FUTURE WEST 03 Leisure State by UWA School of Design

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There’s a lot of hyperbole around Western Australia as a tourist destination. It’s bigger than Western Europe, there are five regions and climates, and there’s a lot of wide open space. As Western Australia aims to increase the value of tourism to $12 billion by 2020 with its State Government Strategy for Tourism in Western Australia 2020, Future West takes a ludic journey, looking at the built environment of tourism and leisure by going bush, going off, engaging with the arts and taking a drive along the coast.

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Being a tourist, or taking a day or arvo off, implies a freedom of movement where one casts off the responsibilities of being at home. But leisure also holds serious economic and social capital. It’s a key lever in regional growth and strategic land development. And shared activities bind communities together. So, what constitutes the leisure state of Western Australia? As its economy undergoes a transition, how is leisure shaping its cities, towns and regions? What is the nexus between place-branding vision and locally lived reality? 3

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OPINIONS

6 FLAT WHITE URBANISM Timothy Moore The myriad cafes across Australian cities are a source of leisure for locals and tourists alike. 12 AN EXTRAORDINARY STATE Howard Cearns interviewed by Alessio Fini and Timothy Moore Howard Cearns, entrepreneur and branding expert, discusses the marketing and reality of Western Australia. 20 CHASING CHINA Timothy Moore The popularity of travel among the Chinese creates an opportunity to rethink tourism.

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26 LAND FOR SAIL Kate Hislop, Felix Joensson, Daniel Martin and Jason Macarlino How a yacht race turned Perth’s coastal landscape green.

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38 A NATURAL ALLIANCE Georgia Nowak New tourism infrastructure in national parks could support their conservation. 46 R EMOTELY APPEALING Gabrielle Sullivan interviewed by Sally Farrah The attraction of the East Pilbara Arts Centre and Martumili Artists Gallery. 54 W ILD AT HEART Anthony Brookfield Using or referencing wildflowers in design strengthens a Western Australian sense of place. 62 T HERE’S A CITY IN MY MIND Bree Trevena A temporary festival in the Nevada desert is a model for innovation in tourism – and more.

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Across the world, many city governments have constructed large-scale leisure landscapes and established ‘mega events’ in their localities. Coming in the form of sports stadiums, major art galleries, revitalised waterfronts, conference centres and world cups, these precincts and proceedings are strategic tools cities use to project an attractive image of themselves in order to compete for tourist dollars, business investment, professional talent and the coveted top ranking in livability indexes. Australia has many tourist leisurescapes currently under construction. There’s Darling Square, a $3.4 billion neighbourhood near Darling Harbour; Perth’s new Elizabeth Quay mixed-use development, which builds office, entertainment and residential buildings around a 2.7-hectare artificial river inlet; and the Gold Coast’s expansion of its cultural precinct to 16.9 hectares, with Stage 1 to be delivered in time for the 2018 Commonwealth Games.

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Left: The new waterfront precinct of Elizabeth Quay in Perth, designed by Taylor Cullity Lethlean in collaboration with ARM Architecture, CODA, Electrolight, Buro North and Paul Thompson. Image: Lofty Productions

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Iconic architectural pieces may attract high numbers of tourists, but they are not the only things that live in the memories of visitors to Australian cities. Everyday experiences also endure. In fact, eating is one of the top tourist activities. It’s also where the money is spent. According to Tourism Research Australia’s Tourism Satellite Account 2015–16 report, tourists spend the largest percentage of their money – about 21 cents in a dollar – on takeaway, restaurant meals and beverages.

Cafes, for example New School Canteen, often include a civic language in their names.

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Searching for memorable cafe and dining experiences is not a sport restricted to international tourists – leisure seekers from nearby suburbs or towns are also playing. According to Food Industry Foresight’s Coffee & Beverages In Australia Annual Tracking Study, Australians drink about two coffees out per week. (That equates to approximately 1.8 billion espresso-based coffees, costing $7.3 billion.) So that cafes, restaurants and bars remain competitive, the architecture becomes part of the attraction. This has led to some ubiquitous design signifiers: white subway tiles, reclaimed timber, austere pendant lighting, white anodised SHS steel and exposed brick.

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Additionally, there is often a civic rhetoric found in cafe names – see Common Ground, Public House, New School Canteen. The replication of the cafe typology – each must have the right owner; the right coffee; and the right baristas, business name and interior designer – can be as tedious as the desire for cities to have a stadium, or a world cup to fill it. Property developers have recognised how to leverage the popularity of this ‘flat white tourism’. An adjacent commercial or ‘cappuccino’ strip can increase land values. It can also assist in the marketing of new apartment buildings: the promise of a cafe that anchors a new development is enticing for homebuyers and investors. Cafes are also desirable for local councils; under planning regulations, there are often requirements for active, public-facing street fronts in order to maintain street life (by accommodating activity that encourages pedestrian interaction and casual surveillance) rather than blank walls, car parks, gardens or fences. Paired with changing consumer habits (such as online and mall shopping), this has seen many high streets now dominated by the cafe, a sort of ‘high street lite’. The cafe appears to be a market-driven solution to achieve an active street front in Australian cities. This is flat white urbanism.

Apartments and offices at Barangaroo sit above cafes and restaurants.

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Australians are not just consuming coffee. In fact, people are not just passively consuming cultural or leisure activities (such as going to bands or watching sport). Australians are making, doing and playing;

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active participation is on the ascendant around the country. For example, the Australia Council study Arts in Daily Life: Australian Participation in the Arts (2014) highlighted that approximately one in three Australians is now involved in creating visual art or craft. The ABS’s General Social Survey (2015) states that 31 per cent of Australians are also volunteering. This has put huge pressure on council services and it has raised questions about how councils can help enable that community. The availability of affordable and accessible space is a looming issue in major Australian cities. There is demand for more diverse uses for the ground plane – studios, live-work apartments, community rooms, kindergartens, ateliers, small-scale light industrial zones, education facilities – but the desire among lessors for the maximum rental return prevents less profitable businesses or civic users from being able to afford street-fronting leases. However, there is an opportunity to reimagine the ground plane of apartment buildings, and diversify away from cafes, by looking at the developer contribution. The developer contribution, a percentage of a building budget that goes to community infrastructure (for health, safety or wellbeing of the community), is generally channelled via council towards building libraries, multipurpose community centres, maternity health centres, sporting facilities or neighbourhood parks with play equipment. Cultural infrastructure seldom comes into the frame. It is at the level of developer contribution that local councils can intervene. This could be through an ad hoc process of negotiating more floors for the development in return for providing community space. It could also be through rezoning, which is tied to developer contributions. For example, developers could be granted a larger floor-area ratio through rezoning if they give a percentage of the building over to community use. (This could include social housing.) This could be underpinned by a redefinition of what comprises community infrastructure. It could also extend to redefining public art contributions, where developers are often required to provide a percentage of their project budget to a public art outcome. Would a subsidised artist studio be more valuable than a sculpture? Urban policy-makers have to be careful to maintain place uniqueness and distinctiveness for both locals and tourists. Addressing the proliferation of cafes by incentivising or regulating other uses could be one way to diversify street life. Then, cafes not only give the appearance of a cultural scene, or of it being made somewhere nearby, or of it happening on the first floor. It is happening next door. This brings benefits to both the local and non-local coffee tourist.

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The Artist apartment complex in Melbourne, designed by Rijavec Architecture, includes residences on the ground level along with a corner cafe.

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Timothy Moore: Tourism WA promotes Western Australia as an “extraordinary holiday destination”. What is the reality behind the slogan?

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Howard Cearns: The state is challenging to brand when you consider the diversity and vastness of what is on offer… it is remote, expensive and time-consuming [to travel in]. Research indicates that WA is strongly considered an aspirational destination interstate and internationally, yet the conversion percentage is low due to time, cost and value for money. Destination marketing must therefore be a strategic combination of brand building – for example, “this is an extraordinary place that is worthy of your time and the expense” – and tactical promotion, or the more short-term call to action that says “come now, this is on, or here’s the deal”. Unless you have accurately invested in the first part of brand awareness and positioning the second part won’t work as effectively. We can’t change the fact WA is remote but we can try to make that the appeal rather than an impediment. Remoteness delivers wideopen spaces, clear skies, eco- and geo-tourism opportunities, and extraordinary experiences with nature. Perth is maturing as a destination in its own right rather than just being a gateway, which is wonderful to watch, but I don’t get hung up on it as a key ‘differentiator’ in the long term. Consumers have plenty of city experience options

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elsewhere in the world that are hard to beat, but WA wins with its landscape and other natural assets, which are ‘extraordinary’. That is what must drive marketing. Alessio Fini: WA is not the easiest destination to navigate. Are there strategies to alleviate this and do we have the regional infrastructure to cope with growth?

More affordable regional airfares and regular services would be a game changer and yes, that is a key strategy, but it’s not happening fast enough. Busselton-Margaret River Regional Airport being able to take interstate and perhaps international flights will assist the southwest greatly, but considerable issues remain in the north of the state. Greater investment in regional tourism infrastructure to support touring and camping is needed, but I acknowledge it will take time to get it to a point where we can say it is easy to navigate and linked up. It’s a big place! Making regulatory requirements easier for accommodation providers and those willing to invest, such as the RAC, would help. I believe we will see more interest from luxury lodge and hotel groups in investing in our regions as remote and unique natural experiences become more desirable, but we need to be easier to deal with. The London–Perth direct flight is a great opportunity for us. Tourism WA is investing significantly with Qantas in the UK and Melbourne to ensure a Perth/WA stopover is considered a great option. And the recently launched Just Another Day in WA campaign is proving effective – it uses digital and traditional media in more digestible pieces and showcases more product than we have ever been able to before. AF: What are the natural strengths of Western Australia?

I like the vision for making our natural features more accessible – getting people out touring, cycling, trekking, camping (and glamping) rather than thinking we just have to build random structures or attractions that don’t align to a sound positioning. Perth is good at connecting parks and creating city walk trails into the hills or to the ocean, and [it’s important] to be known for that. Clean air, good weather and nature whichever way you look give Perth an advantage in a world where [the popularity of] active holidays in our target markets is growing. I’d like to see coastal local government prioritising ocean pools on our main beaches as an essential addition; this will strengthen some of the best metropolitan beaches in the world. Many locals and tourists

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Right: Perth lacks ocean pools like those found in Sydney, such as the Bondi Baths coastal pool. Image: Flickr/Francisco Anzola CC BY 2.0

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Boorna Waanginy at PIAF 2017. Image: Toni Wilkinson

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will renew their love of the sea without fear of being dumped or bitten. I think the Scarborough redevelopment alongside what has been completed on the City Beach beachfront is overdue, and change is needed in Cottesloe. Tearing down Indiana and getting some fabulous casual and sympathetic architecture there would be a start. To me the wildflowers that my generation thought were a grey-nomad cringe and belonged on a souvenir tea towel are at the heart and the start of what makes this such an amazing state, particularly to the new generations. Because we are remote and less trampled we have this amazing biodiversity – clear skies with stars, earth sciences if you like – and an ancient culture with mesmerising stories. Put our (earth) science, art and indigenous culture together and let that drive the brand and unique events (yes, we’re working on it), and WA tourism will flourish. TM: Tourism and leisure events can be transformative for cities and regions. It’s not just the physical infrastructure, but the people (who is there) and program (what they are doing) that help create a sense of place. Is the WA government focused on hallmark events to attract tourism?

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WA has a solid events calendar that instils vibrancy, activates infrastructure, attracts visitors or gives visitors (and locals) something to do when here. It’s always ‘on’, if you like. But we don’t have silly money to throw at events, and the global market for hallmarks is very competitive now, so it is very much about what is good for WA, not a strategy of “let’s have what they’re having”. Events are an important part of the mix of what a good city should have. A solid and considered events calendar creates social vibrancy and instils local pride – if Perth is a good place to live, then it should be a good place to visit. There is now also a greater appreciation of what arts and cultural events can deliver, not just sport. The Perth International Arts Festival’s Place Des Anges followed by The Giants and the extraordinary growth of the Fringe World Festival have demonstrated how the streets can come alive. The recent Boorna Waanginy (The Trees Speak) event in Kings Park showed how far we have come and how confident we should be in the appeal of our natural assets and indigenous culture. Something like 110,000 turned out in poor weather. I walked by myself on the Sunday night around 9pm eavesdropping on families, international backpackers and couples as they marvelled at what was intrinsic to this land and how well it was presented.

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TM: WA is doing okay with attracting tourists, such as former students, with its place marketing, but how could it be more extraordinary? How can government help?

I’d like to see a greater understanding by treasury and government that tourism can provide a return on investment and not be regarded as a sunk cost. Corporations that invest in marketing will do so at a rate of between three to eight per cent of sales revenue. If tourism in WA is close to $9 billion and we apply that commercial thinking even to a lesser degree we are still a long way short of the support that should be there. And certainty of funding in future years, beyond the election cycle, is necessary for effective promotional planning and event acquisition. More broadly, we are in a period where the foundations for tourism growth have been laid, with increased hotel room supply, precinct upgrades, Elizabeth Quay and the new stadium. It is imperative now that policy is more about investment in demand stimulation and content. Tourism is a job creator, particularly in hospitality. With technological change creating an uncertain employment market, the health of the sector is critical given that these jobs are difficult to automate. There is an elevated comprehension of the huge international-student opportunity that is driving the government, universities, the tourism industry and others to develop integrated strategies to attract more of this market, particularly from Asia. Education and family visits already make up a significant percentage of international tourist numbers and these should keep growing, which in turn will feed us with the benefits of youth, diversity and street life. Howard Cearns is a founder of Little Creatures Brewing, Alex Hotel, Shadow Wine Bar and Hippocampus Distillery, and was involved in the branding of the State Buildings development. He is a commissioner on the Tourism WA board, where he chairs Events Tourism, and sits as a member of the Strategic Marketing Committee.

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Right: 110,000 visitors attended Boorna Waanginy at PIAF 2017. Image: Toni Wilkinson

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Chinese financial investment has been shaping the Western Australian environment in the areas of mineral extraction and property purchasing, but as the resources boom declines in Australia, WA is now focusing on Chinese tourism as an alternative source of revenue. As the wealth of the Chinese has grown, so has outbound Chinese tourism: Chinese travellers are now among most numerous and highestspending in the world. The WA state government wants to increase the value of WA tourism to $12 billion by 2020. Chinese outbound tourism is key to reaching this target. This means doubling the number of Chinese tourists coming to WA within four years. Spend by Chinese tourists is higher than that of other countries’ tourists, at $6295 per trip, reports Tourism Research Australia (2016). But Chinese visitors who come to WA make up only 4 per cent of the million or so Chinese who visit Australia each year, and they mostly want to see rock (Uluru) and reef (Great Barrier). So what’s holding WA back from gaining a larger share of Chinese tourists to Australia? Chinese tourists are interested in Western Australia. It can offer what their home cities – Shanghai, Guangzhou, Beijing, Shenzhen, Tianjin – cannot: nature, fresh air and isolation. The Sydney Morning Herald has reported that “Perth is the ninth-most-popular destination in Australia for Chinese searching on TripAdvisor” (28 April 2016). However, there are hurdles to clear in turning web visits into actual visits: distances in WA are huge and there is a lack of connection to local and unique experiences. Trips by Chinese tourists are short, often lasting two weeks. (The Chinese generally only get five paid annual leave days a year.) But in WA, distances are long. Aviation infrastructure does not yet allow for direct international flights to the south-west or the Coral Coast, and connections are also required for the north. Chinese tourists do not want to spend eight hours of their two days in WA (perhaps as part of a 10-day Australian trip) on a bus or plane. They choose destinations based on flight durations – the top five countries for Chinese tourism are those that share borders with China (or that can be reached in under five hours). It is difficult in WA to travel between thematically connected attractions in a short period of time. Partly because of these poor travel connections, 98 per cent of Chinese tourists who visit WA go to Perth, with 13 per cent heading on

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Previous pages: Tourists enjoying the view from the Lotterywest Federation Walkway, designed by architects Donaldson and Warn, at Kings Park and Botanic Garden. Image courtesy of Tourism Western Australia

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to the south-west (Margaret River) reports Tourism Western Australia. Fewer tourists go north or east. While tourists heading to Perth or to Margaret River want to see nature, they won’t necessarily be heading to the beach; for cultural reasons, tanning is not popular. Chinese tourists seek out natural landscapes with rock formations (such as Wave Rock or The Pinnacles), as they are significant culturally and spiritually.

Chinese tourists often seek out natural landscapes with rock formations, such as Wave Rock near Hyden. Image courtesy of Tourism Western Australia

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There are other reasons Chinese people visit Australia. While half come for a holiday, another 30 per cent come to visit friends or relatives (who are most likely in higher education). What unites Chinese tourists, according to Tourism Research Australia, is that four-fifths of Chinese visitors eat Chinese food daily, with almost all eating it at some time during their trip. At the same time, Chinese tourists are looking for cultural experiences that they wouldn’t be able to have at home. So, how can tourism combine cuisine and local culture to deepen the travel experience for Chinese visitors? Gastronomical experiences are rapidly changing, with peerto-peer platforms opening up the tourist dining experience to enable tourists to access local knowledge. EatWith allows one to share in a home-cooked meal, TripAdvisor identifies nearby restaurants, UrbanBuddy and Withlocals connect travellers with locals who can answer your questions, such as “Where’s the best place to get a

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coffee?” Locals’ cafes, homes and neighbourhoods are becoming valued destinations. The City of Copenhagen has acknowledged this trend: it launched its 2020 tourist strategy around collaborative consumption with the hyperbolic title “The end of tourism as we know it”. Its policy is one of “promoting through others rather than to others”. The idea is that participation in the co-creation of experiences increases tourist satisfaction, and encourages repeat visitation. In Western Australia, local experiences could be amplified through inviting more Chinese digital influencers to the state. Tourism New Zealand has been successful in getting key opinion leaders from China, including actors Yao Chen and Huang Lei, to share their travel experiences in that country. Yao Chen, who is the most followed person on social media platform Weibo, with over 75 million followers, held her wedding in Queenstown, which boosted its visibility and generated millions of dollars worth of coverage with over 6900 stories, reported Tourism New Zealand. Tourism and Events Queensland has hosted food and travel blogger Sun Xiaopeng, while Destination NSW invited seven digital influencers from China last summer. The ‘influencer’ approach can also help launch new destinations. The pink lakes of WA (Hutt Lagoon, north of Geraldton, and Lake Hillier on Middle Island near Esperance) have been a surprise selfie hit with Chinese tourists. Interest in these regions can be traced back to 2014 after a YouTube video appeared, followed by a visit by the Chinese travel show Traveller. In 2016, over a ten-day period alone, Geraldton Air Charter had 100 Chinese tourists book in to see Hutt Lagoon. The impact Chinese tourists are having on Australia is multidimensional. The challenge for Western Australia is to work out how to increase the experiences (and spend) of Chinese tourists. The co-creation of experiences with locals is one way, and this has the potential to increase repeat visitations of tourists through the forging of deeper connections with people and place.

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Right: Melissa, who studied in Perth but who is now based in Singapore, organised her pre-wedding shoot with Jon at the pink lake of Hutt Lagoon near Port Gregory. Image: Lightedpixels Photography

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Perth’s metropolitan landscape shows the disproportionate and lasting influence of a long line of entrepreneurial investor-developers. Beginning with founding Governor James Stirling in the early 19th century, these enterprising visionaries show a complex web of motivations for their speculations. There are surprising parallels between Stirling and another investor-developer, also originating from the UK. The late Alan Bond masterfully brought together sandgroper lifestyle, Mediterranean theme and frontier swagger as he launched from the late 1960s perhaps the most extensive series of land openings in Perth since Stirling’s in the 1830s. And all in the name of a yacht race. The fact that these men were both British is interesting and relevant; that they were both seafaring is especially so. Royal Navy officer Stirling’s living legacy is the pastoral colony planted along the fertile banks of the Swan River network, extending from Fremantle to Guildford. Corporate entrepreneur-sailor Bond’s lesser-known imprint is the extraordinary opening up and consolidation of a coastal suburbia hemming Perth’s metropolitan beaches from Yanchep to Fremantle. If Stirling’s contribution was to stake out, within the first decade of European settlement, the eastern limits of Perth’s metropolis towards the Darling Scarp, Bond’s was to extend this north-westward. Together they had prepared the ground for instrumental planning initiatives such as the 1963 Metropolitan Region Scheme and the 1970 Corridor Plan for Perth; the latter underwrote the expansion of Perth’s suburban blanket as far north as the proposed Sun City. Bond’s speculative development of a chain of village-like marinas deserves study not only because of the significant part they played in urbanising the coast, but also for their interesting typological amalgams. Mixed in almost equal parts are the scale of British seaside town, material form of Mediterranean village and flatness of Perth suburbia.

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Join our coast to Cup round trip as we consider the special agency of Bond who, via the prestigious and lucrative America’s Cup yacht race, instigated what has since become a virtually continuous stretch of Mediterranean green coastal sub-urbanism associated with leisure and sponsored by tourism. FROM COAST TO CUP Bookending the tour are two of Bond’s major, though not entirely successful, business ventures at Yanchep and Scarborough, both envisaged during the binge on massive profit made from two America’s Cup challenges a decade apart. We begin and end at Scarborough, Perth’s original beachfront holiday, and later entertainment, district. From here we will take a drive north on Marmion Avenue, one of Perth’s major arterial roads, to see the unfolding narrative of the city’s stretched-out coastal suburbia.

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At the Scarborough end of the Avenue, Bond’s Rendezvous Observation City tower complex by Robert Cann & Associates has sat forlornly since 1986, anticipating the strip development that Bond promised but could never deliver. Anchoring the northern end 60 kilometres, or about an hour’s drive away (actually in Two Rocks), is Yanchep Sun City. On approach to Yanchep, veer off Marmion and leave your car at the ‘city’ centre to see the sites on foot – there should be an abundance of free bays if you just follow Enterprise Avenue to its terminus beneath the shadow of a giant, hollow limestone King Neptune.

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Neptune and his accomplices are relics of the once-busy Atlantis Marine Park (now home to Atlantis Beach Sales Office), a souvenir of Bond’s early entrepreneurial activity along this coastal fringe complete with Corinthian columns and frolicking dolphins (who were eventually rehomed at Hillarys Underwater World). Sun City emerged after the acquisition by Bond Corp in 1969 of nearly 20,000 acres of land and marks the beginnings of his now fabled efforts, over two decades, to vie for the coveted America’s Cup. As Sun City was being slated as Perth’s next premier tourist resort and coastal subdivision, Bond was preparing for a second Cup challenge in the marina he built there. Using the yacht race as a promotional vehicle to support the lucrative housing venture that had begun to take shape, Bond’s Yanchep is just the first of a number of coastal nodes that emerged in the fever pitch of the America’s Cup events, which we pass heading south on Marmion Ave. These include the over-scaled and heavily privatised Mindarie Quays, begun in 1986, and the more southern Hillarys Marina, completed in time for the 1987 defence in Fremantle and predicted tourism influx.

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The suburbs that occupy the hinterland of these two later marinas – through which we now inexorably travel – emerged at the height of the derided and pejoratively labelled ‘McMansion’ phase of suburbanisation. These places rely not so much on the tourist-geared marina for regular amenity than on the regional shopping centre where the drive-thru burger and orthodontic clinic are collected into one convenient monolith.

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SUBURBAN ENTERPRISE: THE BUSINESS OF LEISURE Bond’s early Cup forays and marina developments coincided with the implementation of the state government’s Corridor Plan of 1970. With it came Whitfords – gazetted as its own suburb in 1971 after an appeal by the developer, who in 1984 went on to jointly develop with Bond his namesake tower (now 108 St Georges Terrace). When it opened in 1978, Whitfords was the largest regional shopping centre in the northern suburbs, and is currently undergoing major redevelopment. Note as you drive by the names of the surrounding streets, which rattle off the army of colonial explorers that helped open up the rest of the country for European exploitation: Padbury, Dawes, Baxter, Eyre, Forrest and countless others identify the cul-de-sacs, crescents, closes and loops of Perth’s northern garden suburbs. If Bond’s genius was in recognising the business potential of the Cup, it goes without saying that this alignment with suburban sensibilities was an integral part of his public character and marketing strategy. In Newport, Rhode Island, where the Yanchep-funded challenge took place, Bond, with his vast quantity of Australian beer in tow, warned the champagne and gin-and-tonic traditionalists of the American yachting world that the days of this being a gentleman’s sport were long gone. This rhetoric meshes persuasively with the coastal suburbia Bond was promoting in his enterprising housing subdivisions: leisure of this (12metre yachting) kind was not only available to aristocrats or gentlemen, but was accessible to what was then considered the ‘ordinary’ middle-class, suburban, home-owning, mortgage-reliant Australian. SUN CITY: GREENING THE SAND

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Bond’s brand of urbanism is a curious mutation of Stirling’s original garden-and-cottage vision. The governor’s early recommendation of the name Hesperia (after the mythical Garden of the Hesperides) for the Swan River Colony had intended to capture its aesthetic but also economic potential as a place for British settlers. As the ‘land looking west’, its geographic position was ideal for trade, the climate and fertile soils were suitable for agriculture, and the flatly undulating grass land promised the idyllic pastoral lifestyle. But Stirling had focused inwards, upon the riverine landscape. By contrast, Bond was drawn to the beach. Unable, however, to make living on a sandy windswept dune site attractive to the local market, Bond had the Yanchep dunes painted green to add garden suburb appeal.

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King Neptune at the site of Atlantis Marine Park. Image: Flickr/Tor Lindstrand CC BY 2.0

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It remains to be seen what will happen to many of these now-abandoned theme park and coastal sites. The most likely outcome is the equally absurd extension of the dominant contemporary subdivision that attempts to plant English gardens on dune landscapes while simultaneously evoking the language of urban sophistication. It is possible to live in your ‘Manhattan’-styled three-bedroom home, enjoy a morning flat white by the lake and then take a stroll down Graceful Boulevard for a late-afternoon surf.

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In the context of Australian urbanism the garden suburb is well documented. Unique to Perth, though, is this evocation of the Mediterranean and its correspondence with the marketability of leisure. Let’s go back to Sun City’s town centre for a moment and consider the quality architectural manifestation set out by architects Forbes and Fitzhardinge in 1975. A cluster of beige village-like forms constructed from brick, the centre’s toggled corners recall the masonry tectonics of a Venetian structure perched somewhere along the Cretan coast, while the blue and white paint detail might evoke memories from that sailing holiday you once took through the Greek islands.

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But just as Bond’s original scheme for the city folded, Forbes and Fitzhardinge’s town centre and the remains of Atlantis are appearing more like an archaeological site than a bustling village. Having originally overestimated the market potential, Bond sold out his interest to a multi-billion-dollar Japanese corporation which, after waiting for Perth’s property market to catch up, proceeded to resuscitate the housing enterprise and continue to develop the region at an extravagant pace. In place of the pedestrian alleys of the local plateia, however, new commercial centres feature up-scaled big-box retail and Toyota SUVs.

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SCARBOROUGH FAIR?

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Yanchep now inevitably awaits its northward extension, pushing the bookend of our tour another hour’s drive up the coast. There, at Lancelin, one can observe the awkward mingling of the cray fisherman’s fibro beach shack with the ‘Florentine limestone’ brick and grey Colorbond-encircled catalogue homes. Lancelin has, since 1986, achieved notoriety for a grand windsurfing race that attracts competitors from all over, decent surf and the shifting sand dunes that loom somewhat precariously over the township.

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This freshest subdivision, Lancelin South – Quality Coastal Living, markets an “enviable holiday lifestyle” and adopts the windsurfing motif and the catchphrase ‘set sail’. Another example of seafaring suburbanism promoting and propped up by the business of leisure. Closing the tour, back at our starting point, Rendezvous Observation City no longer stands alone. Though Bond’s initial plans here were stymied by a local institution – the kebab shop Peter’s by the Sea, who wouldn’t sell – his influence remains tangible as the Metropolitan Redevelopment Authority (MRA) adopts one of his old tricks: the green dune. Another has emerged. This is the most recent, but certainly not the last, in a fascinating series of projects ‘greening’ Perth’s metropolitan beaches. Sunset Hill is the aptly named, westward-looking grassy knoll that now foregrounds the Rendezvous.

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Thanks to the MRA’s massive investment in the foreshore redevelopment new apartment buildings have sprouted in the last year. The collocation here of quintessential beach culture, major transport thoroughfare, corporate prowess and an up-to-the-minute mixed-use, higher-density, lifestyle-guaranteed coastal redevelopment makes it a magnetic hub. Capping it all: a just-announced, 40-storey twisting twin tower proposal by Hillam Architects for Chinese developers 3 Oceans Property. The developers’ managing director, Dyno Zhang, taking some wind out of Bond’s sails, remarked to The West Australian: “It’s so important we provide a legacy for the future and look at how we can create social capital.”

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The marinas and leisure parks of Perth. Stirling's axis from Fremantle to Guildford – arable land along the edges of Swan and Canning Rivers Bond's axis from Fremantle to Yanchep Sun City 1980s leisure and pleasure parks on the urban fringes

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This article has emerged from work on a website project called ExcursionsWA (www.excursionswa.org), which has been funded by UWA’s Centre for Education Futures. The first part of this project is due for completion in September 2017.

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Be generous with time.

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Share with a network.

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The 104km National Tourist Route Geiranger–Trollstigen in Norway has been called one of the most dramatic drives in the world. The two-hour journey takes visitors through eleven hairpin bends as the landscape ascends to 858 metres above sea level, around fjords, past high waterfalls and along mountainsides that soar up to 1600 metres. However, nature is not the only sight to see: the roadway is connected by architecture and art initiatives that dot the landscape, including two dramatic viewing platforms designed by Reiulf Ramstad Architects. The architectural rest stops that heighten views towards the fjords and valleys provide memorable moments on an extended car journey. One car drives along this road every ten seconds in the summer months, an incredible number for such a remote location.

The Ørnesvingen viewing point creates a waterfall from an existing mountain stream. Image: Steinar Skaar / Statens Vegvesen

The experience economy, where the memory itself becomes the product, drives tourism in the 21st century. In a time when extraordinary experiences are being promoted by cities, towns and regions as part of a tourist package, the natural environment is under pressure to enhance its existing assets in order to be shared, liked, meme-d and appreciated. National parks across Australia are beginning to see the insertion of new tourism infrastructure whose purpose is to generate better experiences and higher visitation. This melds with a 40

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new way of thinking where conservation and tourism are considered complementary rather than oppositional. Adam Nitschke, Manager Precinct and Maritime Planning at Parks Victoria, is one of the ‘believers’. “Conservation in the current day must work in partnership with tourism, because quality visitor experiences are critical in engaging people with nature and developing our next generation’s appreciation of our national parks and natural places. They will be the influencers and decision makers of the future.” Such an idea hinges upon tourism being intricately linked with conservation goals, where appropriate tourism developments in one part of a national park deliver greater protection to other areas, including funds to support them. Tasmania is one Australian state that increased visitation to its natural attractions through the implementation of tourist infrastructure. Three Capes Track, which was opened in December 2015 by Tasmania Parks and Wildlife Service, is a 46-kilometre hiking path adjacent to the highest sea cliffs in the southern hemisphere. The combination of formed track, boardwalks, overnight cabins, detailed guidebooks, host park rangers and a boat cruise to the starting point has assisted in converting a remote track for intrepid adventurers into an extended but manageable path for inexperienced hikers. More than twice the number of people walked the track in the first month after it reopened than normally would in a year.

The smallest viewing platform along the Geiranger–Trollstigen route provides wheelchair access. Image: Per Kollstad / Statens Vegvesen

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The cabins (designed by Jaws Architects) and track are designed to have minimal environmental impact and were transported ‘flat-pack’ by helicopter to be assembled on site. Cabin windows are tilted down 20 degrees to reflect the ground in order to stop birds flying into them. The inclusion of mattresses, gas cooktops and basic cooking equipment in the overnight cabins reduces the need to carry camping gear, but add to the price – it costs $495 to subscribe to the four-day experience. As at November 2016, Three Capes Track had contributed $3.3 million to the overall revenue earned through Tasmania’s national parks for FY16, which rose by 37 per cent on the previous year to $17.2 million.

Cabins were flat-packed and delivered by helicopter to be assembled on site. Image: Jesse Desjardins

Private operator Tasmanian Walking Company (TWC) is now constructing two more luxurious lodges along Three Capes Track, designed by Andrew Burns Architects, which will open in late 2017. Staying in these lodges as part of the four-day Three Capes experience will cost about $2500. National parks have a dual role of conserving nature while allowing for opportunities for recreation. If Australians want Previous pages: A new boardwalk along Three Capes Track between Cape Pillar and the Blade. Image courtesy of Tasmania Parks and Wildlife Service

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to maintain national parks in order to retain biodiversity, we may have to start allowing them to generate income. This may be ideologically spurious to some, but low-impact commercial tourism does not have to be synonymous with poor and non-inclusive design and environmental degradation, or come with an inaccessible price tag. At Three Capes Track hikers can still access most of the track and its upgrade with a Parks Pass (starting at $12), but they miss out on the cabins, detailed guide book, access to Port Arthur and boat cruise. While commercial tourism within Australian national parks is becoming more common, regulation and management vary from state to state. The success of commercial tourism hinges upon strict agreements between licensed tour operators and national parks that are not only signed, but also enforced. If executed carefully and considerably, such deals could lead to positive innovation in the way we engage with our pristine land. Through master plans, strict design guidelines and a strong collaborative approach, the commercial tourist operators and new infrastructure can welcome people who may not have the courage, the experience or the ability to be there in other circumstances, while being part of the project to control environmental damage, overcrowding and visual degradation.

Munro Cabin offers views to Cape Hauy, and sometimes visiting whales. Image courtesy of Tasmania Parks and Wildlife Service

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Sally Farrah: The $8 million East Pilbara Arts Centre opened in April 2016 in Newman, about 1200 kilometres north of Perth. It has extensive art-making and gallery space, and the building also acts as a gateway to the mining town. Who is the audience for the East Pilbara Arts Centre? Is it for locals or tourists? Gabrielle Sullivan: The audience for the East Pilbara Arts Centre is the artists whose work fills the space, the extended family of those artists, and the Newman community. The initial thinking about the audience was that it would be artists and staff. Martumili had outgrown the two small transportable buildings and sea containers it was operating from in Newman. The building needed to work for the Martu community; it needed to be accessible to them and they needed it to belong to them. If a building was created that the artists were not comfortable in or didn’t feel ownership of the project would fail. The artists are the ones who are creating the work and sharing their culture, and the building had to enable them to do that. This informed the process from the outset. We felt that if the rationale for the project were right, other audiences would come.

The centre looks out onto the bush. Image: Robert Frith – Acorn Photo

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Newman is on Nyiyaparli land. It isn’t Martu country but lots of Martu live there. Throughout the process the artists talked about this, and people needed to know this when they walked into the gallery. The staff at the art centre were told (by Martu) that Nyiyaparli had to open the new building. The opening in April 2016 was a great event and one of the rare occasions at a large public event in Newman that Nyiyaparli country and the relationship with the Martu were acknowledged. Many people who live in Newman don’t know about it. In 2011 an architectural competition was launched for the design of the East Pilbara Arts Centre. Why was an architectural competition necessary? The idea for a design competition came out of the necessity to attract funding to the project. The aim was to inspire the architects and designers who entered the competition to create something relevant that responded to and developed the design brief. Developing the brief was important: this gave the artists the opportunity to have input. The design competition was funded with the support of BHP Billiton. I understand that Martu painting is heavily symbolic. Did this symbolic cultural tradition influence the winning entry for the arts centre by Officer Woods Architects? I think the building won because of functionality; the building inside the shed was key. Everyone is familiar with big sheds in the Pilbara. The shed felt like it would protect what was inside but also enable the inside to connect with what was outside. Although small and less than ideal when it rained, the space at the old Martumili buildings in Newman was a nice place to work. Everyone (artists) loved sitting on that deck, being in the garden, looking out to the bush. The winning entry enabled this on a large scale, come rain, hail or shine. Martu artists are renowned for big paintings. Collaborative works hang in Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra and travel to various institutions around the country, but never before have they been experienced in the Pilbara. Martumili Ngurra is one of the most looked-at works at the National Museum of Australia. Thousands of people see it every week. The winning design allows these magnificent collaborative works to be showcased. Following pages: The centre provides a space to share creativity and culture. Image: Robert Frith – Acorn Photo

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Has the East Pilbara Arts Centre made Newman a unique arts destination? Yes, it is unique. I think there are some people who know it is there and who would make the trip. They need to get one of those brown tourist trail signs on the Great Northern Highway; they always draw people in. There isn’t anywhere else in Newman that invites the public in on a daily basis to experience Aboriginal art and culture, specifically Martu art and culture, so it is absolutely unique. It is also unique that local government has supported Martumili and the East Pilbara Arts Centre. The Martumili Gallery is the heart of the facility and everything else hangs off that. With increased visibility of the artists within the new building, how does one celebrate and promote the tradition and culture of indigenous art authentically to tourists? The Martumili Gallery in the arts centre sells work and this does provide economic opportunity for the artists and their communities, but it also provides a space to share creativity and culture. Many of the works shown in the gallery are not for sale; they are enormous collaborative works, such as video installations, which have been created to record stories to pass them onto younger people and to share with the wider Pilbara community. Many of the Martu artists have travelled overseas – to Asia, the US, Europe. They have been invited to participate at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, their work has been included in the official selection at Sundance, and their exquisite works hang in major public institutions across Australia. These are significant achievements for any artist, but a relatively small collective of artists has achieved this in less than 10 years. This should be celebrated in the Pilbara, where all too often only the negative is highlighted. Working collaboratively and respectfully with the artists is essential to Martumili’s success, of course. The arts centre needs to sell work to generate income to keep the centre going. Of course the artists need and should earn income from the sale of their work, but it is not the commodification of the art that drives the artists, it is recording and passing on stories. Martu artists are the cultural authority on the work they create. Martu artists were relatively late starters in the establishment of their art centre (Martumili Artists). Senior Martu artists scoped and consulted widely on their own before deciding to

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establish a centre because they didn’t want to commodify their culture. The financial support of the Australian Government, BHP Billiton and the Pilbara Development Commission, and the ongoing support of the shire, are essential to the success of Martumili. Martumili needed to be strong before the arts centre infrastructure was built; there is no point having the building if there isn’t anything to live inside. How has the mining boom shaped the Pilbara region more broadly? Has it created other significant opportunities for reinvesting in local culture? It would depend on whom you were asking. My response will be different to that of a Martu person who is homeless in Port Hedland. It is apparent in Pilbara towns that there has been significant investment into infrastructure projects; however, the same investment in infrastructure has not occurred in the Aboriginal communities of the East Pilbara. It has obviously been great for Martumili Artists in relation to the East Pilbara Arts Centre and the Martumili Gallery in Newman.

The design provides space inside and out. Image: Robert Frith – Acorn Photo

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Western Australia is blessed with beautiful, diverse and dramatic landscapes. Singular to it are its thousands of varieties of native wildflowers: the explosion of floral blooms, each spring in particular, is an international drawcard, with thousands enjoying excursions to view amazing displays from the Great Southern to the Kimberley. According to the WA Department of Parks and Wildlife (DPaW), the south-western part of the state alone is home to more than 7000 species of flowering plants. The wildflowers of WA are central to the state’s identity and culture, and should be part of any discussion about it. For indigenous Australians, the flowers signify the changes in the seasons. Many exhibit healing properties, providing food and pollen to support a balanced ecosystem. Recent years have seen expansive development impact the natural environment of Western Australia. While there are still great swathes of untouched land, this development highlights the question of how we establish a modern and successful urban environment amid a landscape that still exhibits endemic qualities. How do we ensure we keep a connection to what we truly love about the natural environment? There is an opportunity to celebrate the uniqueness of WA through design – and this includes ‘leveraging’ the landscape. Perth, in particular, has largely shaken its ‘dullsville’ tag, in part due to the energy and vitality of recent place-led developments, which promote high levels of activation, as well as vibrant public artwork, innovative architecture and a transformed nightlife. As part of this transformation designers are seeking to draw upon the unique qualities of the Western Australian environment, creating new spaces and forms that celebrate the state’s rich geology, indigenous heritage, climate, and native flora and fauna. Perth’s Kings Park is evidence of how well the implementation of native flora can work. The park has over six million visitors a year, who come to enjoy the floral displays, city views and bushland walks. Despite the popularity of the park, there has been limited take-up of native flora more broadly in urban spaces. Native planting has largely been avoided due to its perceived ‘scrappy’ appearance, difficulties in establishment and the perception of onerous maintenance requirements. There are significant opportunities throughout Perth to inject a sense of ‘soft urbanism’ using our native plants. Soft 55

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urbanism is a design approach that twines together landscape and the urban environment to establish a sense of place. Soft urbanism values the landscape, earth sciences and biodiversity. Wildflowers can bring a much-needed ‘softness’ to the urban environment, providing relief from the hardness of our streets and built forms. Soft urbanism can create a valid and valuable point of differentiation – at a global level as well as locally. WA’s isolation and particular brand of beauty have the potential to become a special attractor, one born from the symbolic ‘twinning’ of a wildflower landscape, like Kings Park, and the city. The weaving of the WA wildflower story into the realms of landscape design, architecture, public art and temporary pop-up interventions is already starting. The challenge is how to do it in a way that has a sense of permanence and which feels meaningful. It is being seen in top-down planning along with bottom-up activism. Since 2013, the public-private project Wildflower Capital Initiative (WCI), led by Sharni Howe, has advocated to promote the themes of wildflowers, six-season planting and embedding places with the spirit of Western Australia. Howe has been liaising with a range of government departments and private champions and has gathered a broad range of supporters. Complementing the WCI work are emerging initiatives such as the Historic Heart of Perth project in the CBD’s east end, which endeavours to bring wildflowers into the city, either through direct planting or through interpretative design and public art in key laneways and open spaces. (Our senses have been stimulated even further with the opening of a fine-dining restaurant called Wildflower.) One of the most striking examples of recent design that references wildflowers is Fiona Stanley Hospital (designed by Hassell, Silver Thomas Hanley and Hames Sharley). Its dramatic diamond facade is an abstract response to the banksia. The combination of the bold facade treatment and the expansive areas of native planting, many of which are at rooftop level, make this a major public architecture project that confidently positions itself in a Western Australian context. In major infrastructure projects it has now become a requirement to include design, art and landscape treatments that draw inspiration from the project’s particular locality. Previous pages: Fiona Stanley Hospital by Hassell. Image: Peter Bennetts Right: Crown Towers by Hassell. Image: Douglas Mark Black

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Yagan Square's upper level, looking west towards the amphitheatre. Image courtesy of Metropolitan Redevelopment Authority

Major road projects (including Gateway WA, New Perth Bunbury Highway and NorthLink WA) have all worked hard to reinforce a WA sense of place – expansive native revegetation strategies have combined with nodal floral displays, public artwork and architectural responses imbued with the colours and tones of the WA landscape. Similarly, Perth Airport has been keen to better represent WA, with its choice of planting and use of wildflowers being key to this. It has created a ‘landscape journey’ from the terminal forecourts, along the entry roads and through to the Gateway WA project that links the airport to greater Perth. A Main Roads Western Australia program, Wildflower Way, is currently under development, and aims to radically uplift the landscape experience from airport to city. It is a city-making project that showcases a beautiful, rich and rare landscape of wildflowers throughout key infrastructure corridors. It is a long-term vision, focused beyond the electoral cycle, which aims to establish a truly transformative landscape legacy. An exciting example of this kind of design approach occurring at the precinct level is the new Perth Stadium (designed by Hassell, Cox Architecture and HKS). The project aims to attract 60

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visitors, year-round, to the banks of the Swan River. While the facade references the dramatic iron-infused geological strata of the north, the stadium park highlights the spirit of the six Noongar seasons. Expansive swathes of planting combine with a dramatic nature play experience that highlights the flora and fauna of the region. The design team has worked collaboratively with indigenous advisors and artists, environmentalists, and horticultural experts to unlock the potential of this gateway landscape. Also under construction is the WA State Government project Yagan Square (designed by Lyons Architecture and Aspect Studios), adjacent to Perth Station. The design focuses heavily on conveying a Western Australian sense of place, with local materials, art, water play and local wildflower planting working together to create a city environment infused with energy. There have been other interesting examples of design that has been informed by wildflowers. Many of these express themselves as pavilions, canopies and street furniture placed in parks and precincts – Kings Park, again, being a strong example. Of note, also, is the recent landscape work completed at Crown Perth, which makes a strong attempt to firmly ground itself in the Western Australian landscape. At the neighbourhood scale, there is a debate surrounding how we treat our ‘leftover’ spaces, in particular residential street verges. The drive towards water-wise planting and using natives is a move in the right direction, with the obvious benefits of reduced water use, creation of habitat and the ability for residents to experience the natural changing of seasons through changes in foliage and floral display. A movement among government, developers and the design community is taking hold and is breeding opportunities to bring the theme of Western Australian wildflowers into the public realm – in particular the life, vitality, unique shapes, colours and scents of them. There is much to draw inspiration from. It will be interesting to see how well WA’s spaces and places realise this potential as the current and emerging generation of artists, designers, developers, horticulturists and planners seek to express and reinforce a Western Australian sense of identity.

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The alkali flats of north-western Nevada’s Black Rock Desert are sparse and unforgiving. Flat and featureless yellow-packed playa (desert basin floor) stretches into the horizon under a 38-degree sun. Once an inland sea, the desert lava beds are the perfect place for faking a moon landing. Low humidity peels back the cuticles and cracks the skin. Swirling particles signal the dust storms that will block the throat and scratch the lenses of the eye, taking visibility down to less than a metre in front of the face. The site of experimental vehicle land-speed records and rocket launches, Black Rock seems an unlikely place for the annual convergence of almost 70,000 people for a festival with no programmed events, no line and nothing for sale. Yet every August, Burning Man brings a temporary self-governing city to the desert. Burning Man has transformed from a small community festival into a ‘must-do’ on the global event tourism circuit in the space of thirty years. The annual festival now draws a mix of partygoers, experimentalists, activists, committed ‘Burners’ and experience seekers looking to tick ‘the Burn’ off their bucket list. The ten days of self-curated art, community and self-expression in the desert is also big business. In 2015, according to the After Burn Report now released after each festival, attendees spent an average of AU$2600 during the festival. Twenty per cent of punters came from outside the United States, bringing with them the coveted international tourism dollar. The success and point of difference from other festivals worldwide is the temporary suspension of patrons in a mental and physical space outside of their everyday reality. This requires a different type of governance that permits all sorts of activities. A not-for-profit based out of California, Burning Man runs primarily on volunteer power. Creating a universal culture of permission and managing a population the size of Greater Bunbury while complying with policy and regulatory conditions is no mean feat. Legal teams negotiate everything from Special Recreation Permits with the federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to thousands of Temporary Food Establishment permits with the Nevada State Health Division that allow festival goers to gift food to each other. Comforts are few in the harsh Nevada desert, and sustaining Black Rock City is challenging. The temporary autonomous Right: The camp has a grid street structure. Image: Flickr/Duncan Rawlinson CC BY-NC 2.0

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zone is built and maintained through self-regulating urban planning, community services, project grants, public infrastructure, emergency protocols and safety plans. The Black Rock City Department of Public Works (BRC DPW) oversees wayfinding and street surveying. The Department of Mutant Vehicles (DMV) oversees the art cars – pirate ships, dust-bowl era shacks and flamethrowing octopi – that glide past pedestrians and cyclists.

Elaborate temporary architecture supports the annual gathering. Image: Flickr/Duncan Rawlinson CC BY-NC 2.0

The festival is in many ways an innovation lab for rethinking cities. Infrastructure and services are provided, creating a scaffold for Black Rock City civic engagement as citizens cocreate, maintain and dismantle a city in the space of two weeks. Volunteer-provisioned tools are in place to help local communities bring to life various cultural and social enterprise programs in line with the festival’s 10 Principles. The 10 Principles, enshrined 66

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by festival founder and Burner guru Larry Harvey, wouldn’t be out of place on the wall of any civic urbanism devotee – they are radical inclusion, gifting, decommodification, radical self-reliance, radical self-expression, communal effort, civic responsibility, participation, immediacy and leaving no trace. Black Rock City’s remote location means the majority of festival goers drive, often cross country, while around a third fly. Power-hungry generators scatter the playa and mutant vehicles leave diesel fumes in their wake. The cost and impact of ten days worth of living is apparent after each festival. Burning Man has recognised this impact and has voiced a commitment to reducing the festival footprint. The ‘leave no trace’ principle incorporates MOOPing, or removing all Matter Out Of Place. MOOP includes anything not found on arrival, including grey water, dust dunes and plant matter. Magnet sweepers, rakes and rebar-removing grips are all part of MOOP kits. The culture cultivated at Burning Man has spread though affiliated regional events. In April 2017 Western Australia hosted for the fourth time its own Burning Man offshoot event, Blazing Swan, at Jilakin Rock City, joining the eastern seaboard’s Burning Seed. Burning Man’s increasing popularity also delivers increasing returns. The organisers estimate the economic impact to Nevada is around $45 million annually. Reno-Tahoe International Airport estimates a $10 million annual contribution as Burners flow through to Reno, stocking up on supplies and stopping for a well-earned shower. While appraising the bottom line of major events can be fraught, there is no doubt the festival has brought Nevada valuable exposure alongside an influx of new spending. Reno has leveraged Burning Man’s civic, cultural and innovation ethos to recast itself as a livable, progressive city with a burgeoning start-up and maker scene. The festival has also become an important partner for Gerlach, the 200-person community closest to Black Rock City. Located by a former gypsum quarry, the town’s welcome sign would be at home outside many remote Western Australian mining communities: Welcome to Gerlach. Attitude: Good. Population: Wanted. The economic and social impact of Burning Man on Gerlach manifests in seasonal employment and direct support for the town’s social infrastructure. Black Rock Solar, established at Burning Man, has brought the festival’s gift economy to everyday life in rural 67

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Nevada through the provision of free or low-cost renewable energy to a number of local schools, towns and Native American communities. Burning Man also acts a gateway to Nevada’s remote natural attractions, with 17 per cent of festival goers visiting other parks as part of their trip. For remote Western Australian towns and cities, unique events could act as a springboard, enticing tourists to launch themselves into all that the state has to offer. Local and state governments across Australia have been actively building calendars of tightly curated, highly programmed major arts and sporting events in attempts to lure tourist time and spend. Burning Man models an opportunity for governments to support the vision of local social entrepreneurs and not-forprofits in co-creating context-specific, unique experiences for the public good. A reimagined role for government might be around supporting its local population to shape leisure landscapes by enabling paths through the thicket of policy and regulatory barriers. Government may even gain clues from an experimental utopian festival about anything from sustainable living innovation to new forms of urban governance.

Burners enjoy refreshments at the Dust City Diner. Image: Flickr/ Duncan Rawlinson CC BY-NC 2.0 Right: Bicycles are the main form of transport across the playa. They are recycled or gifted after the festival. Photo: Flickr/ Stuartlchambers CC BY-NC 2.0

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BIOGRAPHIES SIMON ANDERSON is an architect, educator and author. He is Head and Dean of the School of Design at the University of Western Australia. He has received several national awards for his architecture practice. ANTHONY BROOKFIELD is a Principal and Practice Leader at Hassell. He is a landscape architect with over 20 years’ experience and recently provided landscape design leadership at the new Perth Stadium, Crown, Waterbank, 480 Hay Street, Sunset Heritage Precinct and the new WA Museum.

TIMOTHY MOORE is the editor of Future West (Australian Urbanism) and director of architecture practice Sibling Architecture. He has worked as an editor of Volume and Architecture Australia magazines. GEORGIA NOWAK is an architect and artist who has worked in Stockholm and Melbourne. She is currently investigating landuse and community development throughout regional Australia.

SALLY FARRAH is a doctoral student at UWA. She also works as a sessional tutor at both UWA and Curtin University.

JENNIE OFFICER is the director of architecture practice Officer Woods. She is also a senior lecturer at UWA.

ALESSIO FINI is a Melbournebased, Perth-raised designer. He works at Fieldwork Projects and was previously at Casper Mueller Kneer Architects and Universal Design Studio in London.

KATE HISLOP is the Discipline Chair of Architecture and Landscape Architecture at UWA's School of Design. She is collaborating with Felix Joensson, Jason Macarlino and Daniel Martin on ExcursionsWA.

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GEOFFREY LONDON is a professor of architecture at UWA. He is a former government architect of Victoria and Western Australia, and a past dean and head of architecture at UWA.

BREE TREVENA is a senior officer at Creative Victoria. She is currently on leave from this role and is undertaking research at the University of Melbourne on innovation and creative precincts.

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DISTRIBUTION Future West (Australian Urbanism) is distributed by the School of Design at the University of Western Australia. To obtain a copy, navigate to alva.uwa.edu.au/community/ futurewest

Future West (Australian Urbanism) is a biannual publication that looks towards the future of urbanism, taking Perth and Western Australia as its reference point. EDITORIAL BOARD Simon Anderson Alessio Fini Geoffrey London Jennie Officer

Future West (Australian Urbanism) has been made possible with a generous private donation.

EDITOR Timothy Moore

SUBEDITOR Rowena Robertson PUBLICATION DESIGN Stuart Geddes PRINTING Printgraphics, Melbourne PUBLISHER Future West (Australian Urbanism) is published by the School of Design at the University of Western Australia. COVER IMAGE Ockert le Roux

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FUTURE WEST

In an di un d ge iq de no ue si us se gn cu ns cr ltu e ea re of te pl s a ac e. m is e ur or to m er an ul . at e gf ts re m n si G ay ni vi m ea at m pe re

D ca eve al n lo st lo be pe re w r r et fo ed co fr r m efi ntr on o ne ib ta re d ut ge di to io ns s. ve rs e

AUSTRALIAN URBANISM

WEST

[AUSTRALIAN URBANISM]

AU UR S T FU BA R A TU NI LI SM AN W R ES E T

e ur is e Le at St

FUTURE WEST