Frequently Asked Questions

Q: How do I get involved?

A: Easy. Join in and edit our wiki or send an email to the livingcampus team

Q: I’ve always thought it would be a good idea to put an x on the y space, can we do it?

A: Yes. The plan from here is to develop an initial plan and then to take ideas for the detailed design. Working groups are being formed for each themed section.

Q: It’ll get vandalised

A: A frequent comment on websites for community gardens is "we were worried about vandalism, but it turned out not to be a problem at all". Admittedly, most community gardens are not situated in student residential areas. Our campus, however, is. We already have a substantial ornamental garden - vandalism is not a problem now

Q: The food will get stolen

A: We've had several comments to the effect of "you'll be feeding half the students". Yes, possibly - but this is indeed the intention. The difference would be the uncontrolled nature of the eating and the missed opportunity of education at point of consumption. This risk can perhaps be both reduced and mitigated through the interpretation stressing community ownership. Signs indicating areas to "feel free to help yourself” have been affective elsewhere.

Q: Everything matures when there is no one here to eat it

A: The height of summer is the time of abundance in the garden, unfortunately this coincides with the long summer holidays. This though is no different to what we have now, the ornamental garden looks stunning when there is no one here to see it. This though, is an opportunity - plants are chosen for many reasons: aspect; growing season etc - avoiding a summer peak can be seen as simply another constraint. As the peak of summer seems to get later and later (i.e. Febuary/March seem to be the 'height' of summer these days), this will also help.

Q: Nothing grows in Dunedin, especially in winter

A: Dunedin is naturally vegetated. While die-back of annuals is expected, the LivingCampus can be designed with winter crops in mind.

Q: Parts of the site are too steep - everything will wash away

A: Well planned permaculture is more stable than the grass currently on these areas. Swales are planned for lower edges.

Q: We’re short enough of car parks anyway, how many are you going to take away?

A: None. The brief to the landscape design team is to stay within the green and brown space on campus.

Q: I like sitting on grass, how much will there be?

A: The plan is to carefully observe the grassed areas favoured by sitters and to retain this. As part of the plan to make the LivingCampus a place that is used, we hope to integrate extensive seating into the garden areas.

Q: Is this inspired from somewhere?

A: Yes. Think of it as the Eden Project without the domes (although our buildings can be considered human ecosystems which are possibly less artificial than the the tropical forest and desert in Cornwall)

Q: Has this been done anywhere else?

A: Not that we can find. There are strong programmes at school level (especially in the US), and some towns have worked hard at this (although not the interpretative aspects).

Q: Why LivingCampus? How about Edible Campus?

A: We did think about "Edible Campus" but thought that "Living Campus" did more for us.

• we are intending more than food; pigments; remedies; fibre etc in association with different programmes of learning
• we are also celebrating the wider sustainability, growing soil etc but also hopefully a home for exploration of living technologies: wind, water etc.
• the "living" also emcompasses the alive, vibrant campus of an engaged community (whereas edible campus suggests a Hansel and Gretel or a chocolate advert!)

Q: Dunedin already has a community garden, isn’t this just another one?

A: Yes, but this is only one of three components of the LivingCampus. It is the interaction of the garden with the interactive experience and the integration into the functioning campus that makes it so much more. Put another way, the LivingCampus is a community garden in the way a bookshop is a school.

Q: Dunedin already has a Botanic Gardens, isn’t this duplicating?

A: Similar answer to above. While much admired, the Botanic Gardens differs from the LivingCampus in three fundamental ways:

1. While community owned, this is through the city council. There is no ability for 'ordinary residents' to own a patch of their own.
2. With the exception of the herbs in the Sunken Garden there is no productive planting. The LivingCampus will be primarily edible, but also include medicinal, fibre and specialised plantings (eg pigments).
3. While open to the public, the Botanic Garden is just that – a garden. The LivingCampus is integrated into the Polytechnic main campus. This assimilation gives the message that sustainability is something that is part of normal life – not something we do separately.

Q: Have we learnt from what others are doing?

A: Yes. A good example is CERES in Melbourne. Although it doesn’t meet the third leg of our model, in that it isn’t integrated into a campus, it certainly gives lots of inspiration for the integration of learning opportunities into a community garden. It also demonstrates the importance of community involvement. See: www.ceres.org.au

Q: What do you mean by museum – do you just mean the plants will have labels?

A: No. From the design stage, element of the garden is treated as opportunity for engagement and learning. Think of Discovery World at Otago Museum (especially the toilet walls – go and look!) rather than Victorian cases.