Categories: People in Places

17 Jun 2010, Comments (0)

A place to call our own…

Author: MDC

Am sitting on my South Fremantle back balcony, contemplating the sunset amongst a dark moody pre-rain sky,  with some cool instrumental contemporary jazz playing on the IPOD and thinking life is good.

Haven’t written a post for a while – we’ve been busy creating our new home.  This has included – moving in, very slowly unpacking, finding and being around for lots of tradespeople (we’ve in the main used locals – who are becoming friends) and getting to know the neighbourhoood. Carrying on with life and work during a period of change and transition is full on!  We’ve also been incredibly social, with lots of friends coming to  ’have a look’ and catch up and had many invites to spend time with people in their own spaces and places too.  We recently spent a weekend with our friends Murray and Sue in their ultra contemporary home on the Estuary in Mandurah and recently went down to Margaret River to a surprise birthday party at Vasse Felix put on by Fea for her hubbie Michael – all good fun.  This activity has kept me busy and sometimes extremely tired, which I love, as it means I’m living life to the full – I’m also terrible at saying ‘no’!  The long weekend at Bunker Bay relaxing did help us rest and re-energise for a final month of finishing off before we move upstairs to our permanent residence.

South Fremantle is a vibrant community hub (which includes lots of children and dogs!) and we are loving it.  Working from home has turned out to be a particular challenge however, particularly when trades work being completed is noisey – this has resulted in many hours next door at La Vespa cafe (both alone with my laptop and phone or with others having ‘meetings’). Copious cups of green tea have been consumed (gave up coffee ages ago), as have loads of yummy pasteries (my current favorite being the mapple and pecan danish).  John and I have also regularly frequented lots of the restaurants down the road and beyond, as living in a not quite completed house with packing boxes is not conducive to cooking.  We really like the local Vietnamese “Song Tam”,  which feels like it could be anywhere in the world, is not very fancy but has warm friendly service and hot spicey dishes.

Having old and new friends around us has been a particular pleasure as we bump into each other down the street – although I drive to meetings out of Fremantle, walking and catching the CAT (Central Area Transit) free bus means lots of chance meetings.  I’ve even reconnected with a friend from 20 years ago, who is now a neighbour – Annie and her husband Joseph. Our good friends Sue and Steve are just around the corner and last weekend we enjoyed a great dinner with new friends and gallery owners Bess and Steve…

Bess is a renowned glass artist and I’m hoping to include a piece of her work in our new house. Here’s some of her work and if you’re im the neighbourhood do go and visit – Fremantle Contempary Art Gallery.  Daily meeting new folk, lots of cultural creatives and global citizens with stories to tell all living in the one big melting pot which is Fremantle.  We really feel  like we can truly be ourselves here and that it’s ok.  Promise to keep up the writing. M

24 Apr 2010, Comments (2)

Fremantle musings

Author: MDC

As lots of you know we have moved to Fremantle.  It happened this week and we are now living in a neat little cottage on the ground floor with a small garden complete with 3 olive trees and fish pond.  Our bird Bubbie has setttled in but the cat Astro is a little bit spooked!

It’s already fabulous in Fremantle with almond croissants and a cuppa next door at La Vespa most mornings and testing the restaurants that meander down our road each night!  Will need to watch our weight though and I intend to get into some of the local yoga or pilates soon.  Regular walks down to South Beach and a bike ride or two should sort things out.

Have to say it feels completely different to the apartment (which I was very sad to leave – particularly some of the people we met there).  The main points of difference I think are:

- a sense of history both regards to our property and Fremantle in general vs something recently built (although we will be moving to a contemporary space upstairs eventually)

- uniqueness vs codified sameness (which does happen in apartment complexes as beautiful as they can be)

- ability to create our own space and story vs needing to go through a corporate body to make changes

- an already vibrant mainstreet vs an area with lots of potential but many hoops to jump through before change happens (now now my good friends at the City of Melville, you know I’m on your side and will continue to  help with your great place making ventures)

- friendly local shop owners who we are already getting to know after only a few days and local trades people who have been quick to respond

- feeling like we are back with our ‘tribe’ given we are pretty eclectic and a little left of centre vs being in a gentrified place (mind you John and I are good at fitting in anywhere – which we also experience when we go travelling.  I think it’s because we consider ourselves global citizens and ageless!)

Must get back to the packing boxes now…    

18 Mar 2010, Comments (2)

Places in the country…

Author: MDC

NEWS FLASH!  Over 100 Goomalling folk came to the project launch and local business expo on Thursday night.  That’s 10% of the area population.  Fantastic…

My team and I are currently involved with a lovely project in regional Western Australia (WA).  It’s focussed on regional resilience and helping little towns to thrive and grow into the future. It’s called Living Towns or Living Communities.

With WA so heavily reliant on the resources boom (mining and big business), we are already seeing little places that have put all their ‘eggs in one basket’ suffer when those global multinationals move out of town.  Couple this with the lure of the big city and large regional centres (particularly for young people) and the picture for some towns is unclear.

Living Communities aims to help build the resilience of towns by working with local people to create a community vision that includes social entrepreneurship and new business ideas.  We are embarking on a first pilot in Goomalling in Western Austalia’s wheatbelt 132 kilometres east of Perth.  The local community and Shire have been wonderful in welcoming us and teaching us that little places can have big hearts and dreams.  We are launching the project tonight with a community information evening and will keep you posted as to our regional adventures. We are hoping the model will spread and be applicable to other regional towns.  Check out Greg Winning’s blog for more about new economic approaches to living life in 2010.  Here’s a pic of some of the team including local Steering Committee members (our t-shirts say ‘help plug Goomalling’…

and Sue Crock and I at the local lovely caravan park…

Gerald has done a wonderful job of interviewing locals…

More to come soon. M

10 Mar 2010, Comments (6)

Authentic Place Making

Author: MDC

When you’re a place maker like me – there is a challenge and need to be authentic – that is, practice what I preach!  I’ve long known this and I’ve supported my key skill as a facilitator by lots of personal development work.  It is hard to work with other people, understand and be sensitive to their needs without being clear about yourself and how you communicate.  Of course, I am open to more learning every day but I also understand the need to put learning into action.

I’ve long been pondering my own home – where I live.  I’m in a beautiful apartment on the river in Mount Pleasant.  Very spoilt with dolphins occassionally floating by and lots of bird life.  I wake up to beautiful sunrises and the full moon on the river is absolutely stunning.  I’ve also enjoyed a sense of being ‘cocooned’ from the world and our 1st floor apartment is a little like being in a houseboat – which has been fun.

I am all for density and low to medium rise dwellings which add to vibrancy and offer different housing types – however in my experience it’s harder to create your own space and place.  Apartments tend to be ‘codified’ and highly secure.  From the outside everything looks the same, neat, pretty, architectural.  Security means safety but also a certain amount of being ‘cut off’ from the surrounding community.  One of the things I have done during our 4 years in the apartment was to join the Corporate Body.  I tried to act as the community connector and through this we have had the occassional newsletter and quarterly sundowners including at xmas.  Some lovely people live here and we have made great friends.  We have however had a niggling feeling of frustration over being able to reshape our space and put into place new and sustainable ideas that reflect our values.  For example, if we wanted a rainwater tank or solar cells we would need to convince 31 other apartment dwellers.  We know there are some folk here with similar desires but our sense of urgency about putting such things in place probably wouldn’t get met easily.

A few days ago we were successful at auction in securing a mixed use space which we move into in a month or so and where we are keen to have a go at practicing the authenticity I’m talking about.  It will allow us to think about and implement more sustainable solutions eg. we will have a vegie patch for the first time!

It’s in Fremantle and for those of you who know that City – it is diverse, active and fun.  Being landlords of a mixed use space will also give us an opportunity to create a place others want to come to.  There is a shop which is leased to a graphic designer and 2 studios where we intend to welcome visitors for short term stays.  We are looking forward to the adventure and I’ll keep you posted as to how we go with things.  I love this picture of my husband John at the gate – it’s symbolic to me of a new way forward with lots of plans and I’m sure unknown surprises.  Much like place making projects!

24 Feb 2010, Comments (0)

The zen of Antartica and the need for sanctuary from everyday life…

Author: MDC

I’ve long been drawn to Antartica. To start with I love the winter and cold weather but my attraction was also something about getting away from the chaos of everyday life and into a zen place. The definition of ‘zen’ I’m talking about is:

simplicity, naturalness, freedom from attachment, and tranquillity

On Sunday 14th February 2010 I got my opportunity and was part of a Qantas flight over that great white continent and it was wow! Like everything and nothing I imagined. We flew over it for about 4 hours and saw great expanses of snow, sheer ice cliffs, mountainous ranges and lots of blue blue sea. It was inspiring and mysterious at the same time and what I noticed as I looked at my fellow passengers was that we were all enjoying its bliss and uniqueness. We were also captivated by stories of early explorers and how they crossed such hard and difficult terrain.

Mind you, we paid good money and it confirmed for me that we are well and truly moving to an ‘experience economy’ with people wanting to spend hard-earned money on life rather than just stuff.

Often the experiences we try to create via urban design, place making and programming is about vibrancy and activity. I think we also need places that provide calm and sanctuary, where we can re-energise and find balance. In my experience these places can be created for low cost and in forgotten spaces between buildings with some imagination and by allowing nature in.

Rooftops really interest me too. On a recent trip to Melbourne I went to numerous rooftop small bars, up winding stairs being surprised by eclectic furniture, good drinks, interesting food offerings and the shapes of surrounding buildings framing the wide open sky…next time you’re there check out Campari beer garden in Hardware Lane and Siglo bar on Spring Street.

7 Feb 2010, Comments (3)

How big is a ‘place’ ?

Author: MDC

I’ve been pondering – “how big is a place?” .

In the work I do, it’s often a town centre or mainstreet and sometimes a whole suburb or town.  I reckon though it can be much smaller and bigger.

A ‘place’ I think can start in the heart

How I feel on the inside, my sense of self and my connection to people and the places I frequent.  I really believe in doing the internal work to get to know yourself – who you are warts and all!  The life journey for me is about becoming my own best friend and then challenging myself to grow.  The more I do, the more comfortable I become with myself, how I relate to others and being authentic in my work as a facilitator and place maker.  You can’t ignore the self and how it impacts on how we move into and out of our daily life and spaces.

On the other hand, I think a ‘place’ can be huge!  the World, Australia, Western Australia, Perth – the Universe…

I like to think of myself as a ‘global citizen’ a ‘world explorer’ and I do feel connected to those I know around the world and to those I haven’t even met.  The link between my personal self and the rest of the world impacts on how I walk my daily life whether with those I love, my neighbourhood, at work or in the public places I spend time in.  It’s at the end of the day about ‘respect’ for all that is beautiful – other people, our environment and the interesting social spaces we create that bring meaning, joy and sometimes pain into our lives.

I love the Hindu greeting ‘namaste’ – it has a number of meanings including “I honor the place in you in which the entire Universe dwells, I honor the place in you which is of love, integrity of wisdom and peace.  When you are in that place in you, and I am in that place in me, we are One”.   In simple terms it can be a form of ‘welcome’ or even ‘gidday’ and is usually said with the head bowed and palms to forehead.  I often whisper it when I see a stranger or even a living thing that isn’t travelling so well.  I’d like to say it to you too…

NAMASTE!

  • Mary Del Casale

  • Mary Del Casale

  • Lead consultant of mdc places group
    We’re a small but energetic consultancy focussed on creating more meaning and vibrancy in the ‘third’ place - the social and community settings people spend their lives in. I’m also passionate about food and sustainability matters and I’m a frequent national and international traveler from my base in Perth, Western Australia, to discuss and collaborate on these issues. Find out more >

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