This pamphlet by Linda Carroli & JM John Armstrong captures scenes from our locality which show some of the nuances and subtleties of suburban environments. While there has been a blossoming of engagement with DIY and tactical urbanism, it tends to overlook the complexity and difficulty of suburban contexts. It also tends to overlook the activity that is already part of the suburban environment. This project endeavours to present personal accounts and narratives as a counter to the sometimes anti-suburban tone of current design, planning and academic discourse. It presents small scale encounters that indicate the suburbs operate at multiple scales and offer a diverse palette of engagements and actions.
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1. I spy ...
scenes from micro-suburbia
Compiled by Linda Carroli & JM John Armstrong
2. I spy ...
scenes from micro-suburbia
compiled by Linda Carroli & JM John Armstrong
(cc) 2013
Unless otherwise specified, the content of this pamphlet is licensed
under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-No
Derivative Works 2.5 Australia License.
This pamphlet is produced as part of Enabling Suburbs, under the
umbrella of the Fieldworking project. Enabling Suburbs is an
interdisciplinary project exploring suburban futures by drawing on
and developing alternative representations as a strategy for enabling
change and diversity.
http://enablingsuburbs.wordpress.com
Fieldworking was assisted by the Australian Government through
the Visual Arts Board of the Australia Council, its arts funding and
advisory body.
Harbinger Consultants
Creative Sustainability :: Place, People, Product, Partnership,
Potential + Pollinate
PO Box 334, Aspley Qld 4034
http://harbingerconsultants.wordpress.com
Author bios
JM John Armstrong has held executive and senior management
roles in higher education, enterprise and government. Prior to
establishing Harbinger Consultants and developing a vibrant
consultancy practice, he worked as the manager of an Indigenous
business development hub. He has worked with many organisations
to develop and facilitate strategy, policy and change. An experienced
project manager and formerly CEO of a creative enterprise incubator,
John was a member of the Board of the Queensland Indigenous
Arts Marketing and Export Agency and the chair of an arts and
disability organisation. He has also participated in government
initiatives in placemaking, creative city and urban agriculture. As
a contemporary artist, practicing in the 1970s and 80s, Armstrong
traveled widely and his artwork is held in many public collections.
He has represented Australia in international cultural events
including the Sao Paolo Biennale and Paris Biennale.
Linda Carroli has worked across community, urban, organisational
and cultural contexts with a special interest in stakeholder
engagement and consultation.The diverse scope of her work has
included reporting and analysis, public relations, community
consultation and engagement, planning and policy, program
evaluation, project management, publishing and information/digital
content management. She chaired a national art, science and
technology organisation, the Australian Network for Art and
Technology, and was formerly the editor of an international art,
science and technology electronic magazine, fineArt forum. As an
award winning writer, she publishes in a range of media both
nationally and internationally and is also the recipient of a Centenary
Medal for ‘long and distinguished service in the arts’. She has
completed studies in media, cultural studies,heritage and urban
planning and design.
3. Contents
Introduction
Street stalls & yard sales
Carpark concerts & events
Front yarding
Street art & chalking
Street furniture
Creative studios
Markets & fetes
Informal ‘commoning’
‘Hole-in-the-wall’ businesses
Suspended coffee
Community garden
Micro-business
Street parties & gatherings
Treehouses & play
Local flavour
Mobile & roadside vending
Open house, hidden treasures
Self-organisation
Social space
Feral food
Lively streets
Giving
Notes & ideas
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I spy ...
scenes
from
micro-suburbia
4. Introduction Linda Carroli & JM John Armstrong
The suburbs can sometimes seem like a sleeping giant, curled up
around the city. It is hard to say which is giving and receiving the
comfort of this embrace. A body of such proportion and strength
that it might strangle that frail centre determined to wall its cultural
boundary by any means possible. We live in a middle/outer suburb
in the mythic heart of the great Australian dream. In the literature
we read about city design and planning, the suburbs are a problem;
fraught territories. This pamphlet captures scenes from our locality
and endeavours to show some of the nuances and subtleties of
suburban environments. While there has been a blossoming of
engagement with DIY and tactical urbanism, it tends to overlook
the complexity and difficulty of suburbia. Enabling Suburbs was,
in part, set up with a view to work with that difference in the making
of place and culture in and of the suburban landscape in ways that
engender sustainability.
We've described our examples as ‘scenes from ‘micro-suburbia’ to
make a point about scale. Suburbia is often described as a massive
and creeping expanse of homogeneity that generates blandness,
waste and excess. Big houses, big cars, big consumption, big brands,
big blocks of land, big roads, big shopping centres, big boxes, big
infrastructure and so on. While that is true, it is also only one facet
of the suburban. The macro-view of ‘suburbia-as-monolith’ makes
for a feeling of placelessness and non-place. Over the years we have
been living in Brisbane's north, we have observed and documented
numerous micro-views of suburbia that we have, quite simply,
appreciated. This, in turn, has engendered small and intimate
relationships with space, place and others. So, in identifying
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micro-suburbia we are saying that the suburbs, like most places,
function and dysfunction at varying scales. From our own experience
and our own forays in the suburban field, which we play as a kind
of embedded fieldwork, macro-suburbia is failing, while micro-suburbia
is flourishing. These moments - the ‘micro’ - give us pause
to consider how suburban systems can be disrupted through simple,
productive and localising everyday acts. This pamphlet presents
some of the un/usual and un/expected things we have encountered.
These are not merely copies of ‘authentic’ urban phenomenon, but
genuine articulations of the local. This small survey seeks to encourage
a closer look at what we have recognised as a kind of ‘everday
creativity’ (Elizabeth Sanders), ‘enabling city’ (Chiara Camponeschi)
or ‘everyday urbanism’ (Margaret Crawford) in suburbia. We
recognise the limits and understand that these examples are not
heralding an emergent ‘redirective practice’ (Tony Fry) of
suburbanism. However, as Fry urges, from a futuring perspective
it is important to work with what is already at play, to retrofit and
redirect.
One morning, drawing on our fieldwork and documentation from
the Placing Project, we compiled this list of small community driven
local innovations and informal activities that have made our suburban
locality seem more open and vibrant. We have seen, encountered
and participated in these things during our life in Brisbane’s north.
Suburban streets can offer gifts and surprises - the generosity of
neighbours, an entrepreneurial spirit and makeshift encounters.
Many of the initiatives presented here roll and spill out of homes
and businesses into underutilised public or semi-public spaces, like
verges and carparks. Domestic and private spaces become more
5. it seems that ‘urbanism’ can
be experienced and
practiced in ways not bound
to urban form ... the urban
can be embedded in the
porous and open as residents share and
participate. It is not the kind of activity
ordinarily attributed to suburban
communities, though we suspect it has
always been here in various guises, like
cul-de-sac cricket and street parties. For
us, there is a sense of an ‘enabling suburb’
emerging from these small invitations,
innovations and actions.
This pamphlet is a kind of ‘mattering map’ endeavouring to pinpoint
moments of aspiration and participation. Creativity is often regarded
as an urban phenomenon thriving on the energy and density of
inner urban life. Subsequently, there can be a distinctly anti-suburban
tone in design, planning and academic discourses and practices
which perpetuate an outdated view of our suburbs. However, cultural
and aesthetic thinking now places value on participation, relationality,
improvisation, informality, adhocism, conviviality and the like. We
see signs of this in suburbia where citizens are finding ways to “do,
adapt, make and create” (Elizabeth Sanders). When we bump into
friends while walking to a restaurant, or organise meetings or co-working
suburban.
in a cafe, we jokingly declare “how urban!”. Perhaps there
is a small truth here, as it seems that ‘urbanism’ can be experienced
and practiced in ways not bound to urban form, that confound the
urban/suburban divide. The urban can be embedded in the suburban.
In these scenes from our own micro-suburbia, we are detecting a
creative, generous and productive drive that runs counter to persistent
perceptions of a self-absorbed suburbia. It is slowly and minutely
reconfiguring the everyday for people and of place.
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7. Street stalls & yard sales
Like garage and yard sales,
street stalls, sausage sizzles
and charity stalls invite
passersby and neighbours to
participate in informal
exchange. Such events tend
to be about more than selling
off disused possessions. They
hybridise private and public
spaces by using the street
and/or yard for social and
economic exchange.
Carpark concerts & events
Above: A footpath stall set up by a child.
Left: Yard sale at a suburban op shop.
Suburban centres can be dominated by carparks which are rarely used to capacity and
are often left empty during closing hours. Sharing and re-using space can help activate
communities especially where the empty car parks become dead zones. A community
minded business can change this dynamic. The car park at our local shopping centre
is already used for mobile community services such as the blood bank and library. Prior
to the anti-hoon campaigns, young people would gather and socialise in that car park,
showing off their cars and attitude. Having built a back deck in its car park, a local
coffee shop uses this space for small concerts and acoustic sessions. Hidden from the
main road, the space is relaxed with an alternative feel, like a laneway, that enlivens
with the social and cultural interaction. Other uses for this carpark are also being
considered, such as a small market or jumble sale.
Photo: Sourced from Cup From Above
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8. Front yarding
‘Front yarding’ means using the front yard as an active space e.g. yard sales and food
growing. Several homes nearby have established food gardens in their front yards. This
changes the dynamic of the street as it realises a role of the the front yard as an extension
of living and social space. It can connect people and enable passive street security.
Instead of being an empty zone, the front yard is activated and used. Another household
has installed raised garden beds of vegetables and herbs in their front yard.
This kind of low key social activity is part of the thinking of new urbanism and traditional
neighbourhood design. As residents garden, they are engaged with the street and the
neighbourhood. Nearby, another resident has installed a skateboard ramp in his front
yard. It makes for a potentially more sociable, open and safe street that cultivates
neighbourhood relations rather than concealing activity in the back yard.
Street art & chalking
Small street artworks produced
through stencilling, stickering
and chalking can personalise
and animate a space or object
that otherwise lacks character.
They can add visual appeal,
detail and interest. These images
are not intended to last and will
eventally wear or wash away. It
is also a very accessible form of
creativity - ranging from
elaborate drawings to haiku to
hopscotch to QR codes.
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9. Street furniture
Many front yards are not fenced and their gardens roll out to landscaped property
lines, which mark the beginning of private property. At the front boundary of one of
those yards, the home owner has installed a small ‘fairy garden’ populated with small
figurines as well as a bench and water for dogs. Here, a portion of the front yard is
shared and anyone is welcome to use it and enjoy it under the shade of a large street
tree. Small children squeal and point as they pass when they spot the small figurines
fixed to the ground – ‘mummy mummy, I saw a fairy’ – and the dogs slurp up the
water on hot summer days. More recently a second bench was installed, abutting the
tree on the footpath. This bench is one our favourite street insertions as one of several
thoughtful and kind gestures that endeavour to share and use the space in a community-aware
way, recognising too that there is no seat at the nearby bus stop.
Creative studio
There is a secret creative and entrepreneurial undercurrent in the suburbs. Suburban
houses and yards are often large enough for residents to establish studios, workshops
and other workspaces. We know there are many craftspeople, designers and artists
working in their suburban homes. At local markets, we meet many creative practitioners
who are reviving domestic crafts like sewing and knitting. Others make jewellery and
children’s clothing. Others are salvaging and upcycling discarded materials for all kinds
of crafted items. While there are many diverse home-based businesses scattered through
suburban neighbourhoods, there are other creatives too - like architects and fashion
designers - who also maintain home studios. Recently, we attended the opening of artist
Sophie Munns’ studio in nearby Chermside where she offered her work for sale and is
continuing to develop her major project titled ‘Homage to the Seed’.
Photo: Sophie Munns’ studio, Chermside. Republished with kind persmission of Sophie Munns.
http://sophiemunns.blogspot.com.au
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10. Markets & fetes
We are regular attendees at local
markets and fetes. They crop up
in unlikely places like the carpark
of a nearby hotel and another at a
local high school. Our local
markets sell fresh seafood, fruit
and vegetables, quality handmade
goods and crafts, second hand
goods and more. Markets and fetes
are a hub of enterprise with many
sellers having a relationship with
the locality.
Informal ‘commoning’
A large road reserve has provided neighbouring residents with an opportunity to develop
their own 'community common'. The land is being used for a range of formal and
informal uses such as play spaces (tree houses and cubby houses), fruit growing,
gardening and car parking. In general, it looks like residents treat it like an extension
of their backyard. Proximity of houses, especially backyards, to much of this area provides
for passive surveillance, making it a safe place for many neighbourhood activities. There
is a small banana tree grove (pictured) as well as a copse of mango trees. The land reserve
looks occupied and cared for with local residents obviously playing a part in shaping
the space and its use. An enquiry to the local authority revealed that this ‘commoning’
is tolerated rather than permitted. While much land in suburban areas is underutilised,
there are few opportunities to bring it into a common use like this.
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11. ‘Hole-in-the-wall’ business
Suspended coffee
Small and ‘hole-in-the-wall’ cafes
and bars are spreading, even in the
suburbs, as customers are looking
for intimate and interesting places
close to home. Destinations don't
need to be big or flashy. At Sandgate
a ‘hole-in-the-wall’ coffee shop uses
its shop space for bean roasting
while customers sit on stools on the
footpath while a new small bar
encourages small talk.
Many suburban coffee shops are now selling ‘suspended coffees’. The principle of
‘suspended coffee’ is simple and the Suspended Coffee website describes it as “Someone
goes into a cafe, bakery, restaurant and pre-purchases a coffee or food. This is then a
‘suspended coffee’. Someone in need can then go into the business and ask if they have
any suspended coffees.” However, anyone can go to a participating coffee shop and ask
for a suspended coffee. The process is based on generosity and ‘paying it forward’
rather than asserting a stereotype of the ‘deserving poor’. Our local coffee shop, Cup
from Above, was one of the first to offer suspended coffees and many of the coffee shops
we visit now do so. Like supporting charity stalls and community fetes, buying a
suspended coffee is part of the ‘gift economy’ in which goods and services are given
without any expectation of reward or gain.
More information at http://www.suspendedcoffee.com.au
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12. Community gardens & recycling
As part of a masterplanned community in Fitzgibbon, a community garden has been
established, planted with fruit, vegetables and herbs. The project has attracted much
interest and support from locals who, having received start up support from the State
Government, are seeking additional funds to maintain the project. The special school
also runs a community garden, cafe and recycling centre, which is apparently the world’s
largest school-based recycling centre. Like many social enterprise initiatives these projects
aims to bring people together to learn, develop new skills and connect. These initiatives
encourage engagement with sustainable food systems, healthy living and nutrition.
Micro-business
Residents also turn their love of
gardening into micro-businesses
by selling their propagated plants
from their yard. These home based
nurseries sometimes sell at markets
at lower prices than garden centres.
Home growers have much
experience of local growing and
planting conditions, often offering
advice. Bromeliads and orchids
tend to be local favourites, attracting
many appreciative buyers.
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13. Street parties & gatherings
Treehouses & play
Street parties and similar social
events can build a sense of
community. Street parties require
some planning and coordination
including permission from the
local authority to close the street.
They encourage people to meet
and can help build trust,
friendships and social capital in
neighbourhoods.
Trees hold a particular appeal for children. Not only for building treehouses but also
for climbing and suspending swings. A few years ago a battle raged in nearby Newmarket
about a treehouse that was torn down by the local authority. The treehouse was used
as a meeting place for residents in the street, with birthday parties and other local
gatherings held there, as well as many informal play sessions. According to a news
story, eight boys from six families spent many hours building it, scavenging building
materials and tools to construct four platforms. Local dads supervised, intervening to
ensure the safety of the structure. We’ve noted that treehouses and swings can be found
in bushland, parks and other open spaces, including tyre swings suspended over the
creek. Such play spaces are a kind of commoning and give children a claim to public
space and allow them to get dirty as well as exercise their creativity and problem solving
skills.
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14. Local flavour
In the shadow of the big franchises
that dominate local centres, new
service and hospitality businesses
create a different kind of local
economy and vibe. Ethnic food and
spice stores and restaurants -
Indian smorgasbord, traditional
Thai, Japanese noodle house - that
invite locals to experience our
cultural diversity. Coffee shops and
a traditional bakery also add
ambience, while a tattoo parlour
adds colour.
Mobile & roadside vending
Like the seasonal mango and cherry seller, the ‘fisho’ at the ‘servo’ is almost an institution
in the suburbs. While regarded as a sign of suburban blight, service stations also provide
space to independent sellers who offer seasonal produce, seafood and flowers at low prices
off the back of a truck. The excess space in service stations can be used temporarily and
opportunistically. Further north, a pie seller parked his distinctive 1927 Chevy truck on
an access road, where it did a roaring trade and attracted other vendors selling
complementary goods like hot beverages and fruit unless roadworks forced closure. At
peak times like Mothers’ Day and St Valentine’s Day, flower sellers line the roads with
beautiful displays of seasonal floral arrangements.
Note: These sellers are licensed.
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15. Open house, hidden treasures
What could happen if we opened our homes more regularly to show off our eccentricities
or uniqueness? The residents of one home kindly decided to share their collections of
vintage and retro treasures with their social networks. Via facebook, they extended an
invitation to join an afternoon of chatting and appreciating the collection of ‘hidden
treasures’. The afternoon was relaxed and enjoyable, presenting an opportunity to
informally socialise and share stories about collecting and collectables. Beautiful and
quirky objects were carefully curated and clustered; apparently with help from local
children. Aprons lined the verandah, with tablecloths and tea towels hanging on the
washing line, fluttering in the breeze. The Australiana motifs provide insight into our
history of domestic design. This event presented a different view of suburban creativity:
highly personal, individual, domestic and eclectic. With another ‘hidden treasure’ open
house scheduled elsewhere, the host entreats others to follow suit.
Self-organisation
As the day ends and cools, the residents of a quiet shady street step out of their homes
to meet and greet each other. It looks like a relaxed experience, where residents can
mix and build friendships. As they walk along the street or sit on fences, they share
stories and laugh. We’ve wondered how this practice started as it seems more like
tradition than habit. While this ability and willingness to self-organise seems intuitive
and flexible, it requires some energy and passion on the part of residents. It reminds
us that ‘doing something’ or participating in something - a reading group, seed saving,
craft circle, swap meet, catchment group, walking or cycling group - can bring many
benefits. Social media has a role to play here too because the nature of the suburban
form can hinder connections with others - self-organising, social media, broadband
and wi-fi access can mesh to enhance openness and neighbourliness.
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16. Social space
Suburban estates are rarely surprising or extraordinary place. They tend to face away
from main streets, with one entrance leading into a network of cul-de-sacs. In one such
housing estate, a circle of cut logs has been arranged under a street tree. These logs are
just high enough to sit on and provide a social or resting place on a quiet street. They
invite passersby and neighbours to gather in the shade, perhaps with a cup of tea or
freshly baked scones in hand, to socialise. It offers respite to the elderly and children
who might need to rest. Like other forms of improvised street furniture, it extends an
invitation and desire for connection.
Feral food
Feral food, especially fruit trees,
grows in or overhangs public
spaces and can be picked by
anyone. Mango trees and Lilly
Pillys can be prolific. Other food
plants, including bush tucker and
the odd corn stalk sprouting in
the gutter, can also be found by
the keen gatherer. Cook and
preserve this produce - Lilly Pilly
Jam, Lilly Pilly Jelly, Mango Pickle
and Mango Chutney.
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17. Lively streets
When local traders band together
or take initiative, streets can come
alive with new social, commerical
and creative opportunities. On the
footpath outside a row of small
shops in a suburban centre, a cafe
operator offers a workshop with
a papermaker and a meal. That
same group of businesses also
work together to present micro-markets
featuring local makers
and growers.
Giving
Giving and gifting can be easy.
Baskets of lemons and other home
produce, unwanted furniture and
household goods, and other
disused items are often presented
on the footpath with signs like
‘please take’ or ‘free’. There is no
expectation of return or reward.
However, it would a more
meaingful gesture of generosity to
offer these items when fresh or in
good condition.
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19. Notes & ideas
How can I make my suburb ...
more interesting?
more sociable?
more creative?
more local?
more open?
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