Learning by Doing: Public Design in Western Sydney

Bigge St Overpass Project, Liverpool

"This project has been a real challenge in thinking and has opened my eyes to different design processes. With community as a client and a broad multicultural one at that, defining audience, message, content etc. is a different experience to other University projects I have worked on." Elsa, Undergraduate student, Liverpool Overpass Project 1998-1999.

Given the placement of Western Sydney, the demographics of the area and its burgeoning population, community and sense of place take on a heightened meaning that is unique to the region. There is a growing realisation of the value of public design and an increasing awareness that it is essential to design with all the elements of a 'place' considered in an integrated fashion. This includes canvassing the community, the end users of the design outcome, to ensure that the final result is desired and of use to the community. This approach is more cost effective and leads to better outcomes than the traditional approach of assuming what the community wants or taking a ready made design solution from another context and reapplying it.

University of Western Sydney's School of Communication, Design and Media (and the former School of Design) has been engaged in a number of community projects between 1998-2002. All of these projects have been successful in terms of the quality of outcomes produced and community satisfaction with the style of engagement between the University and the community. But the challenge is to build on these individual projects to establish a cohesive and more comprehensive response to the region.

Because Western Sydney is a culturally and socially diverse region, a range of responses and innovative academic strategies are required to meet community needs and aspirations. There is not a one size fits all solution. Not surprisingly all the projects that have been undertaken are quite complex and multi-faceted and employ a range of teaching and learning strategies depending upon the project requirements, the community involved, and the UWS students participating.

Outcomes themselves can be categorised into the design and art objects actually produced and installed in the site, the learning experience and outcomes for students and staff, and the strategies that have evolved around these projects in terms of engaging community and local government.

The strategies and process underlying each project are in a way the most significant and at the same time the least tangible outcomes. An understanding of this underlying process can provide important signposts for the future development of public design and community involvement at UWS.

Site specific projects at Blacktown and Nepean hospitals have been running since 2000. Each hospital has specific aims and outcomes that it wants to achieve from the projects but in both cases the involvement of UWS students has improved the quality of the institutional experience for patients, staff, and visitors. Eventually Blacktown hospital will have UWS student work installed throughout all its buildings.

Public Design Projects in Western Sydney Communities

The Bigge Street Overpass (1998-1999) and the Heritage walk (2000) were both developed for Liverpool Council. The projects were undertaken as part of a Living Streets community and cultural development initiative aiming to create a sense of place, promoting livability, safety and amenity in the Liverpool area.

The Living Streets project developed a neighbourhood plan focussed on public art and design proposals. In the first instance UWS students produced public art outcomes that were installed at the overpass site, a major thoroughfare to the Liverpool CBD, and a site that had been the subject of repeated complaints by residents about safety. UWS students went on line with the local high school students to discuss the site, met with community groups, and with Council to be able to design the final outcomes. The artworks did change the perception and usage of the space by the local people and improved safety in the area - this was actually demonstrated by local police figures monitoring the crime rate before and after the project.

In 2000 UWS students produced proposals for public art and design that sat within existing parks and streets and centered on the establishment of meeting places within a neighbourhood adjacent to the main retail precinct of Liverpool. The outcomes were launched in an exhibition at Casual Powerhouse, opened by Andrew Refshauge and attended by many local Councils and their representatives. The collaborative design process and the resultant change in the dynamics of the area have been so effective that the council has been successful in achieving over $500,000 in additional planning funds.

The success of the projects can be measured by the repeat business generated by councils, institutions, and communities. Students have received job offers based on their individual work as part of a design team, projects have been profiled in overseas design journals, relationships have been created with other universities and institutions based around these projects.

Post Graduate Public Design Focus Needed

How do we sustain the success of our projects and build on the existing foundations?

To date the projects have been developed, and sustained by individual staff who have an interest in community, project-based learning, or service learning. This is not really satisfactory, as it is too dependent on individuals and on finding and identifying suitable projects year after year. The challenge is to progress from the one off project to a more cohesive umbrella structure under which a number of projects can sit and ongoing negotiation for future projects with Councils and community can be facilitated.

At the School or College level there is the need for a post graduate course work and research program in Public Design. A Public Design course would enable the College to develop a new interdisciplinary postgraduate program that would address the region in a meaningful and sustainable way. The course would also increase the awareness of design in the region, offer relevant postgraduate education, and lead to contemporary career paths. It would appeal to artists, designers, industrial designers, architects, landscape architects, community development workers, cultural planners, urban planners, as well as other planning professionals wanting to gain experience in public design and work as part of an interdisciplinary team.

The course and the projects would foster cross-school and inter-college relationships. The projects would provide a focal point around which Schools and Colleges could bring their relevant expertise and knowledge. This would help develop a rich shared vocabulary across disciplines, and would encourage practitioners and researchers to develop projects and research from plural perspectives and backgrounds.

Interdisciplinary and Community Partnerships

"A core element to any design group is the range of background of the team members, both their skill sets and preconceptions. Each member is challenged by working on a collaborative project, which is committed to producing work that engages with the unique characteristics of the region. We design to communicate. Its all pointless if it's just to oneself." Michael, Postgraduate student, Liverpool Overpass Project 1998-1999.

Councils in Western Sydney are desperate for serious engagement with the public design issues in the west. The Western Sydney Regional Organisation of Councils (WSROC), and Parramatta and Fairfield Councils, are dissatisfied with the current public design practice and would like to see design solutions being generated in the region that resonate with the region.

The NSW Ministry for the Arts, the NSW Department of Planning, and The National Association of Visual Artists (NAVA) support the proposed public design course as timely and see it being an effective way of addressing the current knowledge gaps at the local government planning level.

A Public Design course presents an opportunity for the University to capitalise on its placement in Western Sydney and to develop a centre of excellence in public design that would attract both students and researchers to UWS.

Robyn Stacey March 2002

Other images from UWS projects:

The Nepean Hospital project is managed and tutored by Kendal Murray and Tony Oliver.

The Blacktown Hospital project is managed and tutored by Juliana Swatko and Robyn Stacey.

All other projects have been managed and tutored by Robyn Stacey.

The public design proposal is being developed by Robyn Stacey and John Skennar.