On 13 Dec, Mr Yuta Watanabe, an Assistant Director at CLAIR Sydney, visited Adelaide Hills Council for his research on regional revitalisation initiatives conducted by local governments in Australia. Adelaide Hills is located 20 kilometres east of Adelaide, the capital city of the state of South Australia, and has a population of approximately 38,000. It is located in the Mount Lofty Ranges, which stretches from north to south in the south-eastern part of the state of South Australia, and is a famous wine producing region in Australia.
Mr Watanabe visited the council as part of his research on the Building Better Regions Fund, a grant provided by the Federal Government for revitalisation initiatives conducted by local governments, and interviewed staff of Adelaide Hills Council who are in charge of two of the projects using this grant. One project is a master plan of improvements of Albert Street, the main street of Gumeracha, in the northern part of the council. The other is a project to create a data bank of historical information and stories about the Mount Lofty Ranges, a collaborative effort that utilises the data of ten councils including Adelaide Hills, with a goal of having Mount Lofty designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in future. It was a great opportunity for Mr Watanabe to learn about Adelaide Hills Council’s projects and their ideas on regional revitalisation.
