Changing places

Noel Castree’s article on Wollongong in this issue explores a range of ways in which places can change and actively be changed. Wollongong had a reputation as an industrial place, but through the success of a university, an attractive physical setting and specific action by the council (building bike lanes), this reputation has changed. In this example, we can see how the way we think of a place impacts on its economic success and how changing populations and their elected representatives can actively remake a place.

This is fertile ground for an NEA. Council records and the local press document active attempts at place making, while the census records population changes. The changes in the way people think about a place (whether locals or nationally) can be explored through interviews or survey data. One important thing to consider in a study of this type is that because of the complexity of the range of processes which combine in space to make a place, it is important to have a specific focus. The Wollongong article doesn’t try to do everything, rather it focuses on the role that connecting a cycle network has in actively remaking the place. The wider context of change is discussed for context but is not the focus of the study. This is a sensible way of approaching an NEA. Focused questions and well-argued and evidenced answers are central to producing a successful NEA.