Pop Up Picnic

On Wednesday, I attended a picnic, complete with rugs laid out on grass, in the middle of the city, just one block down from my work in fact. The Albert Street picnic was organised by UR{BNE} as part of the Brisbane City Ideas fiesta - showcasing the new draft city plan and I can't think of a better way to get people involved and commenting on the future of their city.  

The Super Cool Picnic Sign blocking off Albert Street

Not only did this picnic provide a fun way to get involved in city planning, it was also a great way to demonstrate how little changes, such as pedestrianising a street in the inner city can make a huge difference in how we interact with our cities. The use of temporary projects also presents a low risk forum to trial new ideas - and if they work, great and if not you get the chance to try again! 

Proposed Ideas for Brisbane up for comment

A Packed out crowed enjoying the green space

More of these events will be popping up around Brisbane over the next month or so as part of the UR{BNE} festival and I can't wait to see what else they have come up with. It is an exciting time to be living in Brisbane that's for sure.  

Urban Change Makers: Bee One Third

I thought it was about time I not only reinstated the urban change makers column but that I hopped aboard the praise train for the duo behind Brisbanes Bee One Third (recently featured in the U on Sunday magazine). Although neither Kat Skull or Jack Wilson Stone, the geniuses behind Bee One Third are from Brisbane originally they are both long term residents and luckily for us it has become their entrepreneurial home. Urban bee keeping is by no means a new addition to the rooftops of cities across the world and addresses a vital need to maintain our bee population and restore their rightful place in the city. But Bee One Third bring a new meaning the the term "local" with honey being produced on the rooftops of the very restaurants it is used and sold in (such as Gerards Bistro in New Farm). 

Rooftop Beekeeping taken by Andy Leitch via Facebook

Not only are Skull and Stone bringing bee keeping to our rooftops, they also have taught classes at Brisbane's The Joynery in order to help locals create bee friendly gardens in small spaces, in order to provide the best possible chance for the hives to thrive. The attention to detail shown in the Bee One Third project is admirable, with all hives hand crafted and the honey produced bottled by hand and containing hand stamped and embossed labels. These are some seriously talented and clever bee keepers we are dealing with.  If you are interested in finding out more I would head to Bee One Third's facebook here or try and get your hands on yesterdays U on Sunday article. 

Sushi Pod

While wandering through Paddington (as an attempt to start a new suburb profile column...) I managed to pick up a copy of  the awesome (and free) Map Magazine. Inside I was super excited to see a little article on Sushi Pod in Fortitude Valley and its awesome conception via "place shaker" engineer John Tuxworth. Basically the Sushi Pod is a tiny temporary structure that has been created as an "urban reinvigoration" experiment - aiming to bring life and activity into an otherwise underwhelming car park. Not only that the sushi pod offers delicious healthy meals and delivers some Japanese infusion to Brisbane. I think this is an awesome experiment and a true example of a place shaker, and if the picture below is any indication, i'd say it has been pretty successful too! 

People lining up at the Sushi Pod via Supertectonics

Making the Most of Empty Spaces Recap

Okay! So I still have no internet at home and with uni starting back up I think I am going to have to resign myself to less frequent posting over here on Urban Submarine - I am thinking about three times a week (and whenever I see something too cool to not post). 

Anyway, yesterday I attended the Renew Australia "Making the Most of Empty Spaces" workshop presented by Renew Newcastle founder Marcus Westbury. While spending my day at the Bleeding Heart Gallery Space on Ann Street Brisbane I learnt some pretty awesome (and practical) things about creating temporary urban spaces and pop up shops in our cities. 

The Renew Australia group are best known for their super cool work as Renew Newcastle - effectively upgrading Newcastle from an unknown, deteriorating industrial city outside of Sydney to one of the top 10 hippest cities in the world. Acting as an "enabler" or as I like to think of it Space Curator, Renew Newcastle give "Inititavists" the opportunity to put their brilliant creative idea into action by putting them up rent free in a vacant urban space with a rolling 30 day license agreement. This process not only helps creatives get their idea up and running but creates activity in otherwise vacant areas, improving safety and vibrancy in the city centre. 

Renew Newcastle project map via Renew Newcastle

The most important elements I took away from this workshop were the need for practicality and clear solutions when starting any pop up venture and the importance of having elements like how you will organize insurance for projects understood from the beginning. I also learnt the importance of involving a large cross section of people from the community itself in order to create a self sustaining and successful pop up project, not just the people you personally think are amazing or the things you think should be there (I personally am very guilty of this one!).  

All in all it came down to initiative, passion and responsibility and it made me want to start my own venture straight away. If you are interested at all in this kind of thing I would definitely suggest you check out Renew Australia and all the awesome resources they have available on their site.