Urban Change Maker - Joost Bakker

Oh yeah, the Urban Change Maker column is back! Do you ever dedicate some time to finally listening to a lecture or talk you have been meaning to and get absolutely blown away by what they had to say? Well, that is exactly what happened when I watched this Creative Mornings Melbourne talk (vimeo.com/63225503 ) by todays Urban Change Maker - Joost Bakker. 

Joost's Melbourne Greenhouse Pop Up via Broadsheet Melbourne

Joost could be categorised as a lot of things; farmer, inventor, artist, designer and problem solver but at the heart of everything he does is his clear ethos - rethink your original notions of waste and products and collaborate and explore to inspire people to live sustainably. Joost has made particular efforts to improve the sustainability of the hospitality industry not only by developing the cool vertical gardens you see everywhere such as those featured on the Greenhouse Pop Up. In Silo by Joost, a hole in the wall Melbourne Cafe in Hardware Lane the act of simple stating that the cafe will not have a bin has lead to a huge range of sustainable and waste minimising solutions! 

Inside Silo by Joost via Broadsheet Melbourne

Asides from providing take away coffee (and I am sure a sustainably made reusable coffee cup is encouraged) Silo boasts the fact that it produces absolutely no waste. You even get to sit on top of the reusable kegs which provide the milk and other beverages for the cafe. I wont provide too much more detail when you can watch the video and check out Joost for yourself and be sure to visit ByJoost.com for more information on other cool projects (e.g. rooftop farming and harvesting urine!). I know I want to learn everything I can about this talented problem solver!

The Service Station

It is a pretty amazing feeling when all your favourite things come together in the one place right? Even if that place does happen to be Los Feliz, California on the other side of the world... As I was reading a few blogs I follow on a Sunday morning, not thinking about urban design or temporary uses at all I was suddenly blown away by this post on Oh Joy. It just goes to show that good things pop up when you least expect them too.  

The post in question was about a visit to "The Service Station" which is, you guessed it, an old service station that has been turned into an outdoor creative market place and event space. The Service Station houses pop up shops (in refurbished shipping containers), outdoor movie nights and best of all a Wednesday food truck night! As I said, all the things I love coming together in a cool themed space - if that doesn't draw crowds and keep people coming back to Los Feliz, I don't know what would! 

Food Trucks @ The Service Station via Oh Joy blog 

I just can't help loving the idea of taking traditional car dominated spaces and completely transforming them into places for the community to gather, oh and eat at food trucks of course. Not only that they have taken a relatively unattractive and unused space and turned it into a place of experimentation and practical urbanism and if you take a look through the galleries on The Service Station website you can see the community coming together and enjoying themselves in this new space! And I mean who wouldn't enjoy themselves if they had the chance to watch Back to the Future in a retro style service station! 

Pop up shipping container shops via The Service Station

The sad thing about this project is that city permits have made it so difficult that this space has had to close and is currently seeking a new space to start up. It is frustrating that despite the obvious benefits from a town planning perspective, these spaces are often either restricted or completely shut down because of issues with permits. It makes it clear that a more flexible approach to city planning is required pretty urgently to foster creativity and innovation in planning solutions. Not only do temporary uses need to work with the existing legislation, but existing legislation should become progressive in making way for temporary uses.  

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.