IN-PERSON Lisbon Livable Cities. Section A
Abstract
Exploring the role of placemaking – as a philosophy and a process – this paper begins with design-by-briefing and lessons-learned from the creation of the largest integrated, infrastructure/public art project in Australia. Collaboration with multiple stakeholders, including First Nations, led to subsequent policy drafting for the State Government to effectively embed art practice in South Australia’s constructed landscape. These design/planning outcomes ultimately leading to the ‘Art of Place’ project; exploring the role of embedded art practice – as medium, product and process – and its associated social role in architectural ‘living’ projects. These industry, policy and theoretical foundations highlight the need for arts and cultural development requirements to be mandatory in the same way as sustainable development goals are in planning and development. ‘Art of Place’ adopts an urban design lens for generation of theoretical and conceptual frameworks, indicating that we can deliver ‘happy housing’ at an urban scale; and in so doing, challenge the notion of ‘dirty density’. Championed by extreme mixed-use developments, the only two examples in the world, U City, Adelaide (2019) and Sugar Hill Children’s Museum of Art & Storytelling (2015) in New York – projects showcasing embedded art practice as part of an urban assemblage. Simultaneously, responding to housing supply and combating loneliness through creative culture. This contrasting modernist planning and most contemporary urban research in this area (New Urbanism), which has focused on the neighbourhood scale, ‘Art of Place’ focuses on the building scale.
Katie Miller is a PhD Candidate at UniSA Business, her research project exploring the role of embedded art practice as placemaking in architecture (extreme mixed-use developments). As a registered architect with over a decade of professional experience, she holds a Masters in Architecture and Bachelor degrees in Architectural Studies, Property and Construction Management. This background providing in-depth knowledge, training and expertise within the cross-disciplinary fields of architecture, planning, policy, urban design, public art briefing, stakeholder engagement and project delivery.
Dr Helen Barrie is a Senior Research Fellow at UniSA Business, her research broadly investigates Australia’s changing population and the implications of this for society and communities. and the implications of this for society and communities. Much of this work involves an examination of population diversity; and the interaction between people and the built environment, including housing, access to green space, mobility and transport, and age friendly cities and communities. Her background includes a PhD in Human Geography and Honours in Social Policy.
Dr Debbie Faulkner is an Associate Research Professor in Housing and Community Wellbeing. She is a human social geographer with expertise in the areas of housing and ageing, age care, social participation and the well-being of older people and the housing of at-risk groups in the community. Debbie’s work is focused and grounded in research that aims to raise awareness about the impact of policy on the community and to work towards positive change that results in improvements in people’s lives. Debbie has a long history of working collaboratively with a range of organisations and stakeholders.
Dr Kelly McDougall is a Research Associate at the Centre for Markets, Values and Inclusion at the University of South Australia. She is a human geographer, with a background in psychology. Her research interests are population ageing, international migration, and migration and settlement. As a geographer, her work recognises the role of place in shaping people’s experiences. Since gaining her PhD in 2010 she has been active in research related to population ageing, migration and settlement. She is currently working on the ARC Linkage project: “Determining the social value of extreme, mixed-use urban developments: Innovative architecture for inclusive Australian communities”.
9:00 am - 10:30 am
Friday 11th July, 2025