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Future Focus Group projects 2010-2011

Portable Parks

The Portable Parks project will improve the utilisation of land by facilitating the connection of the community (individuals or groups) to the custodians and owners of underutilised land in high density areas of the city.  Portable Parks aims to overcome existing barriers to facilitate the process for agreement between community groups and land holders for use of land on a temporary or permanent basis.

The primary deliverable for the Portable Parks team is a pilot site that will demonstrate the portable park concept and act as a flagship to encourage other land owners to make available further sites.  The pilot will also enable the team to work through the various technical, commercial and legal challenges associated with use of private land on a temporary basis for such purposes.

The Portable Parks team successfully secured a vacant site from VicUrban in the Docklands precinct to deliver the pilot site.  Upon securing the pilot site the team developed a number of concept plans for the use of the site and has since been working towards securing a sponsor for delivery of the pilot.

Portable Parks has presented a detailed proposal to a number of government or community organisations for them to act as primary sponsors of the project, including Parks Victoria, Melbourne City Council and VicUrban.  Discussions with these organisations, including a facilitated forum around the concepts and proposal, are ongoing and the Portable Parks team is confident that it will receive their support for delivery of the pilot during 2012.

White Night

Melbourne White Night is a proposed annual all-night arts and cultural event aimed at opening up Melbourne’s artistic institutions, commercial galleries and other related spaces for a single night.

This would involve both public and private spaces, as well as the activation of Melbourne’s streets and laneways. This event already takes place in many other cities around the globe but each city has a differentiated feel appropriate to its location and cultural background.

The aim of our event is to give people a fresh perspective on Melbourne’s cultural experiences and encourage them to reconnect with their city. The experience will aim to challenge people’s perceptions and get people to notice what they see and know in a totally new light.

If successful we envisage White Night becoming an ongoing fixture in the Melbourne events calendar. 

Re-Vault

The aim of the Re-Vault project is to explore possible new uses for, and users of, the Banana Alley Vaults on Flinders Street in the heart of Melbourne. Currently only a small number of businesses operate in the location, attracting a narrow customer demographic. Given the central city location of the vaults, the area is currently run-down and under-utilised so an opportunity exists to revive the area.

The Re-Vault vision is to contribute to the re-vitalisation of this prime CBD location, into a vibrant, safe and enjoyable space for businesses to flourish, and Melburnians to visit and connect by:

• Raising awareness of the space and its possible uses;
• Exploring new ideas and any impediments to their implementation;
• Gaining support for redevelopment of the area from key stakeholders.

By the end of 2011, Re-Vault will have submitted a proposal to the City of Melbourne with key findings and recommendations to feed into their current and long-term redevelopment strategy for the Banana Alley Vaults.

Cycle Capital

The Cycle Capital group was formed with the objectives of promoting cycling in Melbourne, improving conditions for cyclists, and enhancing Melbourne’s reputation as Australia’s cycling capital.

Bicycle barometers are electronic detectors which count and display the number of cyclists passing a given point.

A barometer in Melbourne would strongly support our position as one of the world’s most liveable cities by:

• Raising awareness of cycling as partical form of transport in Melbourne;
• Increase awareness of the size of Melbourne's cycling community, encouraging more people to ride and promote road sharing;
• Promoting physical, financial and environmental benefits of cycling; and
• Providing vital data for monitoring bicyle usage.

A barometer in Melbourne also has the potential to compare cycle use to car use, display carbon savings, or enable the display of data in real-time.

By the end of 2011, Cycle Capital aims to have Melbourne’s first “bicycle barometer” fully operational.  Cycle Capital has enjoyed technical and engineering support from Siemens throughout this project.

Capture Melbourne & Digivore

Capture Melbourne is an annual photography competition which will showcase Melbourne’s beauty and create a local photography book.

The competition is open to residents of Greater Melbourne and will be published on the capturemelbourne.com website for voting. The highest rated pictures voted by Melburnians and judges’ picks will be published.

Throughout the competition photographs will be uploaded onto digital screens across Melbourne (this may include screens created through Urban Placebook and other screens like Federation Square).

Home Game

Home Game is a concept which aims to ‘create a living memory of Melbourne’s suburban sporting venues’ by recreating a sense of community through the celebration of sport.

Sport significantly enhances the culture of Melbourne as it provides an avenue for integration of individuals into a community of mixed cultures and experiences and encourages healthy living.  Our passion for sport begins early on the pitches of our suburban sporting venues. Suburban clubs and their venues are the training grounds for past, current and future stars, but more importantly they house the memories of a significant component of Melbourne’s sporting culture.

The advancement of professional sport has taken the focus away from community based stadiums and refocused it on the larger commercial stadiums.  Our joint passion for sports and community led to the tag line, ‘Bringing the game back home’ which highlights our mission to make Melbourne a better place by reengaging the community through celebrating our suburban sporting heritage.

Our vision is to ‘celebrate community engagement through celebrating our suburban sporting heritage’ and to provide the opportunity for local communities to engage in Melbourne’s sporting culture through living memories of Australian suburban sporting grounds.

During the two year program we delivered a guide to executing a sporting inspired community event. This guide highlights the key areas to incorporate in planning community events and is further explained by the use of case studies.  The guide is based on an event which focuses on opening up selected suburban stadiums and providing access, creating memories and lasting experiences for the community.

Little Libraries Melbourne

This project aims to make books more accessible and to encourage reading, writing and sharing books through free book exchanges around Melbourne.

The starting point for this is setting up the first Little Library outside the United States.

The Little Library will be a focus point for literature, encouraging reading, writing and sharing ideas through a book exchange located in the CBD.  As a concept it is amazingly simple: build a small wooden box that can store a small selection of books that anyone can take and add to and set it up in an easy to access location.

This proven concept initially began in Wisconsin, USA with the ambition of building more Little Libraries than the number of real libraries built by Andrew Carnegie (2,510), and is founded on the principles of Pay It Forward. With a small financial benefit flowing back to the host organisation in the US, the funds are then used to spread the word.

Melbourne is the perfect choice for Australia’s first Little Library, as a UNESCO City of Literature and the nation’s cultural, knowledge and ideas capital.

Our team will link officially to the Little Library organisation and set up a local chapter of the organisation, being the local Steward for the first Little Library and facilitating the idea locally.

The goal for our team is to establish the first international Little Library in Melbourne and share the knowledge of how to do this with other local Melbourne-based groups and individuals who wish to get involved.

Take a book. Leave a book.

The group initially wrote a Business Plan for the development of a book exchange based out of W-Class Tram and located in the Docklands.  That plan has now been shared with several potential stakeholders for them to consider further.