March 14, 1996:

Imagine The Future Inc takes the ecoversity to the ballroom of The George Hotel, Fitzroy Street, St Kilda, to explore and exchange the most progressive ideas about excellence in urban design.

The ecoversity workshop was facilitated by Imagine The Future Inc, in association with the Australian Conservation Foundation, City of Port Phillip, and Urban Design Forum. The event was sponsored by the Federal Department of Housing and Regional Development as the Victorian response to the 1994 Prime Minister's Urban Design Task Force Report.

Live participation was by invitation only: virtual participation was via the on-line ‘graffiti wall’

Participants teased out the diverse strands of good urban design by exploring four very different human habitats: St Kilda between Fitzroy Street, Grey Street, Barkly Street and the foreshore of Port Phillip Bay, in the City of Port Phillip; Yarraville shopping centre and railway station precinct in the City of Maribyrnong; Springvale shopping precinct in the City of Greater Dandenong; and Barwon Heads, a small town on the Bellarine Peninsula where the Barwon River meets Bass Strait within the City of Greater Geelong.

ITF's report on the workshop was circulated amongst co-hosts, scholars and bureaucrats. Although it influenced state planning policies in the late 1990s, it has never been published, because the contents did not coincide with the then-new federal government's priorities. Indeed, the department which sponsored the workshop ceased to exist. Tapes of the proceedings were acquired by Museum Victoria in 2002, along with the ecoversity fit-out as part of its Technology and Sustainability Collection.

THE WORKSHOP PROGRAM
9 am Welcome by guest MC Rod Quantock

9.30 Case study no.1 - BARWON HEADS
with 15 minute presentation by strategic planner Neil Savery from the City of Greater Geelong, followed by general discussion around the issues raised.

10.30 Case study no.2 - YARRAVILLE
presented by Yarraville architect and community activist Hugh Basset, followed by discussion.

11.30 Case study no.3 - SPRINGVALE
presented by cultural planner Jonathan McNaughton, followed by discussion.

12.30 Buffet lunch served in the ballroom.

1.00 Case study no.4 - ST KILDA
presented as a guided bus and walking tour with urban designer Jim Holdsworth of the City of Port Phillip. Issues raised will be discussed on board the bus.

2.00 Refreshments back in the ballroom

2.30 Future challenges: models and visions: a broad ranging discussion around the most pressing urban design issues for the future, facilitated by Rod Quantock.

4.00 Urban design and public policy: an opportunity to make sure your ideas are included in the final report to the Department of Housing and Regional Development

4.40 Workshop summary by David Yencken

5-6.30 pm Drinks in the ballroom

Public Transport: the number 16 (Swanston Street line) and the number 96 (Bourke/Spencer Street line) trams stop in Fitzroy Street near The George Hotel. For more information contact Imagine The Future 340 Gore Street Fitzroy, 3065.

This page proudly sponsored by City of Port Phillip.

Re-posted March 2004.