VANCOUVER, BC – CityStudio Bendigo, the first international member of the CityStudio Network, is celebrating one year of innovative city building together with the City of Greater Bendigo and La Trobe University.
“We’re so thrilled to see the CityStudio model thrive in Bendigo,” says Duane Elverum, Executive Director and Co-Founder of CityStudio Vancouver. “La Trobe and the City of Greater Bendigo helped us grow the CityStudio Network internationally and we’re proud of the commitment they’ve made to innovation and the inclusion of students in collaborative city building.”
CityStudio Bendigo officially launched April 24, 2018, offering an intensive five-week course through which students were asked to reimagine the Bendigo Creek, exploring its potential as a “world-class, green, public space spine.”
Trevor Budge, Manager of Regional Sustainable Development at the City of Greater Bendigo, said the success of CityStudio last year was twofold, with students both generating innovative ideas and increasing community awareness of the creek.
“As Council develops a strategy for future use of the creek and surrounding areas, this project shone a light on one of the City’s most valuable and important public assets, prompting lots of public discussion and input,” said Budge. “The students also came up with some innovative ideas, which will feed into future land-use strategies developed by Council.”
The course will be offered again in 2019, with students tackling the challenge of food mobilization for community change and the creation of a sustainable food system. Topics of exploration will include community participation, Indigenous food, zero waste, healthy lifestyles, public spaces and Bendigo’s bid to be a UNESCO City of Gastronomy.
Representatives from La Trobe University and the City of Greater Bendigo first connected with CityStudio at the Art of Cities conference in Vancouver in May 2017. Bendigo joins Victoria, BC; Corner Brook, NL; Waterloo, ON; Abbotsford, BC; Brantford, ON; and Logan, Australia in the growing network of CityStudios in Canada and around the world.
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