“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.” Margaret Mead
These initiatives are the result of genuine collaboration among many remarkable individuals and partners.
LABS
FOR PROFESSIONALS
Regenerative Futures Labs
We are amid interesting and challenging times, knowing we need to transform the ways we live and work in myriad ways for all humans to thrive on a flourishing planet.
The magnitude and pace of change can be overwhelming, especially for young people as they navigate making sense of the changes and challenges we face.
The Regenerative Futures Lab is presented as interactive 2 hour workshop.
Through a series of ‘serious fun’, enchanting activities and frameworks we explore:
worldviews and culture
regenerative futures frameworks
practical techniques to navigate ambiguity.
LABS FOR SCHOOLS
Imagine being able to easily make sense of Earth’s 4.5 billion year journey?
Regenerative Futures Labs ( for years 7- 12) and Deep Time Labs (for years 3-6) enrich learner’s perspectives of their place in the world, and the wondrous adventure of being human, through connecting with Earth’s evolutionary time.
Available as an excursion or incursion.
A Teachers Kit (with optional pre and post lab lessons) and detailed curriculum alignment is provided.
The Deep Time Labs and Regenerative Futures Labs align with the Australian Curriculum (version 9) Sustainability Cross Curriculum Priority, across all of the four organising ideas; systems, worldviews, design and futures.
Conscious Health Care Workshops
Conscious Health Care Workshops
The COVID19 pandemic has amplified the need to acknowledge and honour the many intangible aspects of quality dignified care that are performed intuitively.
Perceptions that are sensed and felt can be intangible, not always visible or verbal and very often quite difficult to describe and record - but shape and influence every aspect of quality practice and care.
This interactive session half-day session explores and honours some of these critical and complex characteristics and capabilities. These unique capabilities are particularly important for health care to transition towards becoming increasingly holistic, decentralised, personalised, predictive, proactive and preventative. Understanding the nature and complexity of these capabilities is also essential in the design of healthcare approaches, systems and technology that honour dignity and long term flourishing.
Every interaction matters in how we care for ourselves, our patients and each other, shaped by our intuition and ‘humanness’.
This workshop honours that.
Imagine Lobethal
In the wake of the bushfires, Community leaders gathered to imagine the future of Lobethal begin to consider a vision for the future of the town and what it might become - to acknowledge the past, honour the present and shape future strategies, actions and projects that will contribute to the evolution of Lobethal as a distinctive, thriving and prosperous place.
VISION + STRATEGY
PROPERTY DEVELOPMENT
Development projects are more than projects - they are unique opportunities to cultivate the conditions conducive to ongoing local flourishing for generations; ecologically, socially and culturally.
“There is no future for business as usual.”
Working with major project leaders to explore and identify practical and viable ways for major projects to genuinely cultivate communities and flourishing ecological places.
Locale
We contributed to visioning of the former Le Cornu site at Forestville which is set to be transformed into an epic food-orientated retail and residential community, featuring SA’s first rooftop urban farm.
Image: Renewal SA
Known as Locale, the $250 million project will become the new heart of Adelaide’s south-west, and will include a bustling market square, outdoor dining and play spaces, a Green Urban School, short-stay accommodation and apartment and townhouse living.
The bold reimagining of the long-dormant site has been brought to life by a consortium – Commercial Retail Group (owners and operators of Frewville and Pasadena Foodland), national property developer Peet Limited and local developer Buildtec.
Strategy and Action Plans
Arts and culture shift perspectives and open up new ways of being.
Urban Mind Studio works closely with municipalities and organisations to inspire and provoke creativity, unleashing local potential while honouring culture and stories of local places and ecosystems.
The Urban Mind Studio process begins by seeking to UNDERSTAND and appreciate together with clients the local people, their lives and aspirations and the ecological essence of place. Together with clients we will IMAGINE and articulate future potential, map and WEAVE connections and relationships, DISTIL insights and TRANSLATE these things into viable, meaningful, effective and shared Strategies and Action Plans - that cultivate the conditions conducive to people and places flourishing in the long term.
Alexandrina Arts and Culture Strategy - in draft for distribution July 2022.
Commissioned by Alexandrina to undertake extensive engagement with First Nations and the broader community to develop a strategy and action plan to support the regions aspiration as a flagship region for arts and culture.
Developed by Urban Mind in collaboration with the people of the City of Holdfast Bay, it provides a framework and road map to guide the philosophy, coordination, promotion, management and investment in arts and culture along some of Adelaide’s leading city coastal suburbs over the next five years.
The design process is presented as best practice in the latest UN HABITAT Guidelines on Urban and Territorial Planning.
Adelaide Case Study: Urban Design for Wellbeing and Mental Health.
Developed in response to an invitation by the International Centre for Urban Design and Mental Health, the Case Study examines how Greater Adelaide applies key principles of urban design, and presents insights and opportunities to improve population wellbeing and mental health, as well as offering lessons for consideration by other cities.
World Design Capital
Coordinated Adelaide’s bid to become the World Design Capital in 2018, bringing together several dozen consortium partners from across Australia to collectively commit over $10million. The value proposition was Adelaide’s unique capacity to explore conscious design - the values to inform transformative systems design across public, private and community sectors.
Insights mapping
As a thought companion and provocateur, Urban Mind Studio partners with organisations to explore and understand your greatest challenges and aspirations, research and develop insight and develop reports or information papers - to deepen and broaden your understanding on particular topics.
Thought companionship and leadership, professional advice and public speaking regarding:
Regenerative design
Conscious design
The vibe and identity of cities
Intangible culture
The impact of arts and culture for health and wellbeing
Arts and Culture for child and youth development
Public art and place
Collaborative systems design in health
Conscious Design
Imagination, Curiosity & Creativity
Enriching the creative and cultural life of cities
SERIOUS PLAY
CONSCIOUS CITIES
Conscious Cities Festival 2020 & 2021 Adelaide
In October 2020, Adelaide in South Australia participated in the global Conscious Cities Festival alongside 15 other cities around the world, in dialogue about the things that shape our cities, which in turn shape us.
Entitled ‘Being Adelaide’ the various events explored the vibe, identity, mood, mindsets and meanings of place.
Curated by Urban Mind Studio, in partnership with other leading organisations we invited leaders, thinkers, expats and the general public - young and older, from interstate and around the world, to share 'What questions should we be asking about life in Adelaide?
Trust is EVERYTHING - so as part of the festival we explored “how might cities strengthen trust and empathy?” and captured the insights in this fancy zine.
BEING IN SPACE
We took thousands of children to a galaxy far, far away. As part of their astronaut resilience training kids developed a ‘Design Code’ for how they want to be in space. Presented at the Adelaide Botanic Garden as part of the DreamBIG Children’s Festival in 2021.
Regional Arts Australia Artlands Conference
At Fabrik in Lobethal nested in the Adelaide Hills of South Australia, participants were taken on a journey into deep time, to learn from First Nations’ wisdom, nature’s genius and cultivate (literally plant) intentions for life’s futures through cultural sharing, drawing mycelial networks and a seed planting meditation.
Mycelial diagrams with Laura Wills and wills Cheeseman
Art and Design in Health and Wellbeing
Founded the Arts in Health Program at the Women’s and Children’s Hospital through the Foundation – to integrate art, architecture and design into the life of the hospital to improve children's experiences of illness and hospital.
Developed the model for the Centre for Creative Health at the Royal Adelaide Hospital, through Arts South Australia in partnership with SA Health.
Developed the Arts Tonic Series which articulates the evidence based impacts of arts and culture to help people to stay well, recover faster, manage long-term conditions and experience a better quality of life. Stunning illustrations (by the gifted Rachel Harris ) in partnership with the South Australian Arts in Health Leadership Group.
Public art commissions
As a Public Art Consultant and through Arts South Australia contributed to the commissioning of many ephemeral and enduring public art works.
Place SA
In 2012, established Place SA - an initiative to provoke exploration about what makes a great place, to strengthen our collective knowledge and connect sectors in this field.