I see my role as an advocator to be both an informant and educator. Over the course of the subject it has come to my attention that there is a sincere lack of education within communities (Alexandria as an example) regarding the ability and means to make a change to their suburb. By simply approaching the public on the street, parks, cafes and businesses we were able to provoke and involve a mix of locals, the workforce and visitors with the ambitions of BLANK / NOT BLANK.
‘Active Engagement’ is a concept that BLANK / NOT BLANK have aspired to, taking the actions in Alexandria beyond that of simple social media presence. Online engagement however exemplifies the ability to quickly reach a much larger, diverse audience. We have thus used this as a platform for education, spreading the ‘data’ collected from our actions and attempting to provoke and secondary conversation between locals and the wider community.
Our initial strategic plan relied upon the individual to engaging with the distributed stimuli. .Although in theory we believed this to be a success, the reality of this proposition did not deliver the outcomes that BLANK /NOT BLANK set out to achieve. The community did not seem provoked enough to partake in the action. Although disappointing at first, alternate tactics were brainstormed, strategized and implemented.
Our second re-evaluated approach involved members of our BLANK/ NOT BLANK group approaching people in Alexandria directly, speaking briefly and openly about our agenda. Not only did this interaction develop from us approaching them, but soon enough we had people approaching us, curious and inquisitive as to what we were doing. I believe this is representational of the kind of successes our project had. Our initial ambitions of enhancing community engagement within Alexandria are clearly documented in the drawings we received. This act creatively translates the desires, needs and issues that exist within the community of Alexandria, not only the physical environment but also raises cultural, educational and facility based needs.
BLANK / NOT BLANK’s collective approach proved quite successful; most people were enthused and interested to engage in a discussion about the ways that the unused spaces could be transformed in Alexandria. Often, there was little to no knowledge of how to go about engaging with the council and planning controls in which to realise these aspirations. Despite its small scale approach, our action did successfully plant a seed and spread awareness amongst locals of the range of positive developments that could be inserted into a culturally expanding community.
I enjoyed the personal interaction that our implemented strategy produced. Over the course of the subject we have analysed statistical demographic data regarding aspects of the suburb (mainly leisure, residency, work and transport related). However it was the interactions of interviews and conversations in the area that have made the most impact. It was quite surprising to see such a simple task generate spectacular, creative and informative responses. I hope that those who engaged with BLANK/ NOT BLANK over the course of the action will reconsider the power of both the individual and collective thought in taking ownership of the unused public spaces in Alexandria!
-Elke (Advocator)