Standard Deviations

BACKGROUND The project addresses urban design, and the role of play in place-making. It researches the lack of agency civilians may feel over the design of public space and the promotion of social inclusion through play, with play having documented sensory, social, cognitive and emotional benefits that enable this. The project is a series of urban furnishings, dispersed within the Melbourne CBD; these have been designed to challenge the premise of standardisation that underlies current urban design. Each researcher collaborated on all aspects of research development, design and communication of the project. CONTRIBUTION The project interrogated the question, ‘how do we create more-inclusive and playful cities for a diverse range of citizens?’. This civic art intervention engages citizens to work with the City of Melbourne Design Standards to reimagine the city’s palette of street furniture. Inclusive co-design workshops enabled critique of normative vernaculars, creating a set of controlled conditions where imagination and site may playfully entwine, and citizens may re-imagine civic practices and encounters. Working with the city’s vernacular of existing civic street furniture allows easy access for diverse audiences to rethink functionality as a platform for playful civic inclusion. SIGNIFICANCE The work was shortlisted for the RMIT and City of Melbourne “Design for the Sensory City’ Prize, which was a two-stage process, receiving a $2000 prize for further development.