Case Study: Cribb Street's Renewal, Planning & Community Engagement Process

The Project

Specifically we participated in the community engagement process to help ascertain community attitudes and expectations around the revitalisation project. This involved stakeholders and community members and was led by the Brisbane based consultancy - Co-Design. Community participation was facilitated with the aim of capacity building local groups around activation projects. A select group of Sunshine Coast and Brisbane based designers, including POMO, were also invited to participate in a one day workshop aimed at generating a range of ideas as to how Cribb Street might be redesigned and revitalised. POMO was able to make a presentation at this workshop to help the designers understand the historical and cultural context of the town, a vital ingredient to creating successful place-based design.

POMO then undertook deep historical and cultural research, produced a report which captured the essential cultural themes of the town, and then was able to embark on a creative design process that sought to express those themes in various streetscape elements.

POMO then managed the building and fabrication of those elements, working with a range of artists, creatives and tradespeople and supervised all aspects of installation in the final streetscape.

The Placemaking Design Process

POMO’s first major undertaking was detailed historical and cultural research that was aimed at unlocking the hidden narratives of this town. Landsborough is widely known as the Sunshine Coast’s historic town and it has a deep and rich history. Preparing a comprehensive report that identified a number of themes allowed POMO to outline the core components of an appropriate visual language for the town. Working alongside the landscape design team, this place language was then used to inform a creative process whereby community aspirations were married up with local visual vernacular in order to design a number of bespoke elements for the streetscape upgrade. Engineering and detailed design was also completed.

A Heritage Trail with a Geo-Locative Audio Experience

A further component of the project involved working with Soundtrails and local community members in identifying a number of locations on Cribb Street with heritage value. These locations and their stories became part of a walkable heritage trail that has a customised audio component that allows people to use their phones to hear and see stories of the town’s history. A rich soundscape ensures that this is a highly engaging experience for users and brings to life the historical importance of the town and a number of its heritage sites. The audio trail is activated by QR codes contained on a wayfinding sign that POMO designed.

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Specifically we participated in the community engagement process to help ascertain community attitudes and expectations around the revitalisation project.

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Placemaking Design Studio, Urban Placemaking, Placemaking Design and Construct

Placemaking – Design and Construct