Renew, Reuse Recycle a City?

It's been 8 months since my appointment to the Port Adelaide Renewal Steering Committee and, from the outside, many might be thinking that little has happened since then to renew the city.  In one way they are correct but in other ways much has been achieved to enable things to move forward.  It's a bit like painting a house, the preparation takes all the time and effort - it can be interminably frustrating until the final stages when the paint goes on. Then comes the reward.

There's still a fair bit of prep work being done by the Renewal Committee and I'm keen to make sure we don't become complacent and accept anything simply  "because it's better than nothing".  I'm still not clear about what colours, themes and designs we're creating with the prep work but something is emerging organically, it seems.

Two weeks ago, at the opening of the 2 new shops in the Central Buildings (the paint starts to be applied) I was struck by the notion of 'sustainability' as a retail commodity. Both My Modern Nest and Remake Remodel offer a beautiful selection of home wares and furniture with the ethos of renew, reuse and recycle. Then at the Gilles St Market the next weekend I saw this phenomenon of 'sustainability retailed' amplified - with the average age of shoppers around 23. Next weekend I'll be at the BowerBird Bazaar - a simply fantastic opportunity for designers of (re)new, reuse, recycle design to promote, market and retail their wares nationally from Adelaide. So popular it has had to move to the Showgrounds!

So I got to thinking...  if everything old is new again, and it has significant value to upcoming generations, why wouldn't we repackage and re-promote the Port in a similar way? Renew reuse and recycle Port Adelaide! 

The Port is more than a found object, though, it's an urban centre (albeit needing renewal). One of its many features for renew reuse is the pockets of vacant. lf we decide that creativity is a theme for the Port (why not capitalise on having the largest artist and designer communities in SA located here) then why wouldn't we insist on creativity in urban design.  We know that fundamentally the Port needs more people living, working and playing here. We could either plonk more bog standard housing or we could be creative and sustainable about it. I vote for the latter.

If you haven't been to Christie Walk in Adelaide, then do hit the link and check it out.  

An internationally award winning "pocket neighbourhood", Christie Walk is full of great design features.  The people who live there love it (rarely does a house come up for sale) and it was designed 20 years ago by a community of buyers to suit their needs and with a 'green' theme.  

If we drew from that idea, would there be cyclists interested in a 'no car' housing cooperative centred around one garage used as a shared bicycle workshop. Or what about one for self-funded retirees acting as a 'shared garden/rainwater/solar powered neighborhood'.  There'd probably be a queue for shared workshops, kilns and exhibition space surrounded by family housing for artists. And maybe we could provide a wheelie-friendly pocket neighbourhood for wheelchair bound residents the spin-off of which would be a wheelchair friendly community. There may even be interest in a 'mutli-generational' housing cooperative, where individual families can live in close proximity to children and grandchildren (a la Vietnamese family structures). Maybe the Minister for Ageing and Mental Health, Mark Butler, might want to support that as an 'ageing in place' initiative?

My academic qualifications relate to sustainability and change, with an emphasis on equity and social justice, personal and collaborative action, imagination, and learning from nature and history - with a healthy dash of economics. These are the things that drive me. I'm a social ecologist and I know I'm not alone, especially in Port Adelaide and Semaphore!

Exploring the principles of renew and reuse - sustainability themes - for our community builds on what attracts us to each other: things we have in common, a sense of belonging and mutual respect. It might be time to remake and remodel these into the prep work before the undercoat of paint goes on Port Adelaide.

What if Port Adelaide was granted status has a new kind of City?  One where reuse, new and recycle is more than just what gets done to objects. A City dedicated to the discussion and practice of Urban renew, reuse and recycle, Sustainability and Pocket Neighbourhoods.

It could be a Killer Unique Selling Proposition...  what do you think?