Footscray has been identified as Victoria’s newest Priority Precinct. It is an important gateway to the west, known and celebrated for its rich, diverse and creative culture. Our work focuses on the Footscray Activity Centre, the central part of Footscray which is home to Victoria University, the Footscray Market and the Footscray Community Arts Centre. The State Government have committed to supporting the growth of Footscray including $1.5 billion of funding towards the new Footscray Hospital which is estimated to attract 15,000 visitors to the activity centre each year.
Hodyl & Co in collaboration with Global South have been engaged to review the existing built form controls in the Activity Centre Zone and propose updated controls that are better positioned to guide the anticipated growth of Footscray into the future. Our work will focus on facilitating design outcomes that secure Footscray’s long-term liveability and respond to its valued and well-established character.
Greater Geelong Arts and Cultural Map
Geelong has a burgeoning arts and cultural scene that is helping to establish the city as an arts and cultural hub for the wider region. Facilities like the Geelong Cultural Precinct and the recently established Pivot City Innovation Precinct are positioning the city as a future leader in the creative sector. While the recent designation of Geelong as a UNESCO City of Design has propelled Geelong on to the international stage and helped to foster connections with other cities of design across the world like Singapore and Berlin.
In response to this growth in the creative sector, the Arts and Cultural Department have initiated the development of an Arts and Cultural Strategy that will serve as the guide for strengthening the role of arts, culture and heritage in Greater Geelong. An important first step identified in the development of the Strategy is a map of the arts and cultural ecosystem in Geelong that captures infrastructure assets such as buildings, creative spaces, studios, work spaces and social assets such as community groups, not for profit organisations, philanthropic and interest groups.
Our brief was to develop a map of all the arts and cultural sites within Geelong to establish a quantitative evidence base that can assist the City of Greater Geelong in effective decision-making related to creative space provision, place-making, cultural identity and the creative economy. Our methodology involved mapping and categorising all of the arts and cultural sites in Geelong (670) and exploring the spatial patterns and relationships that emerged between different creative spaces. This work provided a critical resource for the Council that will greatly inform the development of their arts and cultural strategy.