Making the City Series - Identity

We all may have multiple identities derived from language, culture, politics, gender, passion, education, employment, skill and taste. With millions of people cities are so complex and diverse that there are infinite combinations of identities. How then can we understand identity at the level of the urban and the architectural? These questions are particularly relevant in Western Sydney: Darug land for more than 40 millennia, radically restructured as British colonial farmland, then Australian surburbia, and now a rapidly urbanising land home to multiple ethnic communities. Can architecture celebrate such diversity? As makers of cities, how can we respectfully acknowledge this complexity and productively engage with it? Does thinking at the level of the city, of the suburb, the neighbourhood and even the individual building allow us to move beyond the inherent conflicts of identity? Can we create models of urbanism which celebrate all of our identities and enable them to support and nourish each other? Join us on October 17 as leaders in the field provide specific examples from practice and research, and share their thoughts in a moderated discussion with event attendees. The 2019 Making the City speaker series is a collection of five events from March to October 2019. Created through a collaboration between Western Sydney University, City of Parramatta, the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences and the NSW Chapter of the Australian Institute of Architects, the series examines cultural and design practices that contribute to the quality, amenity, and character of 21st century cities. Drawing upon a broad range of expertise and leadership in the areas of architecture, urban design and planning, arts practice, government, indigenous leadership, and industry, the Speaker Series have foregrounded conversations on the following five topics: culture, resilience, disruption, equity and identity. Events are hosted by the Western Sydney University Architecture Program.