Kate Shaw
Encyclopedia
Dr. Kate Shaw is an Australia
n academic, planning activist and commentator, currently serving as a Research Fellow
at the University of Melbourne
. Dr. Shaw is notable for her work in connection with the protection of local cultural diversity
and alternative sub-cultures. Dr. Shaw's engagement with these concerns has encompassed community activism and education, media contributions and academic publications as well as teaching and researching at RMIT University
and The University of Melbourne.
Amongst other things, Dr. Shaw is notable for her high-profile involvement in the 'Save the Espy' campaign in the late 1990s and early 2000s, formally known as The Esplanade Alliance. The Esplanade Hotel
in the inner Melbourne suburb of St Kilda
is an iconic venue famous for its nurturance of a wide variety of Australian rock and alternative music acts. The site on which the hotel stands was purchased in 1997 by developer Becton who proposed to build a high-rise upmarket apartment complex to take advantage of the extremely good views across Port Phillip Bay and back to the Melbourne central city area. Apart from the debate about the merits of such a tall building in an otherwise relatively low-rise area, the concern of local residents and the music community was that even if the hotel itself was allowed to remain, the venue would soon be forced to stop hosting live music due to complaints from the residents of the new apartment tower, as has been the case in many other gentrifying suburbs, such as Fitzroy
. The campaign was successful in reducing the height of the tower significantly and ensuring that key aspects of the hotels layout were retained to enable its survival as a live music venue.
Dr. Shaw's doctoral thesis was titled 'Room to move : the politics of protecting the place of alternative culture' and uses a number of case studies from European and Australian cities to investigate the range of policies that have been used to protect alternative culture in neighbourhoods subject to gentrification
.
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n academic, planning activist and commentator, currently serving as a Research Fellow
Research fellow
The title of research fellow is used to denote a research position at a university or similar institution, usually for academic staff or faculty members. A research fellow may act either as an independent investigator or under the supervision of a principal investigator...
at the University of Melbourne
University of Melbourne
The University of Melbourne is a public university located in Melbourne, Victoria. Founded in 1853, it is the second oldest university in Australia and the oldest in Victoria...
. Dr. Shaw is notable for her work in connection with the protection of local cultural diversity
Cultural diversity
Cultural diversity is having different cultures respect each other's differences. It could also mean the variety of human societies or cultures in a specific region, or in the world as a whole...
and alternative sub-cultures. Dr. Shaw's engagement with these concerns has encompassed community activism and education, media contributions and academic publications as well as teaching and researching at RMIT University
RMIT University
RMIT University is an Australian public university located in Melbourne, Victoria. It has two branches, referred to as RMIT University in Australia and RMIT International University in Vietnam....
and The University of Melbourne.
Amongst other things, Dr. Shaw is notable for her high-profile involvement in the 'Save the Espy' campaign in the late 1990s and early 2000s, formally known as The Esplanade Alliance. The Esplanade Hotel
Esplanade Hotel
The Esplanade Hotel, built 1878, is an iconic public house in St Kilda, a beachside suburb of Melbourne, Australia. It is situated on St Kilda Beach, at 11 Upper Esplanade, overlooking Port Phillip Bay on a rise opposite the St Kilda Pier, and is a significant landmark of St Kilda...
in the inner Melbourne suburb of St Kilda
St Kilda, Victoria
St Kilda is an inner city suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 6 km south from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Port Phillip...
is an iconic venue famous for its nurturance of a wide variety of Australian rock and alternative music acts. The site on which the hotel stands was purchased in 1997 by developer Becton who proposed to build a high-rise upmarket apartment complex to take advantage of the extremely good views across Port Phillip Bay and back to the Melbourne central city area. Apart from the debate about the merits of such a tall building in an otherwise relatively low-rise area, the concern of local residents and the music community was that even if the hotel itself was allowed to remain, the venue would soon be forced to stop hosting live music due to complaints from the residents of the new apartment tower, as has been the case in many other gentrifying suburbs, such as Fitzroy
Fitzroy, Victoria
Fitzroy is an inner city suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 2 km north-east from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Yarra. Its borders are Alexandra Parade , Victoria Parade , Smith Street and Nicholson Street. Fitzroy is Melbourne's...
. The campaign was successful in reducing the height of the tower significantly and ensuring that key aspects of the hotels layout were retained to enable its survival as a live music venue.
Dr. Shaw's doctoral thesis was titled 'Room to move : the politics of protecting the place of alternative culture' and uses a number of case studies from European and Australian cities to investigate the range of policies that have been used to protect alternative culture in neighbourhoods subject to gentrification
Gentrification
Gentrification and urban gentrification refer to the changes that result when wealthier people acquire or rent property in low income and working class communities. Urban gentrification is associated with movement. Consequent to gentrification, the average income increases and average family size...
.
Selected publications
- Porter, L. and Shaw, K. (Eds)(2008) Whose Urban Renaissance? An international comparison of urban regeneration strategies, London: Routledge (ISBN 978-0-415-45682-1)
- Long, C., Shaw, K. and Merlo, C. (Eds)(2005) Suburban fantasies : Melbourne unmasked, Melbourne : Australian Scholarly Publishing (ISBN 174097090X)
- Shaw, K (Ed)(1998) Planning practice 1998 : the best and worst examples of city planning and development, North Melbourne, Vic. : People's Committee for Melbourne (ISBN 0958571708)