Places are both sustained and shaped by the stories we tell about them. In turn, stories of place are influenced by cultural, political, and socioeconomic forces. A form of 'unplanned' urban architecture, over almost two centuries Melbourne's inner-city laneways have been inscribed with multiple layers of narrative. This paper tracks the unfolding tensions around these evolving urban spaces, from Melbourne's founding up until the present day. Drawing upon site visits, theorists of place, narrative and memory, and analysis of select historical and contemporary texts, the articles explores how the uses of Melbourne's back lanes have changed over time, and how these changes have been both reflected in, and influenced by, narratives of place. From their genesis as makeshift service lanes, to their early reputation as sites of moral disorder; from shanty towns to celebrated tourist destinations; from public health risks to sites of urban renewal and cultural memorialisation-the transformation of these atmospheric passageways illustrates the fluid and contested nature of place, and its intrinsic yet unstable relationship with narrative. In considering how narrative has been deployed to stake or negate claims to the laneways, the article traces the role and impact of various actors: government, social reformers, slum residents, novelists, journalists and media outlets, business interests, street artists, and people experiencing homelessness. Melbourne's inner-urban back lanes emerge as liminal sites where questions of spatial exclusion, cultural capital, and belonging are navigated in complex and shifting ways.

A companion piece to Brave New Avant Garde with an emphasis on art activism and creative industries.

Texts on the municipalist political movement by Alan W. Moore, Barcelona en Comu, John Duda, Ed Marszewski, Brian Mier, Marianela D'Aprile and Keefer Dunn, Kali Akuno, Robert Herbst and ZEMOS, John McKim, Betty Marin, Heather M. O'Brien and Christina Sanchez Juarez

Informal practices play an important role in providing land, shelter and finance for the urban poor in cities of the global south. Despite this, informality continues to be perceived as an urban policy problem. The planning literature identifies the need to move forward from the current formal/informal dichotomy to a more comprehensive understanding of the role that informal practices play in urban development. This argument is especially relevant in the context of housing finance, where formal practices (e.g. from international, public and private institutions) have the ability to leverage funds to invest in housing at scale, while informal practices (e.g. community saving groups) have the ability to reach the poor. Despite linkages between formal and informal housing finance, most research has tended to concentrate on understanding these practices separately.From the starting point of a theoretical discussion on informality and planning in the urban global south and a six month placement with the Asian Coalition for Housing Rights in 2013, this chapter discusses the potential of community-driven financial arrangements to bridge formal and informal practices and to provide access to affordable housing to the urban poor. This process is illustrated in the case of the redevelopment of collective housing in Huu Nghi community, Vinh, Vietnam.