Cultural Landscapes
The cultural landscape is a setting for human experience. It may be a scenic view or the countryside; it may be an urban street or square; or it may be a place imbued with a sense of history and meaning.
Cultural landscape research is interested in place and all the processes that engender sense of place. Many scholars are studying cultural landscapes. My research focuses on understanding the history of landscape, the cultural interpretations of landscape character, management of valued landscapes, and the influences on significant Australian designers. It includes
The history of street and roadside avenues in Australia,
Profiles of 20th century landscape designers,
Revealing environmental heritage inconsistencies in Australia,
Interpreting Queensland Cultural Landscapes as CONTESTED TERRAINS,
Historic landscape studies.
Migrant Place-making
The experience of migration has resulted in an intricate web of places in Australian cities and towns which tell the story of migration. The research on migration and place includes.
Guide to Migrant Heritage Places In Australia.
This is a Guide to assist migrants identify their heritage places in Australia. It shows how migrants, working in small groups, can identify the ways the experience of migration imbues places in the host country with values, sometimes good and sometimes painful. Over a number of meetings, the way a particular heritage of a cultural group has been brought to Australia can be examined and places associated with the migration experience can be considered for listing on the Register of Australian Heritage Places.
Copies of the Guide can be obtained from Historic Environment Section, Australian Heritage Commission, GPO Box 787, Canberra, ACT 2601
The Migrant Garden
There are many interesting migrant gardens in Australia. Modest common place expressions of ordinary people are part of the on-going process in which people, their plants, and the way they are grown and used are in continual change. Most of these gardens will not last. They are ephemeral cultural expressions. Research catches fleeting stories and attempts to understand the depth of their meaning.
Cultural Pluralism in Designed Space in Australian Cities
There are new design approaches emerging from architects and landscape designers who are migrants or children of migrants. These designers are working in cross-cultural ways that have the potential to become a uniquely Australian design ethic for the 21st century. Today multiculturalism in Australia’s public realm is as deeply rooted in mainstream places as it is in ethnic enclaves. Large Australian cities are providing opportunities for the blending of design talents which are multicultural in unselfconscious ways. This research is examining the design approach of a number of leading Australian designers from diverse backgrounds.