Junk for Code

you can make it happen Adelaide

As I have mentioned before at junk for code Adelaide is in the process of reinventing itself. It is doing so through its Thinkers in Residence programe.

This reinvention is held to be about adapting a 19th century city to the 21st century. What happened to the 20th century? Surburban Adelaide has slipped off the radar screen of the town planners and urban designers. How come the 20th century has fallen into a black hole?

The problem the thinkers pose is:' How do you adapt a 19th century city to the 21st century? It's a good question.

Soem suggestions were made by Charles Landry, the current thinker in Residence, at a public lecture in the Adelaide Town Hall last night. The lecture was entitled, 'Re-thinking Adelaide: A walk on the wild side',

I missed it. I was too too busy.

But I know the theme of the talk or the argument. Adelaide must change from being a place to leave to being a destination to come to. It can do this by unlocking and marshalling the energy and talent of the entire community so that it becomes a connected city, a vibrant city, an exciting city.

You can here the traces of the Situationist International here in a sort of decayed way. Okay, I'm being a bit rough here> Landry is connected to Comedia, a site or think tank that explores those 'points of energy and debate in the modern world where economics, culture, creativity and sense of place converge and interact.'

Sounds good huh. The blurb sounds okay too:

"The task for cities is to rethink their problems and opportunities afresh and to create a vision for themselves that inspires citizens and increases their aspirations. Cities need to think:

how they can harness the talents of their citizens to help solve their own problems;
how they can generate pride and commitment to their city and so strengthen its identity;
how to deeply incorporate sustainability issues in housing, office or retail development, whilst enhancing the quality of urban design.
In so doing cities need to learn from the best, but most importantly create a learning environment so that they can come to know themselves better."

It sounds okay until you ask what does sense of place mean? The answer is that it is about marketing---place marketing it is called.

Posted by Gary Sauer-Thompson at November 12, 2003 04:02 PM | TrackBack