Vision 2 Event – design workshop

Research background: Vision 2 develops and tests a new extended collaborative model with a diverse level of stakeholders towards a new vision for the revitalization of central Geelong. The first major initiative, the Design Workshop, involved 81 cross-discipline professionals, stakeholders and students collaborating to propose speculative discourse surrounding the question “What can happen to central Geelong, in a physical and non-physical sense, to make it a truly great city?”
Research contribution: The Design Workshop organised a collaborative design workshop by engaging diverse people including planners, urban designers, architects, community representatives, developers and policy makers. A new structure and method of interactive idea generation set in process a method that allowed the participants to collaboratively think and scope possibilities for integrated urban challenges without typical restraint or limitations. A large body of valuable information and creative thinking resulted. This was first refined into 15 ‘Thematic Concepts’, each proposing a consolidated idea to be discussed and communicated across the various stakeholders of the project and facilitate a community consultation process. Four Key Scenarios ensued from this process and fed into the second workshop event.
Research significance: The project established a formal (MoU) collaboration between the City of Greater Geelong, Deakin University, Committee for Geelong (project commission) and the Department of Planning and Community Development (project funding). The Design Workshop process and outcomes was tested through engagement with community, and became the platform for the development of the project through subsequent stages. Discourse was developed through the ongoing public exhibition (Vision 2 Gallery), social media (Twitter, Facebook and Vision 2 website), outreach events (Vox Pops, listening posts and community activities), and local media (Geelong Advertiser and Geelong Times).