Campus to Country: Positioning Strategy

Land is central to culture, identity and spirituality of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. It is intertwined with family, kinship, lores, customs, stories, song and dance, language, art, ceremony and healing. The deep relationship between Indigenous Australians and land is often described as "Connection to Country". Queensland University of Technology (QUT) stands on the lands of the Turrbal and Yugara people, lands that were never ceded. Campus to Country: Positioning Strategy is a spatial framework that seeks to inform future development at QUT’s Kelvin Grove and Gardens Point campuses by engaging with Turrbal and Yugara peoples’ Country. The framework emanates from a deep understanding of the Aboriginal concept of belonging to Country and demonstrates how this can adjust an urban environment derived from colonial origins. The Campus to Country: Positioning Strategy also aligns with QUT’s desire to broaden and extend the capacity of sustainability through the future development of the campus. The alignment is found in the concept of Caring for Country as the starting point. In order to Care for Country, one must be aware of its existence and our dependence on its health. The work seeks to establish spatial settings that locate users in connection with Country to enable that sense of belonging and the need to proactively reverse the damage to Country. This work establishes Country as the origin for the design of the future campuses. Prompts, Tracks, Typologies and Palettes are the key elements of this framework. Prompts details the relationships between geology, hydrology, flora and fauna to better understand how the Turrbal and Yugara peoples are connected to this Country over thousands of years. By researching and understanding these relationships, elements of culture and Country are revealed which can be used to inform approaches to the built environment. The spatial framework is grounded in the concept of Tracks. Where infrastructure is the logic of the current campuses, Tracks is the logic of Country and underpins the new pedestrian movements through both campuses to enable spatial opportunities for multiple experiences of Country. As the tracks intersect with moments of cultural significance within the campus, an opportunity for a spatial intervention is highlighted. Four Typologies – insertions, incisions, buildings & public art - describe the spatial qualities of these interventions and enable catalytic projects to synthesise experiences of Country within the campuses’ development. Palette outlines a strategy for colour and selections that are drawn from Country. By specifying endemic materials and flora, new projects within the campuses can promote positive changes to biodiversity, urban resilience and climate change mitigation and begins the process of healing Country. The intention for QUT is that the Campus to Country: Positioning Strategy is treated as a live document. One which can adapt as the needs of the campus and community change. The strategy will be developed in two stages to accommodate learnings from pilot projects, monitoring, evaluation and other findings.