Studio D
MUP Studio D: Diversity
Inclusive Public Spaces in Diverse Communities
Dr Andrea COOK and Imogen CARR
STUDIO OUTLINE
The social aspects of urban spaces are often what differentiate good, livable and vibrant cities from those that are not. A ‘right to the city’ underpins a range of philosophical and practical planning approaches to creating built form that enriches social connections in cities and enables people to move around but also to linger, to be and to feel safe, to be accepted and welcomed and to encounter those the same -- and those different -- from themselves. A person’s ‘right to the city’, however, can be complicated by difference and by perceptions of those differences. Difference is often the basis of stigma, fear, ‘othering’ and
exclusion rather than inclusion.
This studio will explore the theory and practice of inclusive placemaking using the Lennox Street corridor (from Victoria Street to Highett Street) in North Richmond as a case study site. This area is both ‘super diverse’ and contested, enabling students to wrestle with the question of how inclusive public spaces can be truly inclusive of very different people and their needs. The studio will partner with the City of Yarra, the Neighbourhood Justice Centre, the Yarra Drug and Health Forum and other agencies and community groups to explore questions of sociability of space, spatial and social justice, diversity, inclusion/exclusion and displacement in this dynamic innercity location. Students will work with partners and with each other to find policy and design responses to the ‘wicked’ social conditions of the area that manifest in public space: socioeconomic
inequity, drug use + [perceptions of] safety, cross-cultural barriers and contested services (most notably, the Medically Supervised Injecting Facility or MSIF), for example. This studio takes a place-based and applied approach to social planning in diverse and contested locations and challenges students to produce innovative planning/policy outcomes to challenging questions of ‘who belongs’.
STUDIO OUTCOMES
In addition to the generic learning skills embedded in all studios (e.g. sharpening critical thinking and analytical skills, expanding research capacity, working effectively in teams, etc.), the learning outcomes of this studio will focus on:
- Identifying, assessing and engaging critically with a range of socio-spatial issues and
perspectives related to the case study area and surrounding neighbourhood/s - Identifying and proposing creative solutions to complex social planning issues observed
- Identifying and responding to ethical challenges related to social and spatial justice, both
as related to the site and as relevant to social planning more broadly - Understanding the relationships between planning and society, culture, environment,
space and politics
STUDIO LEADERS
Dr. Andrea Cook (Lecturer, Urban Planning) & Ms. Imogen Carr (PhD Candidate, Urban Planning)
ST1 Tuesdays 13:00-16:00 in MSD 141
ST2 Thursdays 13:00-16:00 in MSD Room 139