streetchat

A new UK report into 'Highway Greening - Best Practice and Lessons Learnt' by LDA Designs, and UN-Habitat produces a Toolkit to improve our public spaces that encourages community engagement.

Designers Elisapeta Heta, Jade Kake and Raukura Turei on Kaupapa Māori design for climate Ataria Sharman, editor of Assemble Papers, connects with three designers to explore Kaupapa (way) Māori as a solution to our climate crises. Principal at Jasmax, Elisapeta Heta speaks of ‘climate resilience’ and ‘sustainability’ as Pākehā or white terms, preferring ‘kaitiakitanga’ (meaning guardianship), as a better way of looking at our relationship to our natural environment. An Indigenous approach to design is about the kaitiakitanga, understanding that all of life is connected and that humans are not superior to the natural world, we are part of it. Mātauranga Māori (Māori knowledge) brings land and life together rather than separating them.  Sharman writes, “Kaitiakitanga projects offer a more holistic approach, such as understanding people as part of the land …

How the humble bollard can add to the social life of communities Writer Fred Kent and Kathy Madden from Social Life Project share how bollards, an often overlooked amenity, can be multifunctional when done right, creating community connection through seating, gathering, artistic statement or as a gentle “nudge” for drivers to behave better. It is the small elements that change the whole character of a street and bollards are the simplest element that encourage social life to an often boring crosswalk. “At their best, they are places to lean on, perch, or strike up a conversation.”  There are many different types of bollards, different shapes and different sizes. Bollards are used in different ways, even for greenery. The most successful ones support social activity.  Kent and Madden write, “This is …

Guerilla urbanism “asking forgiveness, not permission” A grassroots movement known as ‘guerilla urbanism’ is emerging in the US, where community groups bypass bureaucracy with innovative improvements to the urban spaces they care about. Their mantra is ‘ask forgiveness, not permission.’  The guerilla urbanism movement was the focus of a recent webinar hosted by the Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU) – ‘On the Park Bench: Guerilla Urbanism.’ Robert Steuteville from the CNU writes, “From toilet plungers for bike lanes to community gardens on vacant lots to locally sourced incremental development, citizens are finding creative ways to make urban space.” During the webinar, small developer, Jason Hyman talks about a not for profit organisation in Houston D3tM, or Do the Things That Matter, guerilla urbanism that ‘disrupts’ existing systems to create …

Nathalie Ward, director of Brisbane’s Lat27, shares with StreetChat her love of the craft, working locally and abroad, and creating a new home for the Ekka. Tell us about yourself. Why did you pursue landscape architecture? Four colleagues and I established Lat27 five years ago, looking to create a practice focused on contextually based design; hence our name. Over the past 20-plus years I have lived and worked in the UK, Hong Kong and Australia and am passionate about the role that design can play in revealing the story of a place and in creating places that are environmentally responsible and inspire people. Landscape architecture is deeply ingrained in my family. My great-grandfather and grandfather were both garden designers and artists, my father was a landscape architect, as is my brother. My earliest memories include nature walks …