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What are they doing to help the homeless? : A new charity Not-for-Profit organisation has been recently launched in Brisbane and Davies Park Market are happy to offer a helping hand. The Brisbane Period Project supports women and transgender men experiencing homelessness with sanitary products and they will have their first stall at West End.

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Effect of Privatopia: The Micah Project Video Campaign for Homeless

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Effect of Privatopia: The Micah Project Video Campaign for Homeless

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"Ending Homelessness" video campaign that encouraged people to help homelessness issue in Brisbane by investing in public housing developments

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Ending homelessness is possible... one person at a time. Micah Projects is a not-for-profit organisation committed to providing services and opportunities in the community to create justice and respond to injustice. We believe that every child and adult has the right to a home, an income, healthcare, education, safety, dignity and connection with their community of choice.

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- According to Voyce (2006) currently, what has developed doesn't coincide with the need for wide and open spaces.
- the current idea of an "open space" has been very privatized. it reduces and controls diversity.
- the definition of public space areas has now changed. public spaces that used to be outdoor parks or open wide spaces now are treated in the context of the development of commercial shopping areas.
- public spaces are now increasingly under the control of private corporations.
- the so called public areas or open wide spaces are polluted with dirty air and surrounded by buildings all around it.
- Boundary st, which is currently suitable for middle class families to stay, will soon change into a place for the upper gated community.

Reference
Voyce, M. (2006). Shopping malls in Australia. Journal of Sociology, 42(3), 269-286. doi:10.1177/1440783306066727

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Reference:

Fanatic, T. F. (1970, January 01). Your Brisbane: Past and Present. Retrieved September 06, 2017, from http://www.yourbrisbanepastandpresent.com/2011/04/kurilpa-librarywest-end.html

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Ice Cream Factory. (2017, July 04). Retrieved September 06, 2017, from http://www.westendmagazine.com/ice-cream-factory-2/

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-  mostly West end has been great at maintaining it’s heritage and old buildings. For example the Kurilpa Library and Peter’s ice cream factory.
- Though the council assured that most of west end heritage will be maintained in the West Village plan, it will still lose value and will get lesser attention in comparison to the rest of the new constructions and buildings that will surround it.

Reference:

EN - About. (n.d.). Retrieved September 06, 2017, from http://westvillage.com.au/about/

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West End Residents stand against development 

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West End Residents stand against development 

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With the push for large scale development within the west end area, residents are not only being pushed out of their homes, but the diverse culture within the community is being put at risk. In 2016 more than 150 residents marched against the privatisation of West End in which Johnathan Sri described as 'Civil disobedience'.

Cr Sri said the movement was about more than just the height of buildings. "It's about community and it's about culture and that's what motivates me to organise these events and take an interest in this issue," he said.

"Right now, I'm feeling that slipping away in the inner-city; that diverse, vibrant, connected community is fracturing and fragmenting.

"I'm seeing musicians and artists being priced out of the area and, as Uncle Sam (Watson) said, Aboriginal families are no longer able to afford to live in the area." With the exclusion of particular groups within the west end area we can see elements of Privatopia peeking through this new development.

Sam Watson said Aboriginal people had already been "progressively moved out" of the West End area and he feared developments such as West Village would further alienate the community.

"Right here and now, in 2016, I do not know a single Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander person who actually owns their own house or apartment, unit or flat in this general area," he said.

"That is appalling, that our mob who stayed here for many decades have had to move out to places like Ipswich, Gailes, Inala, Logan and all due respect to those places, our mob did have that connection and bond to this place, to this community.

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For West End man Ben, being homeless was a low and dark period of his life.

A musician by trade, medical and mental issues caused Ben to end up sleeping rough on South Brisbane’s streets in 2012 – before he was given a lifeline in the form of a roof over his head at Ozcare in South Bank and a helping hand from Community Friends.

“These services give you back a sense of self esteem,” he said.

“When you’re homeless you think of yourself as a loser and you lose all confidence.

“You’re unkempt, you’re grotty and you carry several bags everywhere so you don’t blend in ... it’s a tough one.”

Through his time on the streets Ben is able to give an insight into the issues facing the homeless population of inner-Brisbane.

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One of Brisbane’s traditional hubs for homeless people, the South Brisbane and West End area currently has a large number of people sleeping rough on the streets.

Many of these people frequent the West End Community Park and kiosk on Boundary St on Wednesdays, where food is doled out by Mark McDonnell and others as part of the organisation Community Friends.

“We have about 150 people turn up at the kiosk every week,” he said.

“We give out 1200 meals weekly to the homeless ... they come for food and we use it to talk to them about what’s on their minds.”

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The privatisation of the public realm does not so much
- Who benefits from the area and who the stakeholders are
- The money will be leaving the area, you won't see any reinvestment e.g. 7/11
- The area will remain open so overall it will get propped up by a bigger business, but then if a whole street is being propped up, then all the businesses will leave as they have no other stakes to make money oppose to a small business who can afford to do it that way
- If it's not worth it for an organisation they will simply leave, whereas a small business can't really pack up and leave

loss of the parochial realm (the sense of commonality among acquaintances involved in interpersonal networks in ‘communities’

where the privatisation of the public realm loses the commonality of the neighbourhood, introduction of the stranger in what is normally a local atmosphere (shopping at coles vs shopping at a grocer on a public high street)

loss of control – loss of public realm means the people do not have as much say in what is and isn’t allowed in an area

Hannah Arendt: it is where human identity is formed and ideas of justice are cultivated

No criteria for participation – public areas are a reflection of social norms of an area and the quality of the public realm will be reflected in the quality of the socialisation

Loss of public realm created a sense of loss of freedom, can lead to feeling ‘caged’ in a private area and become defensive and …

Privatisation leaves the marginal groups out so they are forced into the remaining public areas, which are often not as well maintained due to lack of perceived public need

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Diversity, public life and social and economic encounters in West End's shops

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Diversity, public life and social and economic encounters in West End's shops

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West End as the antithesis to the Shopping Mall? 

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West End as the antithesis to the Shopping Mall? 

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Shopping Malls were originally imagined by Victor Gruen in the 1950s as having the potential to bring 'community', urbanity and an injection of (albeit controlled) public life into the dull, soulless suburbs in post-war America. Theorists today contend that Gruen's ambitions were only partly realised, and with unseen social consequences. Dovey (2008) describes the Shopping Mall as a space in which high levels of social, structural and semiotic control are maintained alongside the illusion of an active, public life and free encounter. Being highly surveilled and with intentional exclusion of signs of poverty, division or eccentricities, Malls minimise the amount of organic civic and political action that can occur and consequently produce docile bodies. In this way, Malls are coercive spaces in which meticulously planned layouts are designed to inspire conspicuous consumption and induce a sense of disorientation amidst time, space and history that ultimately serves to entrap shoppers within the consumer space. They are liminal spaces that epitomise the "invasion of public space with private interest" (Dovey, 2008, p. 155).

In comparison, West End might be considered the antidote to such a post-modern, hyperreal and coercive space like the Mall. Unlike Malls, which are characterised by a calculated selection of 'anchor', high-rent stores (such as cinemas, department stores, etc.) and speciality and smaller, low-rent stores, typical shopping streets like Boundary Street in West End have no real master-plan, consisting of an organically-born eclectic diversity of small, independent businesses. West End's small boutiques, independent restaurants and eccentric book stores speak to the genuine diversity that is eliminated within Malls, spaces where "small business comes under the control of big business" (Dovey, 2008, p. 143). A visual representation of the heterogeneity of West End compared to the highly controlled, homogenous space of a Mall can be seen in the comparison of aerial shots of West End's Boundary Street and Carindale's Westfield. Furthermore, West End seems to encompass a more authentic example public life within a commercial setting. For example, Dovey's (2008) description of ideal public shopping seems to aptly describe West End, as a space of consumption that relies on the traffic of people, goods and ideas, and where "buildings, streets, stalls, goods and people work together to produce social and economic encounter" (p. 154).

In a post-modern era in which fragmentation, dislocation and privatisation are increasing issues in establishing 'authentic' spaces for a strong civic and public life to thrive, then perhaps West End's seeming achievement of such an ideal ought to be defended, preserved, and modelled after.

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(Katie)

Firstly when considering this development in the location of West End, the name ‘West Village’ gives an immediate sense of isolation and separation, existing as ‘a village inside a village’. This suggests this Village will be separate from the hub of West End.

As advertised by the owners of West Village (2017), its “visionary re-imaging” claims to develop a new global neighbourhood, which also offers residents a whole new community, providing the services of a supermarket, an art gallery and green spaces, as well as retaining the much loved culture and heritage of West End. Branding this development as an “urban community”, this privatopian development is changing the way we think about the social ideal of community within West End. This “community” is suggested to be self-contained and does not merge in with the existing community set up along the high street of West End. This is not forced alienation however, as this development voluntarily wishes to remove its residents from any chaos and disorder. As these apartments are advertised as “luxurious upper level homes” (West Side, 2017), these high rises have been designed as a way of removing residents from the ground and up into the safety of the air. With height being used a symbol of wealth and security, this highlights how these residents are willing to sacrifice community engagement for their personal safety. Coaffee (2004) discusses the ever existing growing fear of security in the city and how it has been used as a way of protecting against security threats. This is also seen in the case of West Village, as they wish to protect themselves through the boundaries of a gated and isolated community.

West Village can also be mirrored to West Side in LA, whereby rich neighbourhoods have chosen to isolate themselves behind walls, defencing against their luxurious lifestyles (Davis, 2006). Davis (2006), who claims that privatopia has reproduced spatial apartheid, recognises the destruction in what is considered the public. This relates to the proposals for West Village, as only those who can afford these apartments will buy them, and have the safety of this gated community. As for the rest of society, they are left outside the realm of privatopia, pushed into the now considered undesirable public.

References:

Coaffee, J. (2004). Debates and Developments. Rings of Steel, Rings of Concrete and Rings of Confidence: Designing out Terrorism in Central London pre and post September 11th. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research. 28 (1), pp.201-211.

Davis, M. (2006). City of Quartz. Excavating the Future if Los Angeles. New York: Vintage Books, A Division of Random House, Inc.

West Village (2017). West Village. [Online] Available at: http://westvillage.com.au/en-home/ [Accessed 5 Sep. 2017].

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CCTV- how the public is becoming the private 

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CCTV- how the public is becoming the private 

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There has been considerable growth in the use of closed circuit television (CCTV) in public spaces as a crime prevention measure and, increasingly, as a tool to detect and identify offenders. In Australia, CCTV systems have become an increasingly common fixture in urban centres, in shopping centres and malls, individual shops and banks, on public transport and in car parks (Hulme et al, 2015). More than a decade ago, Wilson and Sutton (2003) explored the operation and management of 33 open-street CCTV systems in Australia. They found that, while open street CCTV systems were initially primarily located in central business districts of major metropolitan centres, there was a growing trend towards their installation in smaller regional and rural centres and in suburban locations (Wilson & Sutton 2003). As a result of this, it could be considered that areas which were previously considered a public space are being managed and supervised by a private company leading to them being able and responsible for controlling and authorising who can go into certain places and who can't. (Graham, 2001). The results of this there is potential for this is the loss of free open spaces which are inclusive to everyone, for instance, the homeless community may be at risk from being excluded from certain spaces. A result of this could be the fragmentation of an city experience.

Using the example of West End,  there has been subject which has dived the West End Traders Association (WETA). Due to the edgy artistic vibe of West End, graffiti is a very controversial topic in the area. On one hand, some want to embrace street art, and on the other, some want it stopped by police. The police and Brisbane City Council have been working to reduce the amount of graffiti in the area through means such as CCTV in the attempt to catch the culprits in the act. For some, those who take part in doing graffiti are considered as organised criminals. However, some members of WETA challenge a number of these assertions, pointing out that without a distinction between street artists defending their right to public expression. But, now as the streets are becoming surveillance and the public is becoming the private, this freedom of expression may get eventually lost (Ebbs, 2014).

References;
Ebbs, G. (2014). West End to trial radical graffiti management plan. The Westender [Online]. Available at: http://westender.com.au/west-end-trial-radical-graffiti-management-plan/ [Accessed 5 Sep 2017]

Graham, S. (2001).The Spectre of the Splintering Metropolis. Cities, Vol. 18, No. 6, pp. 365–368

Hulme, S. Morgan, A. Brown, R. (2015) CCTV use by local government: Findings from a national survey. The Australian Institute of Criminology. P 21-40

Wilson D & Sutton A 2003. Open-street CCTV in Australia. Trends & Issues in Crime and Criminal Justice no. 271

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As discussed by McKenzie (1994), privatopia is considered to a be a withdrawing from a world to a much simpler and nicer one, whereby residents are able to escape the everyday conflicts that occur within neighbourhoods. This withdrawal from society changes our original understanding of community; under privatopia this social ideal is achievable through the joint ownership of private property (ibid). As a result, McKenzie (1994) suggests that privatopia is not something accessible by the masses, as this is considered as privatisation for the few, available to those exclusive enough to be able to afford it and earn it.

McKenzie, E. (1994). Privatopia: Homeowner associations and the rise of residential private government. London, UK: Yale University Press.

(Katie)

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West Village. [Online] Available at: http://westvillage.com.au/en-home/ [Accessed 5 Sep. 2017].~