Placemaking Clarence Valley

This studio has been working alongside the Fire to Flourish (F2F) program, which uses a community-led, strengths-based approach to build ‘resilience’ to disaster. This unique program was born after the 2019-20 bushfires, a collection of devastating firestorms that occurred across eastern Australia, decimating Country alongside vast areas of built environments. For many communities this catastrophe was compounded by the Covid-19 global pandemic and 2022 Northern Rivers floods.

As part of their ongoing recovery, four communities in Clarence Valley—Woombah, Glenreagh, Nymboida and Blicks (towns within Bundjalung, Yaegl and Gumbaynggirr Country / New South Wales)—have been working alongside the studio to bring diverse locally-led ‘placemaking’ ideas to life. This included the design and facilitation of field-based ‘co-creation’ workshops where local people were invited to share and develop ideas for places and spaces that contribute to broader resilience building initiatives in their region. As this studio is a part of a live project, the engaged communities will be provided with Strategic Placemaking Frameworks that reflect the communities vision for building resilience and will aid in the future funding opportunities set out in each location.

Placemaking Clarence Valley has sought to disrupt the standard mode of architectural production through working at the intersection of participatory design, community development and disaster resilience.

Studio Leaders:  Nikhila Madabhushi, Mel Dodd, Kerry O’Neill, Robert Lees