We are thrilled to announce the launch of a special issue of Visual Communication: Recombinant Ecologies in the City. Volume 19 Issue 3, August 2020. The editorial is open access. The contributions to this issue show that experimental visual communication can bear witness to practices and performance of cities by birds, bacteria, plants, atmospheres and people. Visual communication can also generate living archives of recombinant ecologies, contributing to […]

Full disclosure: Tom Lee is my colleague down the hall at the School of Design where we work on interdisciplinary learning experiences. We have taught courses together on design thinking, design histories, and design futures. Tom is also a runner, and when I signed up for the City2Surf he was very encouraging. He has a […]

I was recently part of a special issue of M/C Journal on Walking. Of particular interest to our work is Chantelle Bayes’ article ‘The Cyborg Flâneur: Reimagining Urban Nature through the Act of Walking’. Bayes draws on the work of Debra Benita Shaw, Rob Shields and Donna Haraway to examine how the urban walking figure might be […]

Reposted from The Australian Interestingness Thank you Thomas Lee. In the introduction to James Hull and Bede Brennan’s Shit Gardens, the authors spell out an ambivalence concerning aesthetic evaluation that is core to the concept and production of the book. For the authors, ‘shit’ describes gardens which might initially appear “inexplicably bad”, then, with time, come to […]

This spring I visited a variety of gardens in UK, from grand National Trust estate properties to council estates plots. Everywhere I saw plant-human collaborations to green our environment and lives.

This is a book for travelers and observers of the world, especially people who are drawn to the challenges and contradictions of cities. Cities included are Hong Kong, Beijing, Rio de Janeiro, London, Antwerp, Amsterdam, Paris and San Francisco, but author Kirsten Seale begins in Sydney, at the markets with which she is most familiar. The messy, kitsch, and undeniably atmospheric Paddy’s Market offers a great starting point to pose the deceptively simple question ‘What is a market?’

Cities in Java have many obstacles to walking. Surabaya, Indonesia’s second largest city, is no exception: Footpaths are difficult to find, non-existent, or in disrepair. Traffic is ruthless. Maps are inaccurate. The weather is oppressively hot. Despite this situation, jalan-jalan (walking without a specified aim) is still the best way to explore the city and […]

Jakarta can feel oppressive for residents and visitors. If you’ve heard stories about the traffic, the reality is much worse. As in any city though, there are many people doing good things. Journalists Fergus Jensen and Rebecca Henshcke have been living in Jakarta for around 15 years. For the last nine of those they have […]

I don’t often get boating invitations. This week, when Clare Britton asked my to climb aboard the newly renovated ‘Sally’ at the Tempe Pier, I didn’t hesitate. As part of her research project A Week on the Cooks River, Clare is spending time observing, describing, rowing the Cooks. AC: So can you tell me what […]