Everyone : Hi, we are edgelanders.

Ani : This is a deep mapping project. Our aim is to discover and
delve into the concepts of edgeland and polyphony.

Becky : The edgelands are the bridging areas where countryside
and city meet. Edgelands is a phrase that refers to the
transitonary area generated by urbanisation between rural
and urban regions. At the edge of cities, these regions
frequently feature wildlife beside cities, towns, roadways
and other unappealing yet needed infrastructures such as
electrical power grids and depots. Theorists have also
referred to Edgeland as "Bastard Countryside",
"Drosscape" and "Crapola".

Polyphony is the interplay of number of perspectives and
influences such as time, space and experience to create a
rich architectural framework.

Ani : The characteristics of edgeland will discovered using
the brownfield site, Pomona Island. The analysis will be
obtained using the method, interviews. The insights will
create a harmonising polyphonic response of Pomona.

The following interviews present perspectives of different
users of the site. The discussions involved one group
interview with the edgelanders and individual interviews
with the shop owner, accommodation manager and
homeless individuals. A number of topics were debated.
These included female safety and general safety,
homelessness, Pomona’s history, edgeland views and
lasting thoughts.

Becky : How would you identify Pomona Island now?

Nuoya : 我觉得，
In my opinion,
现在这片地方作为一个被城市忽略的灰色空间，
this place is now regarded as an edgeland, it become a
brownfield site neglected by the city,
这里有很多植物动物，没有很多人类发展的痕迹，
where there are many plants and animals, without many
traces of human development.
这片空间也没有一个准确的定义和名字，它是被忽略的。
This space is neglected without an accurate definition and
name.


Nuoya : How safe do you feel as a local resident and are the any
visible crimes?

Becky : I live quite close to the site so I got to experience living
around it quite well. The site itself feels generally safer even
though often there’s like people walking about, they like dog
walkers or running. There’s been a few times where I’ve
been on the site like towards the evening, taking my friend’s
dog for a walk. We’ve encountered social behaviour like
people smoking, drugs and like looking like they are drunk
and also around the tram stop it’s quite dark so there’s quite
a lot of like dodgy stuff that goes out like around the area
because its dark and there’s not much surveillance in the
area. I know there’s a few cars that broken down too down
there and I seen quite a few like police officers walking
around and especially like on a match day when the
footballs on, people get off the tram stop and they like
usually like quite drunk so they be walking around drunk on
the road and there’s quite a lot of litter around the area. It is
just quite a disregarded space. I think because of female, I
wouldn’t want to walk around when its dark at night because
of the lack of lighting.

Ani : Do you feel quite vulnerable?

Becky In the daytime, no but I think at night, when it’s dark, it’s
quite a creepy place in a way because yeah you can’t really
see what’s going on but the entrance to the site is under the
bridge and yeah it’s quite a dark area.

Ani : Do you think a male would experience the same sort of
vulnerability?

Becky : Having spoken to my friends also lives in the building, I
don’t think they find it as intimidating but as a female I kind
of find it more intimidating because I don’t feel like the area
it’s that safe and if anything was to happened, it wouldn’t be
like cameras to capture anyone.

Ani : How do you feel about the transition of Pomona Island since
1860s and 1880s?

Zaf : After knowing the history behind Pomona Island, I feel sad
and aggrieved looking at the current situation of Pomona
Island. During 1860s, the grand and majestic palace and
garden located there, made it as the central focus of the
crowd. After a few incidents until 1880s, Pomona loses its
attraction of the crowd and becoming downhill.

Setelah mengetahui sejarah berkaitan Pomona Island, saya
rasa sedih dan terkilan melihat situasi Pomona kini. Pada
1860, terletaknya istana dan taman yang indah dan megah
menjadikan dia sebagai tumpuan khalayak ramai. Kemudian
setelah beberapa peristiwa yang berlaku sehingga 1880,
Pomona sudah menjadi tempat yang kurang tumpuan lalu
hilang minat orang ramai dan kemajuan Pomona mejadi
mundur.

Zaf : Who are the users of the site? Are there any homeless
people in Pomona Island?

Ani : As Becky mentioned earlier, there are cyclists, runners, dog
walkers and a few homeless people on the site and to be
honest that kind of be seen clearly as well because there
are like a separation of both sides of the canal. Like one
side of the canal is used by the cyclists, runners and dog
walkers whereas the other side, the homeless people have
like mark their territory and they do identify that area and
that side of the canal as their home.

Zaf : Did you feel intimidated by their presence?

Ani : At first, I did because I didn’t understand their perspective
and their understanding of what it means to be homeless
but after speaking to them, I think, no, I didn’t feel
intimidated after spoke to them.

Ani : What are your views and thoughts on the new Peels
development and in your opinion, what could be done to
improve the site?

Becky : So, from what I understand there, set to build quite a lot
of residential apartments. There’s already evidence of like
work going on in the site. I think it is quite shame to be
honest because of the historical significance of Pomona
Island and the fact that it was once such a green space and
such a destination for people to visit and be outside and be
outdoors. So, I think it’s quite a shame if the land becomes
overdeveloped. I feel like a lot of housing around there like
a lot of private accommodations. So, I think the area
should stay as a Greenland and be develop into more of a
park. I think because there’s a lot of people in that area use
the site as place to be outdoors, walk their dogs, run and
cycle. I think it should be developed more into an outdoor
space for people to use and for people to visit and maybe
more retail to be brought around that area because like I’ve
said the area it’s quite a residential and there is not a lot of
places to go for like a coffee or something.

Ani : What do you think Nor?

Zaf : I feel, even though looking at the current state of Pomona
that is backward and empty with an open land, I am
excited to see Pomona’s growth and also new life that will
be given to attract more people to the site and also giving
back the glory it used to have.


Saya rasa walaupun melihat Pomona situasi keadaan dia
sekarang yang mundur dan kosong mempunyai tanah
yang lapang, saya teruja melihat perkembangan dan juga
nafas baharu yang akan diberikan kepada Pomona untuk
menarik lebih ramai orang ke site tersebut dan juga
kembalikan semula kemajuan Pomona yang dahulu.

Ani : How about you Nuoya?

Nuoya : 首先这个地方有很多涂鸦，
First of all, there is a lot of graffiti in this place.
我觉得这是一个非常有潜力的文化空间。
I think this is a cultural space with great potential.
我认为之后政府可以多一些关注，
I think the government can pay more attention
和一些资金来资助这些有才华的艺术家。
and fund these talented artists.
因此这里会吸引更多的人，会有更好的发展。
So it will attract more people and there will be better
development.