Introduction

Project Utopia was a real-world project, connecting to the open space of the old Fremantle Port. Our Project Utopia was an engaging and educational experience for students and staff alike. This project required a high level of knowledge and helped us identify our main idea. The idea was designed to link 2 parts of the Fremantle Port while incorporating Aboriginal culture in our design. A lot of the things we learnt throughout this journey were intertwined with Global Goals, Sustainability, and Liveability. These three components were very useful when it came to finalising and proposing our idea as they provided us with a sense of direction and purpose. While the project was fun, there were some difficulties along the way such as occasional group arguments and the selection of appropriate global goals. However, we relied on Capabilities to find simple yet effective ways to resolve our problems.

ASC Capabilities

The ASC Wheel of Capabilities is a set of positive attributes that influence our daily lives and the lives of others. The skills listed in the Capabilities ultimately affect the decisions we make in life and how we work around them. Our project relied heavily on the Capabilities as our main idea was driven by problem-solving and effective communication. Effective Communication was very useful for our group, especially when there were conflicting ideas or a lack of understanding about the main idea among group members. As one of our group members had some difficulty understanding the group’s focus, all the group members had to convey the point more succinctly and with greater clarity. That moment in our discussion taught us about the importance of clarity in communication and that for a group to be successful, everyone must be on the same page. Effective communication also connects with leadership, for instance, a person must take on a role to educate and communicate the ideas for the group. This was incredibly important when members of our group found difficulty in identifying key concepts. Thanks to the Capabilities, our group was able to work around obstacles and stick to our plan.

Public Speaking Skills and Challenges

While I am mostly an extroverted and outgoing person, without proper preparation my public speaking skills in class were lacking. However, there were many reasons as to why my speech was of a low standard. This could have been prevented if I practised my speech and memorised it thoroughly. Even after finalising my speech for the 3^rd time, it was clear that emotions were lacking in its delivery. I could have done better if I took inspiration from other people and learnt simple ways to use tone and delivery effectively. While this may have been a setback, there was still a valuable lesson to be learnt. The lesson was to always work hard and put your effort into everything. Our group collaborated more after our setbacks and grew to become more interdependent and closer. These setbacks were painful to experience but were definitely a turning point in our journey. Thanks to everyone’s efforts, we were able to work past these issues.

UN Global Goals (Connecting to Sustainability, Liveability and Vision Board)

The UN Global Goals are visions which are reflective of  the United Nations plan for the future. These visions have a positive effect on our wellbeing and the wellbeing of the people around you. All the goals on the list are solving global issues that are mostly linked to sustainability and liveability. Even though the goals are all equally important, some were far more connected and appropriate to our project. These goals influenced the way we approached the issue and helped us tweak some of the mistakes in our initial idea. Liveability played a vital role as it was the basis of this entire project. Sustainability was equally important because it would be beneficial for the people of Fremantle to be more environmentally friendly. To connect all these ideas, our group had to draw a Vision Board that would display all the connections we made throughout this project. The Board was a variety of concepts/ideas that linked to sustainability, liveability, and the Global Goals. The Vision Board helped our group write down our ideas in a simplistic form yet helped us think more critically in terms of the project.