What happens when a university stops thinking in terms of buildings and starts thinking in terms of experience?

RMIT’s Living Places Plan does exactly that. It reimagines the University’s campuses as connected, active environments that bring together learning, research, industry and community.

1. Part of the city

RMIT has always been embedded in Melbourne. Its campuses are woven into the life of the city, not set apart from it.

The Living Places Plan builds on this, positioning RMIT as an active contributor to the city’s future, shaping and supporting the communities around it.

2. Designed for experience

This is a shift away from traditional campus planning.

The focus moves from infrastructure to people. How spaces feel, how they connect, and how they support collaboration, creativity and belonging.

3. More than campus

RMIT’s places are designed to do more.

They are platforms for collaboration, spaces for innovation, and environments that invite participation from students, staff, partners and the broader community.

4. Grounded in purpose

The Plan sets a clear direction: to create places that are inclusive, innovative and regeneratively sustainable.

It also embeds a strong commitment to First Peoples, ensuring Country, culture and knowledge are reflected in how places are shaped.

5. Looking ahead

The Living Places Plan is designed to evolve.

As the University grows and the world changes, it provides a framework to ensure RMIT’s places remain connected, relevant and impactful.

At its core, it is about creating places people want to be.

Melbourne has officially been shortlisted to host the IASP World Conference 2028, one of the world’s leading gatherings for innovation districts, science parks, research institutions and city-shaping leaders.

The shortlist places Melbourne alongside Campinas, Brazil and Visakhapatnam (Vizag), India, with the final host city to be decided through an international vote by members of the International Association of Science Parks and Areas of Innovation at the 2026 IASP World Conference.

If successful, the conference would bring global delegates from across industry, government, universities and innovation ecosystems to Melbourne in September 2028, placing the city at the centre of international conversations about the future of innovation, sustainability, technology, inclusion and urban transformation.

This is more than a conference bid. It is an opportunity to showcase Melbourne as one of the world’s most connected and collaborative innovation ecosystems.

Home to globally ranked universities, world-leading biomedical research, thriving startup communities, creative industries and internationally recognised innovation precincts, Melbourne offers a different kind of innovation story. One shaped not only by research and technology, but by openness, diversity, culture and public value.

Convened through the Melbourne Innovation District, the bid brings together a powerful partnership including RMIT University, The University of Melbourne, the City of Melbourne and a growing network of industry, government and community partners working together to shape the future of the City North innovation district.

The bid is also being strongly supported by Melbourne Convention Bureau, whose global networks, international engagement expertise and destination marketing capabilities are helping position Melbourne on the world stage throughout the campaign process.

Delegates would experience a city unlike any other. Dense, walkable and globally connected, Melbourne allows visitors to move within minutes between Nobel Prize-winning research, globally connected innovation precincts, laneway dining, major cultural institutions and vibrant neighbourhoods, all connected by the world’s largest free tram network.

More than 200 cultures and 233 languages help shape Melbourne’s identity, creating one of the world’s most welcoming and internationally connected cities.

The bid also reflects Melbourne’s growing leadership across AI, clean energy, advanced manufacturing, health innovation, creative industries and civic innovation.

The successful host city for the 2028 conference will be announced following the member voting process in 2026.

To learn more about Melbourne’s bid or connect with the bid team, get in touch with us here.

You can explore the official IASP candidate flyer and learn more about the three shortlisted cities here.

 

A community cookbook about care, creativity and cooking together

At its heart, Frugal: Recipes for Hard Times is more than a cookbook. It is a collective expression of care, resilience and community. Featuring an introduction by Dr Helen Addison Smith from RMIT, the book brings together recipes and contributions from students, teachers, staff, chefs and food justice practitioners across the RMIT community.

The cookbook is grounded in a simple but powerful idea. Being frugal is not about limitation, but about creativity. It is about making do, making something out of what you have, and making it together. As the introduction reflects, food is something to be respected and shared, and even the most humble ingredients can become something delicious with a little imagination.

The project connects to a broader set of place based initiatives across RMIT’s City North Social Innovation Precinct. In 2025, the RMIT City North Activation Challenge supported a range of projects exploring how the campus can operate as a living lab for community, innovation and inclusion. Within this, a City North Food Festival led by Helen Addison Smith focused on food insecurity, shared meals and creative approaches to eating well in the face of rising costs.

These ideas were brought to life through the City North Shared Futures Festival, which transformed the precinct into a space for experimentation, participation and connection. Food played a central role in this, creating opportunities for people to come together, share meals and experience new ways of thinking about sustainability, access and community through everyday practices like cooking and eating.

Across its pages, the collection moves from quick breakfasts and snacks to hearty meals and sweet treats. Recipes range from simple staples like homemade bread and pasta to inventive, globally inspired dishes that reflect the diversity of the community. Many emphasise low cost ingredients, minimal waste and flexibility, encouraging people to adapt recipes based on what is available to them.

Importantly, the cookbook extends beyond recipes. It includes stories and reflections on food systems, sustainability and the realities of student life, including food insecurity. Contributions explore how food connects to culture, place and environment, showing how cooking can be an act of care, creativity and shared responsibility.

Ultimately, Frugal is a celebration of collective knowledge and everyday ingenuity. It reminds us that even in hard times, cooking and eating together can build connection, support wellbeing and create moments of joy within a community.

A new discussion paper, Mobilising Asia Pacific Talent, explores one of the most pressing challenges facing Australia and Southeast Asia: how to build and mobilise the workforce needed to support the transition to a clean economy.

The paper highlights the scale of the opportunity and challenge ahead. Up to 30 million clean economy jobs are expected to be created in Southeast Asia by 2030, yet current workforce growth is not keeping pace with demand. Without coordinated action, significant skills shortages could constrain progress across the region.

It outlines how the nature of work is rapidly changing, driven by digitalisation, new technologies and increasingly cross-border ways of working. Clean economy jobs are becoming more interconnected, multidisciplinary and reliant on shared standards, requiring a workforce that can operate across sectors, value chains and national boundaries.

However, a range of structural barriers continue to limit workforce mobility and development. These include fragmented qualification systems, inconsistent standards, restrictive visa and licensing requirements, and a lack of alignment between education and industry needs.

In response, the paper sets out a series of practical pathways to build a more coordinated regional approach. Key recommendations include improving skills recognition across countries, developing shared taxonomies for green skills, strengthening industry–education collaboration, enabling more flexible labour mobility, and establishing a regional taskforce to drive collective action.

Ultimately, the paper argues that unlocking the full potential of the clean economy will depend on deeper collaboration between government, industry and education across the Asia Pacific — and on treating workforce development as critical infrastructure for the transition.

Shaping Healthier, Safer and More Inclusive Cities

The Empowering Senior Voices initiative highlights the critical role older adults play in shaping more inclusive, resilient and liveable cities. Led by RMIT in Melbourne’s City North Precinct, the project uses participatory methods to capture the lived experiences of people over 65, turning everyday observations into actionable civic data.

Through direct engagement with older residents, the research identifies key challenges affecting safety, wellbeing and participation, including uneven pavements, poor lighting, unsafe interactions with e bikes and scooters, social isolation, digital exclusion and limited access to green space. These insights reveal how everyday barriers connect to broader issues such as mental health, climate resilience and social connection.

Importantly, the findings show that designing cities with older people in mind delivers benefits for everyone. By applying an ageing lens to urban planning, councils can strengthen accessibility, equity and community resilience across the whole population.

The paper outlines a practical and replicable model for embedding senior voices into decision making, supported by a set of guiding principles. These include centring lived experience in planning, improving safety and accessibility, strengthening social connection, enabling cross sector collaboration and integrating citizen generated data into policy and monitoring systems.

Ultimately, the initiative demonstrates that when older adults are active partners in identifying challenges and co designing solutions, cities can move beyond incremental improvements to more systemic change, creating healthier, safer and more connected communities for all.

You’re invited to City North Shared Futures Fest

Celebrating inclusive innovation, community and action in the heart of City North 

Cities everywhere are grappling with climate change, rapid technological shifts, public health pressures and deepening inequities. The responses that succeed are those built on collaboration, where knowledge is made visible and shared in the places people live and work.  In Melbourne’s City North, RMIT and its partners are showing how this can be done.  

From Saturday 4 to Sunday 5 2025, Cardigan Street will transform into the City North Shared Futures Fest — a civic gathering at the heart of the City North Social Innovation Precinct. 

The Fest will showcase how inclusive innovation is taking shape in real time, and how the precinct is emerging as a living lab and demonstrator of skills-led urban renewal. It is open to all: students, neighbours, workers, families and visitors. 

At the heart of the Fest is the City North Activation Challenge, an ongoing RMIT-led initiative that transforms the precinct into a living lab, where partners and communities come together to experiment, learn, and tackle complex urban and social challenges.  

Building on the projects documented in the 2024 City North Social Innovation Precinct Compendium, fourteen new initiatives in 2025 will come to life during the Festival, from inclusive food systems and interfaith dialogue to climate resilience experiments. These projects are creating immediate opportunities for students, partners and local communities to work together, while also generating insights for longer-term planning.  

Recognised internationally as a finalist in the Inspiring Solutions Programme, the Challenge demonstrates how local collaboration can have global significance. 

The City North Shared Futures Fest is a unique combination of science, technology, arts, libraries, regenerative futures and augmented reality, community in one place. 

Across two days, this unique block of the City North district will transform into a living vision of what our future can be. Projects and ideas burst into life through conversations, creative activations, shared meals and collaborative learning experiences, with contributions from partners including Regen Melbourne, Guardians of Earth, Melbourne Fringe, Long Prawn, IndigeNerd, Permacet, City of Melbourne and more. 

It is both a showcase and a civic invitation to see how City North is becoming a place where collaboration, creativity and care converge to shape inclusive and regenerative urban futures. The festival makes this vision tangible through hands-on workshops, outdoor explorations, future-facing games, performances and shared meals. 

Explore the program below to see what’s happening each day — from hands-on workshops and outdoor explorations to future-facing games, performances and shared meals. 

Day 1 Program: Saturday 4 October 11am – 7pm

Cardigan Street comes alive from 11am, closing to cars and opening to people for a free, all-day celebration of art, food, science, technology, and play. The City North Shared Futures Fest brings together community and creativity on one city block, inviting everyone to connect, explore, and imagine new possibilities.

At 2pm, a Welcome to Country will ground the day in respect for Traditional Owners, and throughout the event, an MC will guide you through a vibrant mix of performances, installations, and hands-on experiences.

Keep an eye out for the larger-than-life Snuff Puppets, roaming the streets courtesy of Melbourne Fringe, and don’t miss the Ladies Popping Jam from 5–6pm — a high-energy street dance session led by Lana and Rachel, celebrating freedom, resilience, and collective empowerment.

From 4–7pm, catch live sets from Rainbow Chan, DJ PGZ, and Andrew 88, spinning infectious beats that will keep the street buzzing and the energy flowing all evening.

Food & Community 

Frugal (Free) Food Canteen (11am–7pm)

To be frugal is not to settle — it’s to sharpen the senses, stretch the imagination, and tap into centuries of ingenious, resilient cooking. Long Prawn and RMIT invite you to a vibrant, one-day-only street food experience that proves flavor doesn’t have to come at a premium.

From packet noodles made deluxe to supermarket chickens turned pop icons, Frugal Canteen is a love letter to the overlooked, the underloved, and the overcooked. Powered by community, creativity, and a menu that rummages through the back of the pantry and the frontlines of food systems — this is where thrift meets taste, and waste becomes wonder.

Frugal Canteen isn’t just a meal — it’s a manifesto. A delicious, affordable, and communal alternative to food waste, fast fixes, and financial fatigue.

The Menu

Reimagined classics. Remixed staples. Ridiculously good.

Dulce & Kabana
A cake stall-meets-sausage sizzle

• Democracy Sausage Bánh Mì – Vietnamese tomato-braised sausage, pickled carrot & daikon, coriander, cucumber in a crusty roll.
• Fresh Filled Cannoli – Because every revolution needs dessert.

Bachelor’s Handbag
A fiery fusion of chicken, chips, kimchi, and rogue hot sauce — stirred up by Long Prawn for hot chicks only.

• Chicken, chips, kimchi, and scrap hot sauce.

Hot Flavoured Water
Hot Flavoured Water is our elevated, veg-loaded ramen with bold broths, zingy ferments, and a jolt of caffeinated egg energy.

Featuring: Bougie Ramen 2.0 with fresh noodles, caffeinated eggs, ferments, tofu, and seasonal veg. Vegetarian; vegan available.

By Just Food Collective (@just.food.collective.australia)

Toasties & Tips
Melted wisdom from Lipstick + Bread (@lipstickandbread)

• Brie & Purple Kraut (V)
• Chickpea ‘Tuna’ Melt (VG)
• Classic Ham & Cheese

Ecological Soup
Sea Urchin Bisque in kelp broth. Climate anxiety never tasted so good. Gluten free.

Created by Heliotope (@heliotope_studio)

Community Produce & Pot Luck
Regenerative recipes with rescued produce and community soul

• Sri Lankan Achcharu – spicy, not-so-traditional fruits (VG, GF)
• Prawn lentil fritters with chicken curry
• Nasi Bakar (grilled rice) with sayur asem (sour choko soup) and saltbush sambal matah (VG, GF)
• Egg curry with daal and ghee-five-spice rice

Created with Natoora (@natoora_melbourne), Farmers Pick (@farmerspickau) & RMIT’s own Mashiat Mostafa, Tito Ambyo & Dilushi Kadawath Pedige.

Something sweet
End on a high note

• Gajer Halwa – Spiced carrot halva
• Fresh Cannoli – Handmade, filled on-site
• Community Cake Stall – Bring your best bake (or just your best appetite)

Drinks
Wash it down — From Backyard Lemonade to Bucket Kombucha, our drinks lineup is a playful pour of homemade sips, fizz, and nostalgic twists.

• Backyard Lemonade
• Hibiscus Kombucha
• Ribena Revival
• Jam Cordial
• Bucket Kombucha (yes, from a literal bucket)

Produce Stall
Take the taste home with seasonal, regenerative ingredients from Natoora and rescued gems from Farmers Pick.

Soundtrack by Sasha Margolis (@superhans_zimmer): open-source food court muzak meets low-fi utopia. Expect sizzling pans, clinking cups, and the hum of good conversation.

Come hungry. Leave full. Bring a friend. Or five.

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Seeds of the Future Bank (11am–4pm)

Step up to the Free Money Bank with RMIT’s Regenerative Futures Institute and explore time banking — where contributions matter more than cash. Plant an idea, share a skill and help grow a regenerative Melbourne.
All ages

 

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Hands-on Workshops and Creative Making 

Design Make Print (11am-4pm)

Get messy with colour and make your mark as RMIT Library brings stencil printing to the street. Design your own stencil or play with ready-made ones, then print onto upcycled tote bags to take home, reuse and re-love. Suitable for all ages.

 

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Rice Painting Workshop (11am-4pm)

Get creative the sustainable way with RMIT Culture’s hands-on rice painting workshop. This chemical-free, meditative activity is fun for kids and adults alike — learn to make your own paints and create colourful works of art together. Suitable for all ages.

 

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Worry Doll Making Workshop (11am-4pm)

Join a colourful, hands-on workshop inspired by the Guatemalan tradition of telling your worries to a tiny handmade doll. Design and create your own unique worry doll to take home. Fun, creative and meaningful for all ages.

 

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Screen Printing Workshop and Mobile Pavement Print Studio (11am-4pm)

Creativity is on the move with Shared Signals. Join the mobile print studio as it weaves through the precinct or drop into the screen-printing workshop in Building 94. Walk the precinct, make your mark with symbols and signage, and help shape a collective exhibition in motion. Suitable for all ages.

 

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Connect the dots (11am-4pm)

RMIT Creative Student Life is thrilled to present Connect the Dots, a new participatory public artwork co-created with students and led by artist Sophie Stavrakisas. Bright yellow dots now splash across the buildings of RMIT’s City North Precinct, supported by the City North Activation Challenge 2025. 

Inspired by Gordon Matta-Clark and Sophie’s own experience as an RMIT student, the work uncovers hidden stories within these spaces. Follow the dots, wander off your usual paths, and discover new perspectives on the precinct.  

 Discover the precinct on your own terms. Every step is part of your journey. 

 

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Aurecon Activity: From Lego to Legacy – Co-Design Melbourne’s Innovation Future (11am-4pm)

Step inside Melbourne’s Innovation Precinct and become a co-designer of the city’s future. This hands-on, interactive activity invites you to engage with Aurecon’s evolving Lego model, a miniature representation of the precinct that grows and changes with your ideas.

Participants will have the opportunity to add their own designs, structures, and concepts, working alongside others to explore what a vibrant, innovative, and sustainable urban environment could look like. Through this activity, you’ll consider how collaboration, creativity, and innovation intersect to solve real-world challenges—like creating inclusive spaces, fostering industry connections, and building environmentally responsible infrastructure.

Whether you’re a student, industry professional, or simply curious about city design, your contribution matters. Together, we’ll imagine, design, and build a future Melbourne where people, industry, and community thrive, turning creativity into a legacy that inspires real-world change.

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Regen Melbourne Activity: The O-racle (11am-4pm)

What will Melbourne’s CBD North look like in 2050? The O-racle invites you to explore this question through the lens of Doughnut Economics, imagining a future that balances human needs with the health of our planet.

Using a deck of dimensions from the Doughnut framework, participants will draw inspiration to envision a city that is regenerative, equitable, and safe for both people and planet. The O-racle acts as a guide, encouraging you to articulate visions that push the boundaries of imagination, creativity, and sustainability.

This is an interactive, participatory experience where your ideas help co-create possible futures for Melbourne. You’ll engage with concepts like urban regeneration, social innovation, and environmental stewardship, all while considering the ways people and communities can thrive together.

Brought to you by Regen Melbourne and RMIT University, The O-racle is more than an activity—it’s a space to experiment, reflect, and imagine bold, inclusive futures that could shape the city for generations to come.

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Technology, Augmented and Mixed Reality 

Enhancing Experiences via Technology (11am-4pm)

Step into the future with RMIT’s STEM Digital Hub in a mixed reality installation where AR headsets reveal past and present visions of the Social Innovation Precinct. Explore landscapes, landmarks and hidden stories, just as the Premier of Victoria did only weeks ago. And don’t miss Haku, the lovable robot joining the fun. Suitable for all ages. 

 

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Digital AI Photobooth (11am-4pm)

Strike a pose and see yourself transformed in the Digital AI Photobooth, part of Shared Signals by the College of Innovation and Education. Each image becomes part of a living “gesture wall,” archiving unique and shared non-verbal expressions. Suitable for all ages. 

 

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WeCare X Storybox (11am-4pm)

Step up to the cube of the future with RMIT’s School of Global Urban Studies. This digital installation invites you to explore images, stories and provocations from last year’s WeCare project, along with fresh Social Innovation Precinct activities to spark new ideas. Suitable for all ages.

 

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WeCare X Storybox: We are Creatures

Let’s see the world from a different point of view — that of an endangered species! Developed with the Day of the Species art project, this activity invites you to pick your national threatened species and engage in art activism through colour and storytelling. Stay for a quick pose with your creation, with the chance to be featured on the STORYBOX screen during the day.

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Games, Role Play and Speculative Futures 

Reworlding City North – Live Action Role Play (LARP) (11am-4pm)

Step into the year 2050 and join an immersive climate change game that reimagines how our city might regenerate. Become part of a faction, gather resources, explore Indigenous-led urban design, solve puzzles, and collaborate on creative solutions to help your future community thrive. Presented by RMIT’s Future Play Lab, this live-action role-play transforms the City North Social Innovation Precinct into a stage for bold, collective imagination. Suitable for ages 10 and up. Which character will you become in 2050?

Please note, it is free to watch, but a small participation fee of $64 applies if you’d like to join in the action.

 

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Gaming Futures: Speculative Worlds for City North (3pm-7pm)

Step into the future through student-designed digital worlds created by RMIT and IndigeNerd. Watch the City North Social Innovation Precinct come alive on buildings and surfaces around you, weaving together architecture, Indigenous knowledges, ecology and technology to imagine tomorrow’s civic spaces. Suitable for all ages. 

 

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Walking Tours & Outdoor Explorations  

BioCultural Realms (12pm-2pm)

Set out on a journey with RMIT’s School of Education where plantings and visual storytelling weave together technology, science and creativity. Wander the streets and green spaces on guided tours, discover hidden pockets of biodiversity, and bring the experience to life with an interactive smartphone app. Suitable for all ages. 

Join a guided walking tour, departing from O’Grady Place at 12pm and 2pm. Each tour runs for around 60 minutes and offers a great way to explore and connect.

 

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Place Lab Plantings – Tour & Talk with Maud Cassaignau  

Discover how plants can transform our streets and spark new conversations about the future of our city. Join Maud Cassaignau, Senior Lecturer in Landscape Architecture at RMIT, at O’Grady Place, 3:30–4pm, for a guided walk-through of the Place Lab plantings.

In just 30 minutes, you’ll explore how greenery brings life, shade, and connection to urban spaces – and how small interventions can create big changes. 

Come along, get inspired, and see the city bloom in new ways! 

 

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Building 94 Exhibition (11am-4pm)

Step inside Building 94 to discover a colourful mix of artworks from the public, staff and students. A creative showcase for all ages to enjoy. 

 

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Indigenous Language & Ecology Walking Tour (11am-3pm)

Step into the regenerative neighbourhood of Reworlding City North and imagine Naarm–Melbourne in 2050. These free 60-minute walking tours weave together language, ecology, and community futures.

Led by Professor N’arweet Carolyn Briggs AM, who has remapped the streets with Boon Wurrung language, the tour transforms the city into a living classroom of place-based knowledges.

Along the way, you’ll learn language with community linguist Alison Soutar and explore urban greening with Gio Fitzpatrick from the Yalukit Willam Nature Reserve.

Tours take place at 11am and 3pm. Meet at the muyang (red gum tree) on the north corner of Cardigan and Earl Street.

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Live Music & Dance Activation

Ladies Popping Jam (5pm-6pm)

Step into the street for a high-energy dance performance led by Lana and Rachel. Ladies Popping Jam celebrates freedom, resilience, and collective empowerment, bringing movement, music, and joy to the City North Shared Futures Fest.

Dance is one of the oldest forms of human expression — a language without words that connects people across cultures. Street dance styles like hip hop, breaking, krump, and popping represent freedom, resilience, and storytelling, while also benefiting body and mind. This activation celebrates dance as a powerful tool to gather, share stories, and create belonging.

Leading the performance are Lana and Rachel, founders of Ladies Popping Jam — a group dedicated to creating space for women in the male-dominated dance style of popping. Lana, born in Aotearoa, raised in Guangzhou, and now based in Naarm, brings international experience and a local commitment to inclusive spaces where dance becomes both an art form and a collective act of empowerment.

Join us in City North to witness, move, and connect — because dance is not just something to watch, it’s something to do together.

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DJ Sets: Rainbow Chan, DJ PJZ and Andrew 88 (4pm-7pm)

Rainbow Chan, DJ PJZ and Andrew 88 are live from 4–7pm, bringing smooth, ambient grooves to set the perfect vibe for City North. Come unwind, connect, and enjoy the music as the festival transitions into evening!

DJ PGZ
DJ PGZ Gunai/Kurnai & Yorta Yorta artist DJ PGZ is a Melbourne-based DJ and producer known for his dark, bass-heavy techno that draws from underground club cultures worldwide. Beyond the decks, he champions community and emerging First Nations talent through his Ecstatic Mob club series, creating space for connection and cultural celebration on the dance floor.

Listen to his music here.

Rainbow Chan
Hong Kong-born, Australian vocalist, producer, and multidisciplinary artist Rainbow Chan merges experimental club sounds with Cantopop and traditional Hong Kong folk influences. Her work explores cultural heritage, matrilineal narratives, and diasporic identity, bringing immersive, genre-blurring performances that span music, theatre, and installation.

Listen to her music here.

Andrew 88

Originally from Paris, Andrew 88 is a talented DJ and selector who started his musical journey in the realm of house music.

Listen to his music here.

 

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7:00 PM — Day 1 Finale That’s a wrap for Day 1 of City North Fest! But the adventure isn’t over, register to jump back in for Day 2 of the Reworlding City North LARP.

 

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Day 2 Program Sunday 5 October 11am – 5pm

Reworlding LARP

Live-action role-playing (LARP) invites you to step into character and shape the story as it unfolds. At the 2025 Weekend Shared Futures Festival, RMIT’s Future Play Lab transforms the City North Social Innovation Precinct into a stage for imagining bold futures. This activity is suitable for ages 10 and up. Which character will you become in 2050?

 

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5:00 PM — Festival Close

That’s a wrap for City North Shared Futures Fest! Thanks for celebrating with us. See you back on the block again soon.

 

 

Student Visions Shaping a Social Innovation Precinct

On Tuesday 16 September, RMIT students presented their bold ideas for Continuums, Data, Being: City North — a project led by Patrick Macasaet as part of the City North Activation Challenge 2025. The work showcases imaginative proposals that reimagine City North as a hub of social innovation, inclusion, and collaboration. The event highlighted how students are shaping not only the future of the precinct but also contributing to RMIT’s wider role in Melbourne’s urban landscape.

Continuums, Data, Being: City North explores how data, architecture, and human experience intersect to shape the precinct’s future. By examining City North as a continuum — where speculation and pragmatism, fiction and reality overlap — the project reframes design as a process of being, connecting students and community in new and transformative ways.

Student Projects

Hunter Gatherer
Located in the Cardigan Quarter, this project rethinks crisis accommodation as more than just temporary shelter. It envisions dignified housing that fosters belonging, safety, and community, with shared spaces encouraging interaction between residents, students, and workers—transforming City North into a socially conscious extension of the city.

City North Re-Imagined
Positioned in the Swanston Quarter, this project critiques conventional housing models by centring dignity, safety, and long-term wellbeing. Rather than simply offering shelter, it proposes a living environment that empowers people and creates opportunities for mutual learning, social exchange, and city-wide impact.

TEP: The Expandable Puzzle
This project introduces adaptable modular building blocks that can grow and change with community needs. Rejecting rigid, permanent structures, it instead focuses on flexibility, sustainability, and the re-use of materials. The result is resilient, people-centred spaces that adapt as the city evolves, supporting collaboration and quality of life.

The Art of Breaking Patterns
Exploring how architecture can disrupt everyday habits, this proposal transforms routine spaces into places of imagination and engagement. By challenging patterns of movement and interaction, it positions City North as a catalyst for creative thinking and cultural expression.

Pop Food Journey
In the Carlton Quarter, this project addresses food insecurity by reimagining food production as both spectacle and critique. Structured through the six Wurundjeri seasons, it integrates Indigenous knowledge with sustainable practices such as hydroponics. Visitors journey through immersive environments before arriving at a food court where food becomes a medium for cultural exchange.

Supra-City North
Engaging with Swanston Quarter, this project critiques architecture’s entanglement with economic systems that often neglect communities. Instead, it proposes a new architectural condition—messy, plural, and inclusive—where routines of sports, faith, welfare, and culture overlap. Supra-City North resists neutrality, aiming to express people rather than nation, and reframes architecture as a stage for community life.

Guiding the project

The project is guided by Patrick Macasaet, Lecturer and PhD candidate in RMIT Architecture, and co-founder of SUPERSCALE—a research and ideas-led experimental architecture studio working at the intersection of speculation and pragmatism, fiction and reality.

As Patrick reflects:
“City North gives us the chance to activate space in ways that go beyond architecture. It’s about creating a precinct where students, community, and ideas come together to imagine new futures for Melbourne.”

Together, these visionary proposals reflect the creativity and commitment of RMIT students to social innovation, resilience, and inclusivity. They not only advance RMIT’s ambition for the City North Social Innovation Precinct but also demonstrate how the district can serve as a living laboratory for ideas that benefit the whole of Melbourne.

You can also discover some of these works in person at the upcoming City North Shared Futures Festival on 4–5 October, in the heart of the City North Social Innovation Precinct.

 

The Activation Challenge: Impact in Action

The RMIT City North Activation Challenge is already leaving its mark. In 2024, the first cohort of students reimagined the future of City North through bold ideas that blended social innovation, design, and community impact.

Their work has been captured in the 2024 Compendium — a showcase of creativity and collaboration that highlights how the Challenge is shaping RMIT’s Social Innovation Precinct and contributing to the transformation of the wider City North district.

Explore the 2024 Compendium and see how student-led visions are already influencing the way we think about the future of Melbourne.

The City North Activation Challenge began with a simple but powerful idea: what if the RMIT community—students, staff, researchers, partners and neighbours—came together to imagine new ways of tackling the social challenges shaping our future?

In 2024, that idea came to life. This compendium shares the stories of more than 20 projects activated across the precinct. Some reimagined everyday spaces of City North: Our Street invited local schoolchildren to redesign Cardigan Street using VR tools, while Play the Future: Reworlding Cardigan Commons 2050 explored how games can help communities co-design greener, more inclusive spaces. Others addressed urgent social needs: Food Security for our Students Feeds our Future tackled hunger on campus; Peer Connect gave vocational education students hands-on experience running a wellbeing clinic; and The We Care Initiative used creative practice to reimagine civic health.

“Cities grow and change through movement—of people, ideas, and connections. Many important innovations happen not in grand plans, but in the everyday spaces where people come together to experiment, collaborate, and work out what’s possible.”
Tom Bentley, Vice President, Strategy & Community Impact, RMIT University

Many projects piloted emerging technologies: the PV Recycling Collaborative Workspace showcased global partnerships to create circular solutions for solar panel waste; the Digital Sustainability Index tested new approaches to asset management for sustainable buildings; and a Voice-based Diabetes Detection System applied AI to predict health risks. Cultural leadership was also at the centre, with the creation of an Indigenous Engagement Toolkit in partnership with Traditional Owners, and projects like Storying City North: From Ink to Algorithms that celebrated histories, knowledge and identity.

These initiatives were powered by collaboration. Local schools, social enterprises, cultural organisations, government agencies, health providers, industry innovators and global research networks all worked alongside RMIT’s students and staff. From the Cyber Resilience Program with South Asian student communities and the Australia India Business Council, to CollabConnect with Moral Fairground and dozens of social enterprises, the Activation Challenge highlighted what is possible when diverse communities and expertise come together in place.

Given its success, the City North Activation Challenge has continued into 2025—expanding its reach, deepening partnerships and generating a new wave of projects that keep building momentum.

Together, these stories show how RMIT’s City North Social Innovation Precinct is becoming a living laboratory for collaboration—where ideas are tested in real-world settings, and people come together to shape a shared future for the district, and for Melbourne beyond.

What’s Inside the Compendium

The compendium is both a record and an invitation—a way to celebrate progress so far and invite new partners, students, and community members to get involved. The projects highlighted span five key impact areas:

• Social Care & Wellbeing – People-centred innovation to support health equity and resilience.
• Future Engineering & Technology – Harnessing emerging tech for adaptive, inclusive urban systems.
• Indigenous Recognition & Celebration – Embedding cultural leadership and knowledge into renewal.
• Clean Economy – Advancing circular design, renewables, and regenerative development.
• International Collaboration – Building global partnerships for shared learning and local impact.

A Snapshot of Innovation in Action

Some of the featured projects include:

• Our Street: Local primary school students reimagined Cardigan Street’s future using VR tools, envisioning greener and more inclusive public spaces.
• Enhancing Cyber Resilience: South Asian students co-designed culturally tailored strategies to strengthen digital safety.
• Student Wellbeing Week & Art Trail: A creative program that blended mindfulness, art, and community connection to support mental health.
• Indigenous Engagement Toolkit: A living resource embedding Woi Wurrung and Boon Wurrung cultural knowledge into precinct planning.
• PV Recycling Collaborative Showroom: Showcasing global and local innovations in solar panel recycling as part of a circular economy.

Why It Matters

The compendium demonstrates the power of place-based innovation. Each project brings together diverse voices—students, researchers, community leaders, industry partners—to create real-world solutions. Already, the initiative has helped spark new collaborations, accelerate existing projects, and inspire ideas that can be scaled far beyond the precinct.

The 14 selected projects for 2025 showcase RMIT’s collaborative, transdisciplinary approach to renewing the City North Social Innovation Precinct and addressing some of the most pressing societal challenges of our time.

Together, the 2025 projects represent a diverse mix of interventions, experiments and ideas aimed at creating a more inclusive and regenerative future, locally and globally. They span inclusive food systems, urban regeneration and climate resilience, digital skills and storytelling, intercultural connection, and Indigenous truth-telling.

These projects reflect the breadth and depth of social innovation emerging across RMIT. They amplify the power of collaboration between staff, students and community partners, demonstrating how creative, cross-disciplinary approaches can respond to complex challenges and deliver real-world impact.

Importantly, the Activation Challenge builds on strong momentum from previous years. In 2024 alone, a further 23 projects were supported through the City North Activation Challenge. Together with the 14 projects selected for 2025, this brings the total to 37 projects supported to date, with more activity and collaboration to come.

Readers can explore the full range of projects supported in 2024 in the City North Activation Compendium, which captures the diversity, experimentation and impact of work already underway across the precinct.

As part of RMIT’s broader City North Social Innovation Precinct strategic priority, the 2025 projects continue to activate the precinct and its urban landscape as a living lab. They test new approaches to lifelong learning, inclusive community development and place-based innovation, while building on decades of excellence in Vocational Education and industry-engaged practice already established in City North.

The projects also offer a tangible way to explore how RMIT’s emerging Master Plan vision and goals can be realised through the work of its community. This vision seeks to create inclusive, innovative and sustainable places and spaces, guided by regenerative principles and closely aligned with the objectives of the City North Activation Challenge.

International force for change

RMIT’s City North Activation Challenge has gained international recognition through its selection in the Inspiring Solutions Programme of the International Association of Science Parks and Areas of Innovation (IASP). It is one of 10 finalists being celebrated at IASP’s World Conference in Beijing this September.

This acknowledgement highlights the global relevance of RMIT’s work in skills-led urban renewal, innovation ecosystem building and inclusive community development, positioning City North as a model for place-based social innovation on the world stage.

🎥 Watch a video about the IASP finalists.

2025 City North Activation Challenge projects

The selected projects span every corner of RMIT, from STEM to the arts, each contributing a distinct perspective to the broader City North vision. Together, they represent the future of collaboration, experimentation and community engagement within the precinct.

Project 1: Reworlding – Cardigan Commons

Program lead: Troy Innocent – College of DSC
This project transforms Cardigan Street into a living lab for urban climate resilience, using play to reimagine how communities can adapt in Naarm by 2050. Building on Indigenous knowledge and regenerative design, a two-day public event will engage participants in creating climate-responsive urban spaces through storytelling and collaboration.

Project 2: City North Food Festival

Program lead: Helen Addison-Smith – Education Portfolio
This multi-day event addresses food insecurity by fostering creativity and collaboration. It reimagines how to eat well amid rising costs and environmental challenges through shared meals, rescued produce and workshops. A key highlight is an event providing 2,000 free meals, bringing together students, artists and food justice groups to explore sustainable food access in City North.

Project 3: We Care x STORYBOX

Program lead: Sarah Barns – College of DSC
Building on a successful 2024 pilot, this project transforms Cardigan Street into a platform for care and connection. Using digital storytelling and public space media, it explores themes of belonging and social care through video portraits and STORYBOX installations, while testing a civic evaluation framework for public space engagement.

Project 4: Innovative Frontiers – Enhancing Experiences via Technology

Program leads: James Harland & Robert Shen – STEM College
This project explores how AI and mixed reality can foster curiosity and connection in urban environments. Through the deployment of a humanoid robot and immersive experiences, it showcases City North as a smart precinct and tests inclusive approaches to public engagement with emerging technologies.

Project 5: Re:Vision

Program lead: Darren Brown – College of VE
Re:Vision is a creative placemaking project that challenges cultural and racial stereotyping in Melbourne’s media. Drawing on community voices, international student perspectives and media analysis, it produces public artworks and installations that offer counter-narratives and encourage cross-cultural exchange.

Project 6: Biocultural Urban Realms

Program lead: David Rousell – College of DSC
Blending ecology, technology and culture, this project reimagines urban green spaces through a biocultural lens. In partnership with Guardians of Earth, it creates a digital ‘realm’ for City North where the community can map biodiversity, share stories and take nature-positive action.

Project 7: Student Food Security Co-op Pilot

Program lead: Anna McLeod – Education Portfolio
Addressing the growing issue of student food insecurity, this project establishes a student-run co-op providing 400 free meals each week. It experiments with inclusive, empowering food relief models that place students at the centre of solution design and delivery.

Project 8: Building Bridges – Interfaith Relationships

Program lead: Jonathan Kolieb – College of Business and Law
Through facilitated interfaith luncheons, this project fosters dialogue, understanding and connection across cultural and religious differences. It aims to strengthen social cohesion and build trust across the diverse communities of City North.

Project 9: Future Memorials Lab – First Nations

Program lead: Amy Spiers – College of DSC
This project reimagines how urban spaces can support Indigenous truth-telling and healing. By working with First Nations artists and leaders, it creates opportunities to develop new commemorative works that address the legacy of colonialism and imagine shared futures.

Project 10: Circular Cities Showcase

Program leads: Akvan Gajanayake – College of DSC & Caitlin Phillips-Peddelsden – Policy, Strategy and Impact
A five-day showcase promoting clean technologies and circular economy innovation, this project connects RMIT researchers, startups and industry partners, positioning City North as a testbed and exemplar for sustainable urban renewal.

Project 11: Southeast Asia Clean Economy Workforce Action Plan

Program leads: Bri Wood-Ingram & Kristen Bondietti – Policy, Strategy and Impact
Anchored by RMIT’s Asia Hub, this project develops a regional action plan to support clean economy skills and workforce mobility across Southeast Asia, strengthening cross-border collaboration and positioning City North within global clean economy innovation networks.

Project 12: Master of Architecture Design Studio

Program lead: Patrick Macasaet – College of DSC
This design studio explores future civic and environmental possibilities for City North through speculative architecture. Students integrate Indigenous knowledge, emerging technologies and regenerative design to create prototypes and simulations that engage the public and support long-term climate resilience.

Project 13: Empowering Senior Voices in City North

Program lead: Bernardo Figueiredo – College of Business and Law
Using participatory storytelling and the Our Voice methodology, this project amplifies the perspectives of older adults in City North. Seniors become active civic advocates, fostering intergenerational connection and contributing to more inclusive urban environments.

Project 14: Digital Storytelling Studio

Program lead: Clare Dyson – Education Portfolio
This project establishes an inclusive storytelling hub that empowers marginalised communities and RMIT students to develop digital skills and share their stories. Through workshops and coaching, it builds digital confidence, cultural safety and more inclusive neighbourhoods.

Want to learn more?

Explore the City North Activation Compendium to discover the 23 projects supported in 2024, or get in touch with the City North Activation team at city.north@rmit.edu.au.