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Confirmed speakers - Creative Tropical CityKath Albury Dr. Martin Young (Panelist - Tropical Knowledge) Paper Title: What is Tropical Knowledge? Abstract: The paper presents a culturally centred approach to tropical knowledge, suggesting that such knowledge is essentially an expression our collective imaginations; about rethinking how we wish to create and recreate the worlds we live in. Tropical knowledge is thus defined as the process by which we socially construct our understanding of the particular place in which we live. The paper suggests not that we need tropical knowledge per se; rather that we need to assess the appropriateness of our knowledge and how we use it to appraise the world around us. Tropical knowledge, from this perspective, is a measure of the appropriateness of human response to landscape. Biography : Dr. Young is a geographer who has recently joined the School for Social and Policy Research, Charles Darwin University, focusing on research within the school’s urban and regional development theme. He is developing projects in the areas of social values of natural resources, gambling behaviour, and sustainable tourism development. His previous research experience has been with the Centre for Research into the Social Impact of Gambling, Plymouth, United Kingdom, and with the Cooperative Research Centre for Sustainable Management of the Great Barrier Reef, Townsville, QLD Marilyn MorganPaper title: Partnering with Community Biography: Marilyn currently manages the Western Australian Indigenous Arts Marketing and Export Unit in the Dept of State Development. Her role in this unit is to develop the Indigenous Arts Industry, ensure quality product development, training and employment of artists and arts industry workers, marketing and promotion nationally and internationally and the orderly marketing of art ensuring a maximum return to artists on the ground living traditional lives on Country. Marilyn Morgan has worked with and for Aboriginal people since 1972 at the Aboriginal Medical Service in Sydney. She has been working in Aboriginal Community contexts in W.A. since 1977. Marilyn is of Aboriginal descent and has a comprehensive Indigenous, mainstream and professional network. Marilyn has widespread Indigenous Community support throughout the State and at national level. Areas of expertise and experience are diverse and include health, education, housing, community development, natural resource management, biodiversity conservation, employment and training, economic and business development. She has a long history of successful outcomes in regional development and most recently export market development for Indigenous products. Marilyn represents the interest of Aboriginal people and communicates
their views and interest in her membership at Board level of
a number of significant Government entities, Indigenous Community
Organisations and private organizations. Professor Negar MottahedehPaper title: "Reel Evil: Dictatorship and the passion for cinema" Abstract: In the Spring of 2003 a film festival entitled Reel Evil: Films from the Axis of Evil held at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, took the global media by storm as the United States and its allies prepared to go to war in Iraq. The film series highlighted the products of film industries in the rogue states the United States government has called “The Axis of Evil” (Iran, Iraq, North Korea, Syria, Libya, Cuba). The presentation will discuss the organization of the series and the media's responses to it. The presentation will include clips from some of the films included in the series. Biography: Negar Mottahedeh is a professor
of film and literature at Duke University and the co curator
of the Reel Evil: Films from the Axis of Evil film
series. She writes on cinema and Middle Eastern visual culture.
She has just completed a book on national variations in cinematic
language and the new Iranian cinema. Professor Stephen GarnettPaper title: Tropical Knowledge as a Creative Framework Abstract: In the boom that is coming to Darwin decisions are being taken on the physical shape of the city that will affect it for at least the next half century. But these decisions also affect social and environmental futures. I discuss how tropical knowledge can be applied to developing long term visions across the breadth of tropical experience, testing them against models of the physical and social constraints of the real world. Research needed to realise an holistic vision for the north, the risks of action or inaction and the resilience of our society and environment to the changes that will occur on our way to those visions will require the highest levels of creativity and imagination, and can only be achieved in a society of creative people. Biography: Professor Stephen Garnett is
The Chair of Tropical Knowledge at Charles Darwin University.
Stephen's career for the past few decades has been in environmental
sciences, mostly in north Queensland and the Pacific,and he
sees tropical knowledge as the knowledge needed to live sustainably
in the tropics. However sustainability is more than just the
need to ensure the environment continues to support human endeavour.
A sustainable society is also one where quality of human life
is maintained at a high level. Stephen sees his role as identifying
and facilitating the research needed to bring the ideal of
tropical sustainability closer to reality. Stephen GrayPaper title: Indigenous Property Rights and Cultural Protocols Abstract: This paper examines the question of whether there should be separate recognition of indigenous property rights over cultural material. This question has arisen in many contexts: books, films, languages, and even questions of access to sites such as Uluru and Twin Falls. Should there be ‘cultural protocols’ for creators of books and films dealing with indigenous material? Are they legal in nature or merely ethical? How, if at all, can they be reconciled with Western notions of freedom of expression, and with the traditional bases for intellectual property laws? This paper suggests that what may be needed is a new approach to the question of intellectual property ownership of indigenous material, one which recognises that equality as well as freedom should be legal and ethical aspirations in this area. Biography: Stephen Gray is a writer and
law lecturer based in Darwin. His most recent publication is Criminal
Laws Northern Territory. This book examines the unique
criminal jurisprudence of the Northern Territory, particularly
its approach to indigenous defendants. Prior to that his novel, The
Artist is a Thief, (Allen & Unwin, 2001), won The
Australian Vogel Literary Award in 2000. The Artist is
a Thief was also nominated for the Ned Kelly Awards for
crime fiction, short-listed for the Vision Australia Library
Awards, and was nominated for the 2003 International IMPAC
Dublin Literary Award. He was named as one of the Sydney
Morning Herald’s best young novelists of the year
in 2002, and was awarded a Developing Writers grant from the
Literature Board of the Australia Council to develop his third
novel. Stephen has also published numerous academic articles
on indigenous legal issues, copyright and criminal law. Malcolm BlaylockPaper title: Creating the Darwin Festival Abstract: The paper will discuss the role of the Darwin Festival and provide an overview of its organisation and the creative thinking involved in the development of a major arts festival. Biography: Malcolm Blaylock is the Artistic Director of the Darwin Festival. Kath AlburyPaper title: Let's Get Creative: Alternate Creative Industries in the NT Abstract: Pornography - the topic is always controversial, but until now very little research has been done to help us understand pornography in Australia. Who makes pornography, who uses it, and why? How big is the industry in Darwin, and how does it compare with other states and territories? Is pornography a 'creative industry'? This presentation is based on original research conducted with Australian producers, distributors and consumers, as part of a national three year study administered through the University of Sydney and the Queensland University of Technology. Biography: Kath Albury is writer, researcher and broadcaster, specialising in sexuality in media and popular culture. She is a Chief Investigator on the Understanding Pornography in Australia research project. Kath has presented her research at national and international conferences, including the1998 World Pornography Conference, University of California, Northridge. She has also written and commented on sexual and ethical issues for a range of media, including The Australian and ABC television's Compass. Kath is a member of the Australian Society of Sexuality Educators, Researchers and Therapists (NSW). Her book Yes Means Yes: getting explicit about heterosex was published by Allen & Unwin (2002) Dr. Deborah StevensonPaper title: Becoming ‘World Class’?: An Examination of Major Trends in Urban Redevelopment and City Reimaging Abstract: Local, state and territory governments are being confronted with an array of seemingly intractable urban problems, such as derelict inner city and waterfront precincts, street crime and displacement. At the same time, they are being inundated with a similarly overwhelming number of supposedly fail-proof solutions to these problems, including proposals for cultural precincts, the ‘creative city’, and the redeveloped waterfront. This paper negotiates the maze of formulaic solutions considering, in particular those focused on the arts and entertainment as the basis for redevelopment. It argues that the starting point for any redevelopment/reimaging strategy must be local cultures, strengths and priorities and the result must be spaces that are used and owned by local residents as well as visitors. Biography: Deborah Stevenson is Deputy Director of the Cultural Industries and Practices Research Centre at the University of Newcastle. She has conducted extensive research into cultural policy and city imaging including into the way the creative industries are used to revitalise cities and regions. She is the author of three books based on aspects of this research – Agendas in Place: Cultural Planning for Cities and Regions;Cities and Urban Cultures; and Art and Organisation: Making Australian Cultural Policy – and is currently writing two more books on the subject for international publishers. Dr Stevenson has worked as a cultural planning consultant and arts policy advisor to all levels of government and her work is widely cited in industry and academic publications. Professor Brendan GleesonPaper title: Spaces for Hope: The Future of Australia's Cities Abstract: This lecture has the rather portentous sounding sub-title, 'The Future of Australia's Cities'. And yet, I will say very little about the future state of Australia's cities. The Grand Prediction is like the Grand National; the home province of mug punters. The pseudo-science of Futurology emerged in the 1960s offering new levels of enlightenment, but in reality rejecting reason in favour of alchemy. On closer inspection, the history of Futurology is like any other history: a chronicle of the unexpected and the all too predictable. Futurology burdens our social debates with feverish visions of looming cataclysms and imminent utopias that tell us more about the anxieties of the present than the verities of the future. The one real service of Futurology is to render the Human Prospect a subject for serious discussion. Biography: Brendan Gleeson is Professor of Urban Policy and Management at Griffith University. Before joining Griffith in March 2003, Professor Gleeson was Deputy Director of the Urban Frontiers Program, University of Western Sydney. His research interests include urban planning and governance, urban social policy, disability studies, and environmental theory and policy. He is co-author (with Nicholas Low) of Justice, Society and Nature: an Exploration of Political Ecology (1998). This book received the prestigious Harold and Margaret Sprout award in 1999 from the International Studies Association. He has also co-edited two books with Nicholas Low on aspects of urban and environmental policy. Dr Gleeson’s urban social policy interests were reflected in his 1999 book, Geographies of Disability. In 2001, his book (with N.P.Low), Australian Urban Planning: New Challenges, New Agendas received the Royal Australian Planning Institute’s National Award for Planning Scholarship Excellence. His latest book (edited with N.P. Low), Making Urban Transport Sustainable was published by Macmillan in March 2003. Professor Gleeson has worked professionally in a range of countries, including Britain, Germany, New Zealand, the USA and Australia. In early 2002, Gleeson was appointed by the ACT government to act as a key adviser on a major restructuring of the territory’s planning and land development administration. He is currently a member of the ACT Planning and Land Council. Dr. Lisanne GibsonPaper title: Cultural Planning and the Creative Tropical City Abstract: Since the mid 1980s’s cultural planners have been selling various forms of the ‘just add culture and stir’ method of urban development. However, cultural planning methodologies which are based on encouraging economic growth by attracting a population of highly educated knowledge workers, or ‘the creative class’ have typically been developed from and American and European models of the city which understand a culturally vital city as facilitated by centralized cultural facilities and dense inner city populations; high levels of people with disposable incomes; high levels of cultural and leisure oriented consumption; and, a community who identify strongly with the ‘rooted’ identity of the area. These models are of little use to Australian cities such as Darwin as they problemmatise the very things that are central to Darwin’s cultural identity: its dispersed spatial nature; low population density; tropical weather which produces a number of months of the year where outdoor living is only possible in the evening; high levels of welfare dependency; a large population of indigenous Australians, many of whom are socially and culturally alienated; and, the itinerant nature of a large section of the population. Rather than seeking to impose an inappropriate American or European model of cultural planning on Darwin what might a cultural planning methodology for a creative tropical city look like? Biography: Dr. Lisanne Gibson is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Cultural Industries and Practices Research Centre at the University of Newcastle. Previously she has held Research Fellowships at Griffith University, University of Melbourne, New York University and is due to take up a position at Princeton University in September. Dr Gibson has an international reputation for her research and publications on contemporary cultural policy issues. She has published two books on cultural policy The Uses of Art: Constructing Australian Identities (UQP 2001) and, with Joanna Besley, Monumental Queensland: Signposts on a Cultural Landscape (UQP 2004). Dr Gibson’s framing argument in these books and in her work more generally is that cultural ‘pump-priming’ of any kind must be clear-eyed about not only its economic or cultural effects but more importantly about its social and political effects. Professor Mark LyonsPaper title: The social economy in the creative tropical city Abstract: For a few, creativity is a solitary pursuit, but for most of us it is the product of, or is greatly assisted by collective interaction. What sort of organisations will best foster creativity and innovation? This presentation will argue that it is the organisations that comprise the social economy, the nonprofits, mutuals and cooperatives that comprise the third sector of organisational life. The motivating principles of these organisations are mutuality and altruism. They are neither directed by government nor driven by a desire for profit. The social economy has been a major source of social innovation and the preferred form for most collective creative endeavour. Yet in our public discourse, it is invariably overlooked. This presentation will state the case for its importance, both in the creative tropical city and more generally. Biography: Mark Lyons is Professor of Social Economy in the School of Management at the University of Technology, Sydney. He has a PhD from the Australian National University. He has mapped the dimensions of Australia’s social economy and explored the relationship between nonprofit organisations and both government and business. He has been a member of several government advisory committees. His book Third Sector – The Contribution of Nonprofit and Cooperative Enterprises in Australia, was published by Allen & Unwin in February, 2001. Professor Leon van SchaikPaper title: Innovative Architecture Abstract: Building local platforms of mastery that give rise to innovative architecture. Cities are visible traces of the lives that are lived in them. They reflect the vigour of the local culture, commercial and cultural. Globalisation tends in some of its effects to dissolve the boundaries between nations and to set city regions in competition with other city regions. This means that cities compete for talent. Liveability means more than comfort, it depends on attracting creative people for the economic engine that makes for a diverse and rich city life. In this informationalist age, what looks innovative in Bilbao is immediately evident to the city government everywhere.There is tendency to believe that this import model can be replicated. It is not evident that this is a useful strategy. Building a local culture and leveraging from that into the international innovation networks may well be a better approach to establishing a city as a credible player on the world stage. This paper looks at the examples of Singapore (early mastery encouraged into significant innovation and then abandoned in favour of international branding, leading to an about face as the importance of a local creative culture becomes evident, perhaps too late); Barcelona (building an internationally recognised reputation for design on the pocket parks designed by locals, and then squandering this reputation by importing design from international brand names); Groningen (creating an old fashioned 'zoo' of exciting buildings at the expense of nurturing any local culture); and the more positive examples of Kumamoto (using the patronage of a city region and the novel 'acupuncture' approach to urban improvement to create opportunities for local talent) and RMIT (using patronage to establish a local culture of architecture so strong that Melbourne is now recognised in international forums as a world leader in city architecture.) Biography: Leon van Schaik Ph.D is Innovation Professor of Architecture at RMIT, from which base he has promoted local and international architectural culture through practice based research. Writings include monographs compiled on Edmond and Corrigan, Ushida Findlay, Guilford Bell and Tom Kovac, Poetics in Architecture, The Guthrie Pavilion and The Practice of Practice. Dr. Chris GibsonPaper title: Creative economy in regional areas: possibilities, pitfalls and on-going issues Abstract: Creativity has become an important policy consideration in the context of regional economic development. In the wake of popular books such as Richard Florida’s The Rise of the Creative Class (2002) and Charles Landry’s The Creative City (2001), cities and regions across the world have sought to re-think economic development policy with creative industries and workers in mind. However, empirical studies have demonstrated that major metropolises continue to dominate as centres for creative production, and have been more successful at harnessing creativity in economic development strategies than smaller or geographically scattered places. What might such observations mean for the arts and creative industries in rural or remote places? Are the creative industries important away from big cities, such as in Australia’s tropical north? How might local circumstances mitigate the effectiveness of creative city strategies away from major urban centres? Are there ways of overcoming problems of distance and ‘critical mass’? This paper raises some important considerations in light of these questions, with particular attention drawn to the (post)colonial context of creative industry employment and development in the Northern Territory. Biography: Chris Gibson is an economic geographer at the University of New South Wales. He has published widely on the creative industries, urban development and popular culture, particularly in the Australian context. His books include Sound Tracks: Popular Music, Identity and Place (Routledge, 2003) and Deadly Sounds, Deadly Places: Contemporary Aboriginal Music in Australia (UNSW Press, 2004). His PhD examined the creative industries in rural New South Wales. In the past he has worked on Aboriginal employment in the music industry, and regional development issues in the Northern Territory. He is currently working on a collaborative research project with the National University of Singapore, which examines creative economies in the Asia-Pacific region. Professor Simone de HaanPaper title: Making Music Together - The Queensland Experience Abstract: The act of music making has the potential to bring together artists from a range of cultural and musical backgrounds that at first may appear to lack any connection with each other from a musical/stylistic perspective. In this shared context of collaboration, the potential to build new relationships can in turn lead to new musical experiences for those taking part. To what extent can one create an appropriate context for rituals of meaning to evolve amongst the musicians and with the audience, or is this something that primarily happens spontaneously? How does the sense of place influence the nature of the music being made, both in terms of its creation and performance? What are some of the strategies that can be implemented to support enhanced connections between the participants in making music together. These issues are addressed with specific reference to the development of the inaugural Queensland Biennial Festival of Music and Jammin’…making music together, two events arising our of a sense of place, the state of Queensland and the South Bank Precinct in Brisbane. Biography: Professor Simone de Haan, is one of Australia’s leading performers, music educators and advocates of contemporary music making in all its forms. He is currently Director of the School of Music, Australian National University. Professor de Haan has performed as a soloist with leading Australian and international orchestras and ensembles and appeared as master teacher, chamber musician, performer/composer, improviser and conductor In North America, Europe, Asia and throughout Australia. He has directed several artistic events and community projects, including the inaugural Queensland Biennial Festival of Music and Jammin…making music together, a major collaborative community event. Professor de Haan has also collaborated in creative and sustainable cultural development projects with musicians and music education institutions, ranging from the Guildhall School of Music & Drama (London) and Lyon Conservatoire, to indigenous communities and schools in the Northern Territory. Associate Professor Adrian FranklinPaper title: Arts Festivals and the Creative City Abstract: If Richard Florida is to be believed, and I think he probably is, creative cities need to attract and produce the creative class, and part of the environmental and cultural diversity they thrive on includes institutions like arts festivals. Do they need to be at the cultural and social centre to be viable? No. look at Edinburgh when the festive there began; look at Adelaide in the early 1960s when it dared to become a festival capital. In fact there are good reasons to believe that festivals are particularly suited and make their greatest impact on the social margins. This presentation will examine how and why festivals are a part of creative city initiatives, how and why they work and how and why they would work in Darwin. Biography: Adrian Franklin is an anthropologist and social theorist and has just moved to the University of Tasmania after holding the Chair of Urban Studies at the University of Bristol. He is editor of Tourist Studies and author of Tourism which re-examined tourism not as something that happens after all the important business has been taken care of but as an ordering of modern societies. Forthcoming books include The Great Australian Enigma and City Life. Dr. Shaun WilsonPaper title: A Social Profile of Australia's Cities Abstract: Shaun Wilson introduces new evidence about the social, employment and political profiles of Australia's capital cities including Darwin. In particular, he investigates how the changing employment and education structures of Australian society are reshaping the social and political life of cities and their economies. His paper comments on recent research about the relationship between particular social actors (gay community, professional and advanced service classes) and 'city dynamism'. Sources include the Australian Survey of Social Attitudes and the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Biography: Dr Shaun Wilson is Research Fellow at the Centre for Social Research at the Research School of Social Sciences, ANU. He is a Principal Investigator of the Australian Survey of Social Attitudes. His research include sociology of work, sociology of cities, and public opinion. Professor David BirchPaper title: The United Nations Global Compact - Engaging Cities with Triple Bottom Line Thinking for Sustainable Futures Abstract: Several years ago, Kofi Annan launched a personal initiative designed to engage companies worldwide with nine UN principles which, taken together, seek to define what can constitute a sustainable approach to economic, social and environmental responsibilities The Triple Bottom Line). This initiative is known as the UN Global Compact, and many companies worldwide have now committed to this reporting back to the UN once a year on at least one practical realisation of one of these nine principles taking place within their organisation. The first city in the world to engage with the Global Compact was Melbourne, and since then other cities have committed. This paper looks in detail at the Global Compact, and in particular at what cities around the world are doing, and suggests ways in which Darwin, as city committed to sustainability principles, might join this growing list of cities, worldwide, prepared to engage with Kofi Annan's important initiative. Biography: David Birch has been Professor of Communication and the Director of the Corporate Citizenship Research Unit, Deakin University, Melbourne, since 1997. Professor Birch is (or has been) involved in research partnerships with leading organisations in Australia, including, ANZ, BP, Mission Australia, Rio Tinto, Transfield Services, TXU Australia, The City of Melbourne, World Vision, BHP Billiton, Ernst & Young, Bristol Myers Squibb, Philanthropy Australia; the Australian Institute of Company Directors and the Business Council of Australia; and in research mentorships with graduate employees in Bosch, the National Australia Bank and Ford Australia. Professor Birch is a member of the Board of the Australian Corporate Citizenship Alliance and Ability Australia Foundation. He is also a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and the Institute of Social and Ethical Accountability (UK). He is a founding member of the Australian Corporate Citizenship Alliance and the newly reformed Social and Ethical Auditing Institute (Australia). Frank van der Sommen (Panelist - Tropical Knowledge) Paper Title: Trees and ecologically sustainable development (ESD) of tropical urban ecosystems in a greenhouse environment Abstract: Urban landscapes comprise a hierarchy of habitat or places, which are ecosystems supporting human and their activities. Vegetation, an integral but often ignored component of these ecosystems, potentially provides production, wind and heat protection, gas and water assimilation, wildlife conservation and aesthetic values, making these ecosystems more sustainable. Green house climate change scenarios, with the potential for increased discomfort, if not hazards to human life and property increases the urgency for research, planning, design, and management of such ecological relationship in tropical cities. Urban forestry, capitalizing on the more fertile urban landscape, has the potential for making an important contribution to ESD, opening up unique research opportunities for enhancing tropical knowledge of cultured landscape dynamics. Biography: Frank van der Sommen has a Bachelor of Science (Forestry) from ANU, Master of Environmental Studies from Adelaide University and is currently a PhD candidate at CDU undertaking research in the role of trees in Sustainable urban Development focusing on cyclones. He has been a District Forester involved in multiple-use of plantation and native forest management in the wetter parts, and flood plain, mallee and irrigated land management and rehabilitation in the drier parts of South Australia for 15 years. He was a senior lecturer in natural resource management at what is now the Roseworthy campus of the University of Adelaide for 13years involved in undergraduate and postgraduate course and subject design, coordination and delivery. He also spent three years as Principle Vegetation Management officer with Conservation Commission of the NT developing vegetation management policies and strategies. He returned to the NT and currently undertakes private research and consults on vegetation management matters with an emphasis on environmental forestry. Larry Bannister (Panelist - Tropical Knowledge) Biography: Larry Bannister joined the Department of Transport and Works in 1982, working in both the Transport and Roads Divisions. Over the next decade he worked on major projects including the Alice Springs to Darwin Railway (including the first Railway Executive group in 1986), the Cullen Bay Marina development, and upgrading the Victoria Highway towards National Highway. In 1991 he joined the Department of the Chief Minister working in the Policy and Coordination Division. He lived in Indonesia in 1994 before returning to the Department of the Chief Minister the following year. He was seconded to the Select Committee on Euthanasia in 1995 before once again joining the (second) Railway Executive Group in May 1995 as its Executive Officer. He remained with this group until 2001, and took on the additional responsibilities of Secretary to the Board of the AustralAsia Railway Corporation from 1997 until 2001, when contractual and financial close was reached on the AustralAsia Railway Project. In 2001 he returned to the Department of the Chief Minister, working as the Director Knowledge Economy in the Office of Territory Development. In addition to responsibilities for policy development in Tropical and Desert Knowledge, he is the Department's representative on the Project Control Group overseeing the Darwin City Waterfront Project, and on the Darwin Coastal Resort Committee evaluated proposals for that development.
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