Tag: Wendy Sarkissian

Reflecting on EcoEnco, Environmental Ethics and Deep Ecology

  EcoEnco Recently I spent a wonderful week at the EcoEnco retreat in south-western Western Australia with an intergenerational group of passionate, green, committed, like-minded people. See: https://ecoenco.com     The focus of our work for that week was Deep Ecology.   As our work deepened and our friendships strengthened, I realised that not all… Continue reading Reflecting on EcoEnco, Environmental Ethics and Deep Ecology

Banging on about Bang the Table

A couple of times recently, I’ve heard Australians complain about the Australian online engagement firm, Bang the Table (BTT) (see https://bangthetable.com/).   I’ve done their training and greatly admire their work, which I see as directly complementary to my more “hands-on” approaches.   I decided it was time to sort things out in my own… Continue reading Banging on about Bang the Table

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

“Yale Wife” No More

In February of this year, I flew to Boston to teach for a month, mainly in the Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD). Teaching in the GSD was a lot more intensive than Australian postgraduate planning education; the students were also an international and multicultural bunch. The privileged Harvard student body I had witnessed in… Continue reading “Yale Wife” No More

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

NIMBY psychology at Harvard University February 2013

  NIMBY psychology comes to Harvard — from Australia!   February was an exciting month for me. I spent it teaching in the Graduate School of Design (GSD) at Harvard University and giving lectures and classes at MIT and Tufts University.   It was exceptionally cold for a person who lives in the sub-tropics. A… Continue reading NIMBY psychology at Harvard University February 2013

Emotions Count in Community Engagement

                      There’s lots of discussion about emotion in community engagement these days.   Maybe that’s because we’ve ignored this important component for decades.   Adelaide’s independent newspaper, InDaily, recommends, following an interview with me last week, that we “consider emotion in community engagement.”   The… Continue reading Emotions Count in Community Engagement

“Realising the Revolution”: Medium-Density Housing in Queensland by Bridget Rogan and Fran Toomey

First posted June 8, 2012 – 3:21 pm   Two Brisbane Planners Call for a “Revolutionary” Approach to Increasing Housing Density: Realising the Revolution?     In a recent paper to the Planning Institute of Australia (PIA) Queensland conference, Bridget Rogan and Fran Toomey of the Council of Mayors (SEQ) presented the results of work… Continue reading “Realising the Revolution”: Medium-Density Housing in Queensland by Bridget Rogan and Fran Toomey

Better Together? Let’s Get Practical!

              Better Together   Last week, an Adelaide-based colleague gave me a copy of Better Together: Principles of Engagement, just published by the South Australian Government.     You can read about it at:   https://saplan.org.au/yoursay and https://saplan.org.au/better_together   You can also comment. I tried to do that but… Continue reading Better Together? Let’s Get Practical!