This studio is Curtin University’s first placemaking studio as part of the Place Agency Consortium developed for tertiary built environment students. This studio worked in partnership with Future Bayswater aimed at informing and supporting the community group in enriching understanding and conversation around redevelopment of the area. To support that aim, this studio was focused integrated planning for the future of Bayswater, with a strong focus on placemaking’s role in community engagement.

Learning was further supported by partnership with placemaking and planning practitioners who regularly joined the students during class time to talk through industry examples and provide feedback to students on their progress in the course.

Student’s hands-on learning experiences provided a fun and engaging space for community members to reflect on the current and future values of Bayswater. The subject follows a general outline of

• Learning about Future Bayswater, their activities and aims.
• Learning about Bayswater through site analysis and community engagement.
• Synthesising this information to develop an integrated plan for Bayswater.
• Reflecting on the role of placemaking and community engagement in integrated planning practice.

By the end of the subject, the students presented their initiatives back to the Future Bayswater committee and a community audience opening up an opportunity for long-term impact of this exercise.

 

Activity	Description	Key dates for activities	Key learning objectives
Week 1	Introduction to Future Bayswater	2 August	Contextual Understanding
Week 2	Place-based planning	9 August	Critical Thinking
Week 3	Industry Mentors	16 August	Team work & collaboration
Week 4	Small intervention prototyping	23 August	Creative Thinking
Week 5	Data collection	30 August	Spatial context understanding
Week 6	Built implementation	6 September	Community Engagement
Week 7	Community Engagement (gathering information process)	13 September	Community Engagement
Week 8	Site Analysis	20 September	Spatial context understanding
Week 9	Design	27 September	Creative Thinking
Week 10	Community Engagement (presenting students’ design to the community)	1 November	Verbal Communication
Week 11	Celebration of Place	8 November	Humility
Week 12	Reflection	15 November	Reflective skills and self awareness