Overview

In 1972, Peter Downton, a masters student in urban planning at the University of Melbourne, conducted the first Growing Up in Cities study of Braybrook, a typical suburb on the west side of Melbourne. He chose Braybrook because its relatively low socioeconomic status meant that here, as at other project sites, young people would be largely dependent on nearby community resources, and therefore recommendations to improve urban policies related to children and youth would be particularly important. An estate of detached and semi-detached houses and low-rise flats situated on 488 hectares between a train yard and the Maribyrnong River, Braybrook was built during Melbourne's postwar public housing boom in the 1950s. Downton's report of this early work is summarized in the book Growing Up in Cities edited by Kevin Lynch (MIT Press, 1977).

In 1997, Karen Malone, then a doctoral student at Deakin University, initiated a replication and extension of the 1972 study. She was joined by Beau Beza, a masters student in urban planning, and Lindsay Hasluck, a masters student in social anthropology. Working with 44 young people from 10 through 15 years of age, they replicated many of the research methods used in the 1970s: structured interviews, drawings, discussion groups, walking tours, photographs, a photogrid, and behavior maps. They also created a video of young people's outdoor places and activities that included footage from Downton's similar film from the 1970s. They found the physical features of the community largely unchanged. Socially, however, much had changed. Young people in the 1990s, as in the 1970s, complained about boredom and nothing to do; but they also spoke about new fears of the streets and drugs, and new hostilities from adults who were afraid of adolescents in public places. The population also showed a new cultural diversity. In 1997, the young people interviewed were born in Somalia, Vietnam, New Zealand and Argentina as well as Australia.

As the project replication began, the City Council of Maribyrnong had just made a decision to commit new support and resources to Braybrook, and therefore they integrated Growing Up in Cities-Australia into their feasibility and redevelopment study of the area. The results of the initial research phase were presented to the City Council, featured in newspapers and radio shows, and published in the national magazines Youth Issues Forum and Family Matters. Following the presentation to the Council, a smaller group of young people served as consultants for the redesign of Skinner's Reserve, a large public open space in the community.

The Growing Up in Cities project has become the basis of a curriculum, Streetspace, which engages secondary school students in urban open space planning and design. Implemented in 1998 in the Braybrook Secondary School in collaboration with the environmental designer Maggie Fooke, this phase of the project culminated in a design for a Recreational Trail Network Plan for the neighborhood. Growing Up in Cities-Australia has also been featured in a CD-Rom for training teachers, police workers, social workers, planners and other professionals in participatory research with young people. Other project sites have been introduced in the cities of Abbotsford and Frankston, Victoria.