Home is where the heart is 

By Rhianna Busler

According to Deanne Butterworth the only label you can put on the CBD is that you can’t label it.  

“The CBD is an indefinable demographic. It’s continually shifting but I think the sense of community always stays,” Deanne said.

Deanne has lived in the heart of Melbourne for the last six years and has no plan to move anytime soon. As a new mum, she loves strolling the city’s busy streets with her two-year-old son and seeing familiar surrounds as if for the first time.

“There is always so much going on in the city. I’m always walking around going to art galleries and bumping into people I know.”

Deanne’s work as a choreographer sees her working constantly in and around the city, so the ease of public transport is highly appealing and makes getting around very stress free.

“My time spent travelling is minimal and I never have to worry about traffic,” she said.

Like a lot of city-goers, work was the main attraction for Deanne’s move to the CBD back in 2010.

Having grown up in Perth, relying on cars to get around and living on a bigger footprint, Deanne said: “Realising one could live with much less very easily and very happily is what attracted me to Melbourne’s city life.”

Currently working on a project for the City of Melbourne’s (CoM) Creative Spaces program, Deanne is working on a CBD project, but is based in Southbank.

Her current project aims to develop a choreographed response to sculptures within the Hoddle Grid and Deanne encourages locals to engage with the project to help her research.

As the central city booms, Deanne acknowledges that, while buildings contribute to the growth, more thought could go into how local Melburnians feel about the interior and exterior of these buildings.

“What do you feel when you look at a building?" she asked.

Describing the CBD as a “friendly, affordable, eclectic city that retains a sense of community”, it is no wonder Deanne loves her apartment lifestyle so much.

And her creativity doesn’t stop with sculpture and dance.  She advocates for communal organic compost bins.

“On a visit to New York I saw they had one. I think Melbourne could really benefit from having compost bins and maybe fewer rubbish trucks – there is always so many on the streets,” she said.

With such proximity to green spaces and numerous art galleries within walking distance, she says car ownership is not necessary.

The National Gallery of Victoria and the Flagstaff Gardens’ open and well-utilised space are some of Deanne’s favourite local spots in the heart of the city.

Being able to escape from the busy streets up to her apartment, Deanne happily calls Melbourne city home.