ABOUT THE INSTITUTE

FACILITATING EXPANDED UNDERSTANDINGS

The Institute' seeks to  build productive relationships, and network links, with people who share information, and support the notion that 'placedness' finds its foundations in the CULTURALlandscapes we share and that we are a part of.

The institute is a not-for-profit operation cum network based in northern Tasmania. It's intention is to facilitate and generate community oriented conservations relative to environmental issues in northern Tasmania and to do so in cooperation and collaboration with a range of organisations, researchers, individuals, action groups, etc. The institute is not a think tank nor political pressure group. The institute is a small, grassroots organisation cum network of networks that aims collaborate openly with 'people' in order to facilitate better understandings of the 'distinctiveness' of the CULTURALlandscape they are a part of – better understandings of their 'placedness'.

So, why 43? Some time ago a geographer working for Tasmania's Lands Dept, numbered all of Tasmania's 'river catchments'. He started on Flinders Island and worked around mainland Tasmania, down the east coast, up the west coast and across the northern coastline numbering river catchments as he went. It turns out that he gave the number 43 to the Tamar. The Esk rivers that flow into the Tamar, and the Tamar itself, and together they drain significant portion of the State. So, the number 43 carries an implication of 'placedness' – and in turn a starting point from which a network of networks might make sense.

In order that  'The Institute' might make sense it is necessary to talk about its 'purpose, objectives, rationales and strategies' hopeful in a way that facilitates productive relationships and better understandings.

PURPOSE 

To facilitate more inclusive and expanding understandings of the local distinctiveness of 'place', PLACEmaking and 'placedness' focused on CATCHMENT43.

OBJECTIVES

• Investigate those things that make and shape 'place' in and associated with the CULTURALgeography  of 'Catchment 43'. In particular of a Community of Ownership and Interest,  (COI) linked to 'the catchment'. ... [REF CLICK HERE]

• Facilitation and development of 'people driven' and community focused projects relative to the catchment'.

• Establish a diverse and expansive community networks relative to the catchment'.

• Facilitate the development of PLACEsensitive projects that build and engage with appropriate  Communities of Ownership and Interest.

• Assist in the development of inclusive inclusive projects and discourses relative to  CULTURALlandscaping – publications, events, forums, STREETscapeing projects, PLACEmarkers, PUBLICart projects, etc.

RATIONALES

• The full spectrum of, and layering of, Communities of Ownership and Interest is all too often left out of, and sometimes quite deliberately, those things that shape and create 'placedness'; Thus a COMMUNITYnetwork that focuses upon those things that shape and create 'placedness' has a role to play.

• The 'people, organisations, businesses etc.' who initiate projects are typically informed by imperatives other than those things that engender 'placedness'. Such considerations are commonly expected to give way to the imperatives of 'stakeholders' with vested (fiscal?) interests. These factors are sometimes/often in conflict with community focused imperatives and cultural sensitivities and sensibilities.  Thus a COMMUNITYnetwork that focuses upon those things that shape and create 'placedness' has a role to play.

•All too often people in diverse groups and particular communities lack established and expansive community networks which in turn isolates and insulates them from mainstream 'conversations'. Consequently they need 'mechanisms' in order that they have their voices heard.  Thus a COMMUNITYnetwork that focuses upon those things that shape and create 'placedness' has a role to play./

• All too often in the development of a project with  PLACEsensitivity, 'placedness',  such a concern is all too often missing in the agenda. Often this is because meaningful and inclusive engagement with the full spectrum of the Communities of Ownership and Interest is seen to be 'too difficult' resulting in mediocrity and lightweight outcomes so very often. Thus a COMMUNITYnetwork that focuses upon those things that shape and create 'placedness' has a role to play.

• Again, all too often in the development of inclusive CULTURALlandscapes – precincts, neighbourhoods, environments, STREETscapes, PLACEmarkers, etc. it is seen to be 'too difficult' to engage with the full spectrum of the Communities of Ownership and Interest almost typically resulting in mediocrity and lack lustre outcomes. Thus a COMMUNITYnetwork that focuses upon those things that shape and create 'placedness' has a role to play.

• Given that a range of organisations, interest groups, businesses, institutions, etc exist it in 'the catchment' there are clearly disconnections that work against them working collaboratively and/or cooperatively  towards building inclusive and more dynamic CULTURALlandscapes. Thus a COMMUNITYnetwork that focuses upon those things that shape and create 'placedness' has a role to play.

STRATEGIES

• Assist in the initiation of, the facilitation of,  PLACEaudits purposed to identify the layering observable in a Community of Ownership and Interest, in order that those things that shape and create 'placedness' can be proactively facilitated and adequately articulated.

• Assist 'people, communities, institutions, etc.' who are initiating a project, and do so in ways that assure that they are informed by imperatives that engender 'placedness' and 'inclusiveness' in order that these 'factors' can be more successfully 'marketed'. Likewise, via 'community driven' social media strategies etc., assist in identifying those things that are sometimes/often in conflict with the imperatives cum cultural sensitivities and sensibilities attributed to people imagined to be 'outsiders'.

• Given the diversity of options and opportunities afforded by DIGITALtechnologies and 'social media' assist people in groups, and in particular communities, to established and build expansive, and ever expanding, community networks. Moreover, assist in identifying those things  – ie. conflicting value judgments – that isolate and insulate people/groups from mainstream 'conversations' in order that their 'group's' voices may be heard and enabled to break down barriers – bureaucratic, financial, cultural, whatever.

• Assist in acknowledgement of PLACEsensitivities relative to 'placedness', and in particular putting such concerns on the agenda and having them proactively pursued and widely published. Meaningful and inclusive engagements with Communities of Ownership and Interest need to to be 'trusted' . Consequently, quite often there will be a need to assist people/groups in identifying the potential for mediocrity etc. and thus a need to develop 'marketing mechanisms' that facilitate a community's and/or various communities' concerns towards realising better outcomes.

• Where and when appropriate assist in the generation of funding and/or facilitate the 'marketing' of the concept of inclusive CULTURALlandscaping. And especially so when it is argued that getting adequate funding is 'too difficult' to source. Currently there are often new options available that planners et al are disinclined to follow up on for reasons of expediency or preconceived opinions.

• Assist in generating and proactively developing networking  processes that are aimed at 'purposefully' building open and transparent interfaces between kindred networks within communities – locally and elsewhere. Consistent with this, work with established 'oranisations/operations' in the context of them auspicing 'project funding' in order to ensure trust on the part of funding agencies, sponsors, et al.

• Assist, and where appropriate facilitate, individuals and/or groups to proactively establish independent forums that in turn initiate open and ongoing 'open community review processes' such as 'citizen's assemblies/juries' relative to 'place', PLACEmaking, PLACEmarking and CULTURALlandscaping.

• Assist in the development of publication strategies for CULTURALproduction relevant to material that promotes, enhances and further develops 'placedness' in the catchment and its CULTURALlandscaping.