By Stephen Burton | Featuring Victoria Jones, T Projects
In a rapidly developing world, our cities are at risk of becoming identical.
New train stations, healthcare facilities, and precincts are springing up across Australia, but often, the result is a generic landscape where you could be in Brisbane, Perth, or Melbourne and not know the difference.
How do we disrupt this “sameness”? According to Victoria Jones, Director of T Projects, the answer lies in public art—but not the kind you simply drop into a plaza and forget.
In this episode of The Placemakers, I spoke with Victoria about her 20-year career leading creative projects for organizations like Transport for London and the Metro Tunnel. We discussed why art shouldn’t be elitist, the dangers of “plonk art,” and why urban design needs to prioritize happiness over “sexy” 3D renders.
Key Takeaways for Urban Designers:
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We discuss the role of the curator as a “translator” and how to protect artists from the rough reality of construction contracts.
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Prefer to read? Download the full word-for-word transcript of this interview.
Victoria describes herself as having a “grounded approach” to the creative industries. After starting out as a sculptor at the Glasgow School of Art, she realized her passion lay not in the elite world of galleries, but in art for the everyday person.
“I often call it the ‘gateway drug’ to art because it might be the only art some people ever experience—something they see in a roundabout or a train station,” Victoria says.
Unlike galleries, which can feel intimidating or exclusive, public art meets people where they are. It is inherently democratic.
One of the most contentious issues in placemaking is community consultation. While Victoria believes art must reflect the people it serves, she argues that our current methods of asking for feedback are flawed.
“We don’t go out to the public and ask their opinion on the drainage system or the structural engineering,” she notes.
When we simply show the public a design and ask, “What do you think?”, we invite knee-jerk reactions based on personal taste rather than an understanding of the work.
“If I commission an artwork and everyone loves it, to me that’s almost a failure because it’s probably quite vanilla,” Victoria argues. “You want a range of emotions.”
The solution isn’t to ignore the community, but to move from consultation to engagement. By explaining the “why”—the artist’s intention and the story behind the piece—we can foster a deeper, more genuine connection to the work.
Beyond the aesthetics of sculpture, Victoria emphasizes that successful placemaking is about understanding human behaviour.
She recalls a recent master planning review where the architects presented “sexy, sophisticated drawings” of a new precinct. Despite the high-end visuals, they had missed a fundamental requirement: safety.
“There were no clear lines of sight… I said, ‘Well, I’m a female. If I’m walking there at night, I want to see where I’m going and who is coming towards me,’” Victoria explains.
This is where the industry often fails. We prioritize how a space looks in a render over how it feels to the human user.
“If we design for behaviors and design for happiness—for people to feel safe, secure, and welcome—then we build communities,” she says.
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