Playable City Brunswick: Interview with Locals (Studio 3 - Week 2)

Carlo and I paired up to interview Angela, a Brunswick local who moved there 30 years ago. Here is a summary of what she said in her interview. 
( NOTE: Thank you Carlo for typing this up! )

Casual talk with Angela of Brunswick Library on 10 March 2020
by Helen & Carlo

• Moved to Brunswick in 1990
• Italian heritage
• Brunswick has become multicultural (migrants from Southern Europe)
• Language section of library has changed significantly from 5 years ago due to aging population and diversity.
• Italian establishments in Lygon St.
• Increased number of young students and arts-focused activities.
• Blue collar workers and Factories lessened 35 years ago. Workers aged and factories closed down.
• Bowling Club and lawn bowling is a popular activity. Surprisingly also plenty of young players. Maker industry slowly turned into creative/arts practices.
• Brunswick community would protest against construction development of a 14 storey building in Sydney Rd/ParkSt that would block views and may cause disruptions.
• Community would hold meetings in the library for road traffic studies.
• The library would hold various community events, some featuring famous writers.
• There is a significant number of writers and authors that live in Brunswick.
• A popular area for resting and/or recreational activities is near the wall climbing area in Wilson St across Maccas.
• Angela and members of community value spaces to get away from the Urban environment and escape to little pockets of green/nature.
• CERES: https://ceres.org.au/ is a community environmental park that is popular with the community, but not so well known to people outside Brunswick.
• Barkly square is another popular community hub. https://barklysquare.com.au/

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Another interesting exercise we did as a group was to list 15 words to describe our impressions of the Brunswick site before and after our interviews with locals.

Here are my 15 words BEFORE and AFTER our interview with Angela:

BEFORE:

(1) Peaceful
(2) Sunset
(3) Light
(3) Birds
(4) Quiet
(5) Trees
(6) Textures
(7) Hidden
(8) Shapes
(9) Bikes
(10) Posters
(11) History
(12) Bricks
(13) Water
(14) Garden
(15) Grafitti

AFTER:

1. Generational
2. Blue-collar
3. Migrants
4. Communal
5. Multicultural
6. Historical
7. Social
8. Events
9. Changing
10. Restaurants
11. Musical
12. Artistic
13. Hipster
14. Natural
15. Greenery