Market Trading: As a group had to create a structure to display out 20 postcards on and to also bring a gift/offering. Our group brought string and pegs that we created a clothes line out of and sweets like rumballs and cupcakes.At the market I managed to engage and trade with fellow classmates over similar idea of interests. This included appro-priation of public space, ideas of public and private and activation of space. I was invited to join a group of about 10 stu-dents who want to create a public gallery made entirely out of found objects that will move throughout the city.

week ive:

As a group we where to undertake an ‘occupation’ in the suburb of Preston that gave us the opportunity to learn about the suburb. We had to occupy in two distinctly different time conditions.-So as a group we decided to go to the streets with questions about Preston?-Do you live in Preston?-If so, how long have you lived here?-Do you enjoy living in Preston?-Do you work in Preston?- If - If you could change anything in Preston what would it be?To engage with the public we offered ‘Free cupcakes for conversation’.What was most interesting to me was how much information the pubic offered and how willing they where to engage once they trusted our authenticity. This led us to really understand the urban fabric of Preston purely through conversation as apposed to wandering and assuming fact on face value.The coThe conversation itself became its own interior, housing the workings of a community within it. But this inte-rior was only activated when we offered the structure. This again led me to think about different ways of acti-vating urban space.

week three:

week four:

Our irst project was to individually produce a 60 second video on overseas informal urban practices. I chose the topic parks.

I namely looked at the Highline Park in New York. This was designed and built on an old railway track. What I was most interested in this project is how they activated the non-used space and created a new urban inte-rior. This project prompted me to think about how the boundaries between public and private are blurred

when the public appropriates urban space.

In the public domain of the Melbourne area, as a group we where to take an ‘intervention action’ that engages with social public.

As a group we decided to place three posters around Melbourne CBD. Each with a prompt written on it: 1. DRAW HERE, 2. WRITE HERE, 3. GOING UP? We left a pen with each poster and then observed at a distance.We found the social public was apprehensive to take part in the activity as an individual and felt more com-fortable when in a group. Although once comfortable the participant became very honest with expressing

themselves and very willing and pleased to engage.

In pairs, we where to ind and observe examples of ‘Informal Urban Practices’ in Williamstown, an unfamil-iar territory in Melbourne.The population of Williamstown is principally young families and this is relected in the environment of the town. It’s extremely clean and well maintained. A sense of respect is displayed in the town with mini-mal grafiti and illegal appropriation of urban space.In terms of Informal Urban Practices as a group we found such things as locals reclaiming the streets through Guerilla furniture at a bus stop. Also subtle examples of appropriation of public and private space are displayed in campervans parked on the side of the road, tree swings in residential front gardens and furniture built into a private residential fence offering seating to the public. I also found I was interested in the notions of temporality and activation of space that is apparent in these examples.

week two:

week one:

relec tions by sarah rowley