In PlanningxChange episode 99 our guest is Alex Fenech, a landscape architect based in Florida. At the time we recorded the interview Alex was a Vice President at EDSA (https://www.edsaplan.com) one of America’s leading landscape and urban design firms.
Alex is the past President of ALSA Florida (American Society of Landscape architects) - https://www.aslaflorida.org/AboutFL
In a wide ranging interview Alex talks of the many parts of a landscape architect’s role. These include not just technical knowledge such as soil types and nutrients, drainage and plant characteristics but also an understanding of how people relate to settings. Alex outlines that ‘people’ are not one standard type but that there are social, cultural and generational differences on how we perceive our environment, and the landscape design needs to understand the variety of user experiences. He talks of the need to plan for the life of a landscape environment in terms of care and maintenance, which is often overlooked.
Alex discusses the considerable amenity uplift that well considered landscaping can provide to a variety of settings including as a ‘link’ between buildings, town and city image and the improvement that well curated landscaping can have on heavily used transport corridors. A number of EDSA projects are mentioned as examples.
He talks of understanding the client brief and the skill in ‘steering’ a client to possibilities they might not have expected. There are a number of examples he provides in America and overseas where landscaping and urban form produce outstanding sensory perceptions.
In Podcast extra or Culture Corner (a segment inspired by the ‘London Calling’ podcast), Alex recommends ‘Drain the Oceans’ shown on National Geographic (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drain_the_Oceans), this program considers the ocean floor using underwater scanning systems that bring new insights into archeology and sometimes challenge conventional wisdom.
Jess praises the movie ‘The Lost City of Melbourne’. https://www.thelostcityofmelbourne.org which considers many of the demolished buildings of Melbourne which in contemporary times would obtain heritage listing. Her second ‘extra’ is the book ‘The couple upstairs’, by Holly Wainwright https://www.panmacmillan.com.au/9781761263071/. ‘Writing with both a light touch and vivid intensity, Holly Wainwright explores love, regret, whether you can stop history repeating, and whether or not you should.’
Pete talks about his life long interest in bushrangers and the website: https://aguidetoaustralianbushranging.com.
Audio production by Jack Bavage. The episode was released on 28 October 2022.
In PlanningxChange episode 98 our guest is Tim Ellis one of the world’s leading magicians. Details about Tim are found at https://www.timellismagic.com and at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Ellis_(magician)
What do magic and city planning have in common? The connection to this episode is Tim organising the Melbourne Magic Festival - MMF (https://melbournemagicfestival.com). This is the largest magic festival in the Southern Hemisphere. It typically occurs late June/early July each year. It consists of a main venue in central Melbourne comprising four different sized theatres and various satellite venues in Melbourne’s suburbs and country Victoria. The festival is a purely private venture receiving no public support grants.
How is a festival put together? What are the logistics, what makes it a success? How does one gauge success? What does it mean for the host city?
Tim with many years of experience organising and financing the MMF is well placed to answer these questions and illuminate the creative impulses and tensions putting on one of Australia’s best events.
In Podcast extra or Culture Corner (a segment inspired by the ‘London Calling’ podcast), Tim recommends any ‘Derren Brown Specials’ (on Netflix), master magician and on Disney +, ‘In & of itself’ by Frank Oz. (preview at www.youtube.com/watch?v=_62BeXxd_jo)
Jess praises the work and resources available through local historical societies (in Victoria see https://www.historyvictoria.org.au/societies/). Pete talks of an article he has had published in ‘Bellcord’, the newsletter of the Melbourne Tram Museum (https://www.trammuseum.org.au/bellcord.htm) about the Tramway Union Banner of 1916.
Audio production by Jack Bavage. The episode was released on 2 October 2022.