunity may be to provide water and food to the ‘’green growth’’ that is already starting to emerge in the area, by realising that solutions are closer to home. The barrier created by fear of the current bylaws must be turned into an opportunity as this is blocking growth and prohibiting the community to unlock latent potential. A plunge into the ‘unknown’ requires some risks to be taken to get to solutions, but this can only happen once the community knows exactly what they want. They should find their future focus, by crossing their fears and by taking full responsibility and ownership over their future. There is manner of caution, fear and excuse that keeps the Kinglake community from realising a new dream that would add value to their community and improve their quality of life.
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Photo: Emmarie Otto
CONCLUSION + As the world enters an age of unprecedented change and challenge, we believe that as design practitioners engaged in a complex global network of many interconnected social-ecological systems, we will need to collaborate and co-operate in order to guide our societies through difficult trials like climate change, but also to transition them toward the positive, vibrant and thriving futures we know can exist.
We hope to continue our collaboration with Dr. Dominique Hes and to continue these co-operative studios and study tours, in order to strengthen our collective understanding of the application of concepts of resilience, regenerative design and positive buildings within cities. The aim is to create urban systems with ample transformative capacity to be able to evolve and change.
The opportunity to share knowledge across two key continents in the Southern hemisphere, provides each with a different perspective of the challenges being faced as well as the potential for transformation. Together, we are excited by these potentials, and we hope to engage with them proactively.
We believe that we gain immense knowledge from real experiences like those we live through during these study tours and find that we are able to see new potential in our native contexts when we return home. Thanks to these opportunities, insights are possible that give us the inspiration and courage to take bold and hopeful risks toward a thriving future!
CONTACT DETAILS THE THINK TANK ON RESILIENT URBAN SYSTEMS IN TRANSITION: Keep in touch with TRUST in one of these ways: Blog – http://trustsa.weebly.com/ Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/ThinktankRUST Email – trustsa@gmail.com INDIVIDUALS: Chrisna – chrisna.duplessis@up.ac.za Albert – albert.ferreira@up.ac.za Darren – darren.nel@up.ac.za Edna – edna.m.peres@gmail.com Emmarie – emmarieotto@mweb.co.za Sizwile – sizwiledlamini@gmail.com Trudi – trudiswanepoel@gmail.com All Photos by Edna Peres, unless otherwise credited. Front Cover Photo: CERES Admin Building Back Cover Photo: “Zip” Street Art, Melbourne, taken by Chrisna du Plessis.
FUTURE PATHS
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THE END
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