A most hopeful light

Nimbin light We designed our bedroom to handle the light of the Australian sub-tropics. We used hundreds of CAD shade diagrams and tried to honour some basic feng shui principles. So a narrow window admits morning sun along the eastern wall. Just a glimpse, a shard of light. But in the winter (almost intentionally) the… Continue reading A most hopeful light

An Expert Blind Spot: Fear of Falling

Back in the 1980s…   Back in the mid-1980s, my social planning firm did a roaring trade in ageing. Every Sydney developer fantasized about making a fortune in retirement housing. We were a small firm of social planners – trying variously to dissuade them or help them. Most were beyond help: so gripped by greed… Continue reading An Expert Blind Spot: Fear of Falling

Root Shock: Grieving for a Lost Home

  Several years ago, I was managing the community engagement processes for the first stages of a large community renewal project in an Australian capital city. The State Minister wanted something to announce before Christmas and he wanted to tell this community of about 3000 public tenants   (half of whom did not speak English… Continue reading Root Shock: Grieving for a Lost Home

Reflecting as a CPTED Practitioner on Harvard and Yale

      Spending February teaching at the Graduate School of Design (GSD) at Harvard sparked all sorts of thoughts in me about pedestrian safety.   And a day at Yale and in New Haven, Connecticut confirmed that I did not feel safe there as a female pedestrian. Reflecting as a CPTED Practitioner policing and… Continue reading Reflecting as a CPTED Practitioner on Harvard and Yale