Monday
ON MONDAY NIGHT I made my way uptown to KPMG’s harbourside office tower for an address by US sustainability advocate, Paul Hawken. You might know Paul as author of Natural Capitalism and The ecology of Commerce, and for his work in business and ecological sustainability. Or, perhaps you encountered him by reading his book Blessed Unrest.
I was one of perhaps 150 who stood and listened for something approaching 45 minutes… and standing it was as there were no chairs, which I suppose keeps you awake but probably does little for those tired after a busy day. For some, it was a struggle between the reviving effect of the free finger food and the lulling influence of the free wine.
The city... clustered building hide a vital intellectual and convivial life
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Paul’s is a considered pace and tone reminescent of someone who has thought about his topic a lot, which he has clearly done as an author. His talk, a monologue followed by Q&A, ranged far and wide and, like all good talks, contained anecdotes to illustrate his points. While this approach clearly pleased some by providing an overview of Paul’s thinking it came across as somewhat unfocused to others, according to comments made after the event. Some wanted a more in-depth treatment of his ideas while others had anticipated a talk focused on business.
Perhaps what people got was what someone tired from an event earlier in the day had the energy to deliver. But don’t get the idea that this was some dispirited presentation. What it was, was a verbal cross section of Paul’s insights after several decades of working in sustainability.
Like all good events of this type, there was plenty of time before and after for networking.
Tuesday
Tuesday evening was something quite different. No corporate office tower for this event, just the industrial warehouse occupied by Feather and Bone and Sydney Food Connect in Rozelle.
The attraction was GreenUps, the monthly gathering of the sustainability cognoscenti that are usually held in the central city area.
This time, GreenUps had a food theme. Not only did $20 get you a good feed supplied by Food Connect and Feather and Bone, you got to sample St Peters bitter – that’s St Peters near Newtown with its botique brewery – or a glass of wine. You also got to hear from chef, Jarred Ingersol, Julian Lee from Sydney Food Connect, the manager of Alfalfa House Food Coop —Sydney’s first—and from a representative of Sydney City Farm Association whose project had just received a vote of support from Sydney City Council.
Like Paul Hawken’s event there were few seats if you exclude the freight pallets scattered here and there. But unlike Paul’s event there were few business suits and plenty in the diverse garb of community people. They had been at Paul’s event, too, but not in overwhelming numbers. This was a gathering of the community food crowd, those involved in community food systems rather than commercial cookers of food. It was refreshingly free of chef hero culture with even Jarred’s contribution linked to food issues.
If this gathering showed anything special it was how far the idea of social enterprise and community food systems have made inroads into the popular imagination this past five years.
Wednesday
Wednesday brought one of the City of Sydney/Sydney Morning Herald City Talks, this time in the decorated opulence of the State Theatre.
Charles Landry was keynote speaker. He’s a noted urbanist, someone who studies and designs cities and his theme was the role of creativity in our cities. Familiar names came up—Ray Oldenburg with his idea of ‘third places’ in cities that some time ago I had found so enlightening in putting a name to something I had been aware of, and Richard Florida with his ideas on how successful cities have a set of characteristics that attract creative people from around the world.
According to Paul, it’s the old, the untidy and less-glitzy places that make a city attractive, less so the landmark buildings and developments celebrated by government, planners and architects. I thought of Melbourne’s lanes and Brunswick Street where it passes through Fitzroy, Sydney’s King Street and Glebe Point Road… places that bring the crowds because of their diversity, their life and human scale. This is not to say landmark developments don’t attract people – think Melbourne’s Federation Square.
Watch the podcast of the City of Sydeny City Talk.
Thursday
Come Thursday evening it was something very different over at the Randwick Sustainability Hub where I was to help teach a bunch of up and coming community leaders a communication skill in the Getting Your Message Across course in sustainability communication put on by council.
This was evening three of five in this course and it was the first time it had been offered, so it was something of a trial. The good news was that people had persisted in attending, even those from far Avalon.
Friday
A night off, and welcome that was!
It was also a night to mentally review a week of busy, intellectually stimulating evenings enjoyed in the good company of others interested in how we make our cit—all our cities—more humane, more opportunity-laden places to live. Ideas had flowed, discussion had ensued, new trains of thought started.
Such evenings as those of this week, I thought, were examples of opportunities that only the city can offer.
