utopia
noun

The Project

What is Project Utopia? Utopia is about creating a “perfect world” with all the necessitates needed for a perfect place. It seems pretty surreal but the whole idea of this project was to create a utopia for the Fremantle Port redesign. As you may know, it is a suggested idea that the Fremantle Port moves to Kwinana, freeing up an open empty space for a port redesign. Throughout the redesign process, we were provided with many opportunities to better understand the project such as; talking to industry experts including landscape architects, politicians, the ex-mayor of Fremantle, and, one of my favourite opportunities, was going to Fremantle! We were divided into groups and each explored a different area of the port. This was my favourite experience because we got to see everything in person, it definitely gave me a clearer understanding about the project and area that we were redesigning.

ASC Capabilities

From this experience I learned many things such as; collaborating, problem solving, group work, being prepared and organized, and public speaking skills. During this project we implemented the ASC capabilities wheel. In particular, the two capabilities that I developed the most throughout this project were, organization and leadership. I showed organization at many different times throughout this project, for example, when I was away from school and needed to help my group, even if it was from home. I also showed leadership when I brought in supplies from home such as my vines, and I suggested to put them around the outside of the vision board! Whenever I looked back at the capability wheel it really gave me a better understanding of group work . All of these skills helped me to thrive through this project.

I really loved collaborating with my group and we all worked efficiently and effectively throughout this project. Together we came up with the idea of a green space, divided into 3 sections including; the entry way focusing on informing visitors about the amazing greenspace and providing information about the space; the second section is “cultural trees” inspired by the ones in Singapore’s garden by the bay, they have some similarities but are not exactly the same. On the cultural trees will be indigenous art on the tree trunk to symbolize Aboriginal history and culture, and signify the importance of the land that we are living on. Followed by the indigenous art will be solar panels on the top of the trees to power their own electricity and light the trees up at night time, circling the bottom of the tress will be native, costal Australian plants to give the tress some greenery and once they mature they will prevent vandalism on the cultural tress; another space in this green area is a park space to enjoy a picnic and it includes seating and an abundance of shady trees; finally, their will be an eye-catching resin path connecting all 3 of these spaces together.

Liveability

In HASS we were introduced to the concept of liveability. We learnt that liveability means making an area habitable and liveable and includes key concepts such as; affordable living, clean environment, easy work access, access to food, water, shelter, housing, transport, healthcare, education, infrastructure, and feeling safe in the community. These are the main criteria that make a city liveable, and, once you have a liveable city you can create utopia. For example Perth, Western Australia is an example of a liveable city because of advanced infrastructure such as, hospitals, schools, transportation, water and electrical systems. It is also a utopia because of peaceful governance, equality for citizens, a safe environment and education, healthcare and employment. After we developed a good understanding of liveability and utopia, we had to ensure our port area redesign would be a liveable utopia. Our work with industry experts and visit to the port enabled us to develop a clear understanding about how we could meet this criteria.

The showcase

The showcase! After all of our hard work, we presented our work as a show case, to share and feature our ideas to an audience beyond the classroom including, parents, special guests from industry, friends, and teachers. This was such an exciting and wonderful experience because it made our learning more realistic, we could see the connection to the real world. My favourite part of this whole process and project was certainly the showcase, my group all did really well with presenting and public speaking and I loved showcasing our work, ideas, planning and vision board to the audience. This project expanded our understanding of a utopia through a meaningful context, and I cannot wait to hopefully see our design-idea featured in a couple of years!

UN Global goals

In 2015, world leaders agreed to 17 Global Goals (officially known as the Sustainable Development Goals or SDGs). It’s now five years on, and there is more work than ever to do. These goals have the power to create a better world by 2030, by ending poverty, fighting inequality and addressing the urgency of climate change. Guided by the goals, it is now up to everyone; governments, businesses, civil society and the general public to work together to build a better future for everyone. Project Utopia provided us with the opportunity to show us how we have the power to be change makers, how our decisions and ideas can contribute towards the Global Sustainable Goals in particular #3 Good health and wellbeing, #15 life on land and #13 Climate action. Our project promotes good health and well being by providing a calm, green and peaceful environment to nurture and promote good well being. Being in nature and green spaces helps to clear your mind, reduce stress and provide perspective. Green is a calming colour that symbolises nature, it diffuses anxiety and helps people stay calm and refreshed. The project supports life on land because the green space promotes sustainability through the recycled materials used to create the space. The native plants focus on developing ecosystems to support local fauna and fauna. The project supports climate action because the area has a low carbon footprint, especially in contrast to the existing port.

Job opportunities

The development of this green space provides local job opportunities and in so supports the Global Sustainable goal #8; decent work and economic growth. It promotes inclusive job prospects for people with many types of abilities, backgrounds, cultures and ages. Painters, gardeners, cleaners, tour guides, event organisers (eg host NAIDOC Week), story time tellers, catering staff for food events (food trucks), artists, electricians (set up and maintain the solar panel systems) are examples of the many types of skillsets workers would need.

Vision boards

To make our ideas visual we created vision boards which were different and unique to each group’s ideas. My group’s vision board included a visual drawing of the green space, photos of Singapore’s Garden by the Bay from which we took inspiration, challenges, questions, inspiration, sustainability, aboriginal art and history, audience and culture, and plants. The vision boards were an excellent way for us to create our thoughts and ideas with the visitors at our showcase. our vision board was stand out from other groups because of the vines presented around the outside of the vision board. Many guests immediately came over to our group after seeing the eye catching vision board. The majority of them commented on the impact of our vision board and were very impressed with the high standard and excellent way t pulled all of our information together. The vison board was very helpful tome when i was presenting as I could point to different sections as I was presenting. Many guests asked questions about the pictures on the vision board and so this was a good way to initiate conversation.

Reflection

Overall, I value and enjoyed the experience the project provided. It has helped me develop real world skills, I hope to do more projects like this in the future, and develop more real-world skills.