Afterlife dinnermint : More thesis and more drain pipes used as planters and other things

I think I have a working thesis question.

How do locale-specific characteristics mediate (can I say this in a better way?) outcomes for post-industrial land in Melbourne’s west? A case study of quarries in Brimbank (I don’t know whether this little addendum of sorts is ok - but I could work it into the question so it’s a single sentence)

Awkward wording but it encompasses everything I want to cover: history, culture (which could include informal social use, which I’m pretty interested in), socioeconomic demographics, patterns of land use and change (including the value of land itself), and the environmental/ecological aspect. Is that too much? I don’t know. I might narrow it down even more but we’ll see. So far my understanding is that outcomes are responsive to community action (Newport Lakes is one example, where local residents campaigned to have the quarry turned into a park rather than a tip) which indicates to me it might be tied into a whole bunch of other things (sociocultural understandings of open space, and whether local community members actually feel entitled enough to rally for a particular outcome).

Aside from that, I walked to Southern Cross from work today. In the past I’ve walked along Lorimer St and across the strange cylinder bridge through Docklands but I saw a cyclist exit what I assumed to be an abandoned dock the other day and figured it might be a path. I was right (after spending at least 10 minutes trying to find evidence of this path on my phone, lest I wander into someone’s place of business by accident - the KEEP OUT signs at the entrance didn’t help). It ended up being an OK walk but I'm still irritated there isn't a footbridge connecting Port Melbourne and Footscray Rd so I could've just walked home.

I like these. One drainpipe contained the largest spring onion I’ve ever seen

Biggest cormorant club I’ve ever seen

For some reason a large group of people were playing bocce on this crummy sand thing despite there being a larger, grassier and more open field nearby? I guess sand is preferable or something