Today is the launch of the Living Pavilion, 1st of May to the 17th of May, don’t miss out.

Temporary events are an effective way to revitalise and activate an area to enhance social bonding across communities. However, their potential contribution to placemaking depends on various factors. These include: 1) Emphasising a deep community engagement approach; 2) Being linked to an overarching project with a long-term place strategy; 3) Developing a program that is meaningful to the local community.

With this in mind, Dr Tanja Beer has had ample experience developing community events as key placemaking projects through her work on ‘Living Stages’. The Living Stage combines horticulture, sustainable design and community engagement to transform urban spaces into accessible, equitable and thriving ecological and social gathering places. Since its inception in 2013, The Living Stage concept has progressively become more engaged in placemaking tactics through the participation of local communities in creative processes, and the desire to enhance the connectivity and integration of more-than-human places in response to climate change, social inequity, food scarcity and biodiversity loss. The project has been conducted all over the world, including Castlemaine, Armidale, Glasgow, Cardiff, Lorne and New York.

This year, Dr Tanja Beer has brought her work into the university setting!

A university campus is an excellent microcosm for place creation and experimentation. In May this year the University of Melbourne will play host to Place Week and The Living Pavilion. As an installation and platform for celebration The Living Pavilion will explore ideas including Indigenous knowledge, ecological science and sustainable design.

Deep Community Engagement:

A true celebration of community place making, The Living Pavilion began its journey as a three day creative development event in July 2018. Many who attended and contributed their time, ideas and enthusiasm for this project have been involved throughout its development and programming.

Bringing together local designers, knowledge holders, artists and scientists, The Living Pavilion’s 60-plus free events will explore relationships across Indigenous knowledge systems, ecological science, sustainable design and participatory arts.

The research groups that we represent have used The Living Pavilion to put into practice our collective vision for co-designed, shared spaces in cities for the benefit of people and nature. This Vision has driven a really strong multidisciplinary research base, including studies of the site before during and after our pop-up festival to capture the impact of such a unique project.

Overarching project with a long-term place strategy

The location of The Living Pavilion is destined to become the New Student Precinct at the Parkville Campus and offers a unique opportunity to explore the potential of placemaking initiatives to inform opportunities for engagement long term.

Meaningful programming

The Living Pavilion will feature over 40,000 Kulin Nation plants and draw on Melbourne’s eclectic flora and fauna for inspiration and immersion. Members of the public will be invited to explore the installation, to wander through, and experience the dynamic landscape design, as well as enjoy over 60 free programmed events. The program will showcase performances by Indigenous and non-Indigenous leaders, artists and scientists; celebrating the interplay between the built environment, the natural world, local landscapes, and civic culture. The programming ideas were first initiated through the Creative Development Workshop and have evolved to incorporate community initiated events, education and training as well as enjoyment.

Please visit The Living Pavilion website and access the full program. To register to our ticketed events, please visit The Living Pavilion Eventbrite

The festival will be evaluated through comprehensive research plan aiming to:

1) to explore the role of temporary event spaces in fostering a sense of place and community;

2) to evaluate the project’s potential to enhance participants’ understandings of biodiversity and Indigenous knowledge systems, and;

3) to test new methodologies for evaluating temporary placemaking projects.

To learn more about The Living Pavilion as a temporary placemaking project, please visit Our Research.

We hope you enjoy The Living Pavilion and look forward to hearing your feedback about this unique event!