MUP Studio

MUP Studio: Going Deeper Into Place

Matt Novacevski

Studio Description

This studio is delivered from unceded Kulin Nations Country. In paying respects to Elders past and present, and to Country itself, we will aim to work in a spirit of stewardship for place and its beings.

Planning always works with place…so why are planning’s responses to place so often problematic? This semester’s MUP Studio focuses on deepening our ability to understand, connect with and work with place. Going Deeper into Place rises from the ruins of planning approaches that have concreted over, bulldozed and destroyed much that is so sacred about our world, to share skills that are critical in addressing social and ecological challenges such as the climate emergency and social isolation. This studio is designed to work with place where you are, to allow for embodied interaction and exploration.

Studio Outcomes

In this studio, students will learn ways of responding to place and develop ways of working that will be increasingly important in professional practice. Students will be invited to use each week as a launch pad, using assessments as a way to more deeply explore ideas that are of interest. Students will be invited to explore and apply contemporary approaches to place theory, better understand the impacts of settler-colonialism and be introduced to Indigenous design practices and ways of knowing place that will help equip built environment professionals for a deeper life work of making a difference. There will be reading, there will be discussion and opportunities to incorporate new practices into planning.

Studio Leader

Matt Novacevski is a long-time University of Melbourne Tutor, who has more than 12 years of professional experience across planning, placemaking and allied disciplines. Supporting people in developing healing ways of working with place has become a core part of Matt’s life work. A second-generation settler in the land known as Australia, Matt is completing his PhD at the University of Melbourne looking at post-colonial ways of evaluating placemaking practice. He won the ABP Postgraduate Students’ Choice award for teaching excellence in 2020.

Readings & References

• Cresswell, T. (2015). Place: An introduction (Second edition). J. Wiley & Sons.
• Dovey, K (2010). Becoming Places. Routledge: London.
• Friedmann, J. (2010). Place and place-making in cities: a global perspective. Planning Theory & Practice, 11(2), pp. 149-165
• Greenaway, J., McGaw, J., & Walliss, J. (2014). Designing Australia – Critical Engagement With Indigenous Place Making. In G. Cairns (Ed.), Design for a Complex World. Libri Publishing.
• Kwaymullina, A. (2008). Introduction: A Land of Many Countries. In S. Morgan, T. Mia, & B. Kwaymullina (Eds.), Heartsick for country: Stories of love, spirit, and creation. Fremantle Press: Fremantle.
• Miller, M (2021, 28 October) ‘The Future of our Cities is Indigenous’, Pursuit ‘https://findanexpert.unimelb.edu.au/news/33199-the-future-of-our-cities-is-indigenous’.
• Potter, E. (2012). ‘Introduction: Making Indigenous place in the Australian city’. Postcolonial Studies, 15(2), 131–142.
• Relph, E (2008) Place and Placelessness (2nd edn) Pion: London.
• Rose, D. B. (1996). Nourishing terrains: Australian Aboriginal views of landscape and wilderness. Australian Heritage Commission.

Schedule Tuesdays and Fridays 15:15-18:15

Contact Handbook