Forum 1 - Melbourne’s Cultural Identity: What do we value?
Time: 6:00pm - 7:30pm
Venue: Bio 21 Theatre, 30 Flemington Rd Parkville
What happened at this forum?
Professor Vijoleta Braach-Maksvytis, Deputy Vice Chancellor, Innovation and Development, University of Melbourne officially opened the series of Future Melbourne forums.
Over 100 people attended the first Future Melbourne forum on Wednesday 13 June at the Bio21 Theatre in Parkville.
Listen here for the first part
Listen here for the second part
Download a PDF transcript of Forum 1
The forum explored what we value about Melbourne's cultural identity and raised questions about how we see Melbourne now and in the future. Our panellists covered diverse topics from Melbourne's underlying assets and liabilities to Melbourne's multicultural strengths and the need to acknowledge all of Melbourne's complex layers.
Speakers
Prof Rob Adams
Sid Myer
Morry Schwartz
Dr Kate Shaw
Dr Clare Wright
Moderator
Dr Gael Jennings
Forum Description
What do we love about Melbourne? What’s Melbourne’s identity? What are our values? What features of the city are we proud of? What resources can we draw on to envision and to make a future?
The panel will set the scene for the coming Future Melbourne Process. What resources can the culture of Melbourne muster to envision and to make its own future? Can we plan a better city? What are the strengths of Melbourne that we need to preserve? What is unique about Melbourne? What are the emergent strengths - Knowledge City? What’s wrong with Melbourne? Are we seen as an innovative or a conservative city? What do panel members see as three things we must improve?
Speakers
Professor Rob Adams
Professor Rob Adams is the Director of City Design at the City of Melbourne. Rob is passionate about the good design of cities and has a strong interest in the roles all levels of government play in creating good cities. Rob has been a driving force behind Melbourne’s urban renaissance.
Sid Myer
Sid Myer is co-vice chairman of the Myer Foundation and chairman of Asialink. He is a Melburnian dedicated to strengthening business and government links between Australia and Asia. Sid is committed to promoting and developing Melbourne’s strong multicultural capacity.
Morry Schwartz
Morry Schwartz is a property developer and publisher. Morry’s interests lie in Melbourne’s big picture: culture, destiny and opportunities. How we can shape Melbourne’s future is an important topic for Morry.
Dr Kate Shaw
Dr Kate Shaw is a Research Fellow in Architecture, Building and Planning at the University of Melbourne. Kate researched the recent emergence of creative youth communities in Melbourne and is interested in how these groups might influence the future cultural life of the city.
Dr Clare Wright
Dr Clare Wright is an award-winning historian and author who has worked in politics, academia and the media. Clare wants to delve down into the many layers that make up the city, to gain a better understanding of where our future lies.
