Studio 3/02

PRIDE AND (PRICE) OF PLACE

Mo Ritchie

Studio Description

Everyday life has been challenged by Covid 19. Due to lockdowns and travel restrictions the way citizens engage with their local places has changed. This design studio explores these on-going changes and examines how they have enhanced or diminished our identity and connections to place. Working with one local precinct Northcote, Williams Landing, Kyneton or Torquay (with the option to self-nominate) students will document shifts and changes in our urban spaces. Technologically, innovation is increasing in pace and reach and making for a more hyperconnected world. In this studio review of social media will be critical to supplementing site observations and more conventional research to explore how hyper-connectivity affects our identity and connections to place.  What has been closed or transformed? Who has left? What new attitudes and innovation have emerged? How have people changed the way they view the public domain? Drawing on this analysis, students will develop a 10 - year strategy for transitioning out of the pandemic years into a ‘new normal’ that balances social, ecological, technological and economic concerns.

Studio Outcomes

Landscape Architecture prides itself on being a context driven practice. Often this translates into local places and projects dealing with problems that may be global in reach. This studio will introduce students to the Global Trends 2040: A More Contested World report that considers ways the world could change over the next two decades. This studio will equip students with the skills to universally understand the ever more challenging political context of landscape projects, specifically the growing gap between popular expectations of local landscapes and what Governments can deliver. Students will be introduced to top down and bottom-up implementation strategies and will use this knowledge to create a landscape planning strategy that explores implementation scenarios.

Studio Leader

Mo is a Registered Landscape Architect with lengthy experience leading high-performing interdisciplinary project teams privately and publicly. Mo advocates for a balanced design and planning future where Landscape Architects are engaged early and continuously, to drive, truly inclusive design solutions. Mo will draw on her past expertise as a professional staff member at the University of Melbourne in the Property Portfolio to explore the relationship between design and implementation in a University of Melbourne Design and Planning context.

Readings & References

• Tim Waterman, Jane Wolff, Ed Wall, 2021, Landscape Citizenships, Ecological, Watershed and Bioregional Citizenships (Routledge) ISBN 9780367478834
• UN Habitat, 2021, Cities and Pandemics: Towards a more just, green and healthy future, (open source document) https://unhabitat.org/cities-and-pandemics-towards-a-more-just-green-and-healthy-future-0
• City of Melbourne, 2020, Covid Reactivation and Recovery Plan, (open source document) https://www.melbourne.vic.gov.au/sitecollectiondocuments/covid-19-reactivation-recovery-plan.pdf
• National Intelligence Council, 2021, Global Trends 2040 (ebook) ISBN 9781929667338
• Edward (Ted) Relph, 2021, Identity of and with Place, (website) https://www.placeness.com/identity-of-and-with-place/
• Kim Dovey, Ian Woodcock, Stephen Wood, 2005, What is Urban Character? The Case of Camberwell, (University of New England research, conference publication) https://hdl.handle.net/1959.11/5279

Schedule Lectures: Mondays 11:00-12:00; Studios: Mondays 12:15-18:15

Contact Handbook