Thursday 2 July 2009, 7.00pm :. Urban renewal + revitalisation: A tale of two cities

At RMIT bldg 50, Orr St, Carlton
(off Victoria St, between Lygon and Cardigan)









Renewal and revitalisation are buzzwords around town. Drawing on preliminary findings from current research in Dandenong and Footscray, both presently subject to R & R processes, Maree Pardy considers a range of questions related to the promises of and visions for the renewal of these suburbs. Qualitative research in both suburbs has so far involved interviews, observations and conversations with policy and planning personnel, visitors, local residents and retailers. Both suburbs share rich yet diverse histories of class, socio-economics and immigrant and refugee settlement. Both also share a distinctive element of cultural diversity, which has been central to much discussion about their branding and futures. Yet, while cultural diversity is discussed, multiculturalism seems to have disappeared from many agendas.

Focusing on the difference between cultural diversity and multiculturalism, Maree will present some of the differing relations to ‘place’ among urban designers, social and urban planners and the many and diverse individuals and groups who inhabit these suburban spaces. The difference between cultural diversity and multiculturalism is outlined and deployed to suggest the possibility of an interesting discursive split arising here, as these suburbs are differentially imagined as spaces of display and/or spaces of dwelling. Maree will explore some prospects and risks that emerge from and within this split.

Dr Maree Pardy is an anthropologist who researches in the areas of multiculturalism, gender, and immigrant communities in urban Melbourne. She teaches in the Gender Studies program in the School of Philosophy, Anthropology and Social Inquiry at the University of Melbourne. Maree has presented a number of papers dealing with areas including identity, nationalism, multiculturalism and globalisation and authored the article "Kant comes to Footscray Mall—thinking about local cosmopolitanism" in the 2005 publication Sub Urban Fantasies. Her current research project ‘Urban revitalisation, public space and intercultural encounters’ is being undertaken with Professor Ruth Fincher, Professor Ghassan Hage and Ms Cathy Henenberg.

Download the PDF flyer for this event here

Entry by gold coin donation...refreshments provided