Environmental and Social Benefits

• All materials were selected for their low environmental impact, including unbleached calico, water-based paints, and reusable smocks. The project eliminated single-use items and sourced local, vegan catering. Leftover supplies were redistributed for future inclusive events, aligning with circular economy practices.
• Social benefits included co-creating safe spaces for expression, prioritising cultural safety, and building a connected student community. Paid roundtables, workshops, and inclusive art-making empowered students with lived experience and built a support network that continues today.
• Accessibility was embedded from design to delivery—participants’ access needs were met proactively, with solutions like wheelchair-safe painting methods and Auslan support. This enabled equitable participation and built confidence among both artists and volunteers.

Leadership and Engagement

• Led by a Disabled artist with lived experience, the initiative shifted power structures by embedding access into leadership and decision-making. The project champion, RMIT Student Union’s (RUSU) Disability and Carers Officer Samuel Coombs, ensured authentic representation throughout.
• Over 200 students participated, alongside 46 student facilitators as creative volunteers. Staff across Student Life, RMIT Creative, Sustainability, and Student Equity and RUSU collaborated, demonstrating whole-of-university engagement.
• The artwork now serves as an experiential learning site, featured in international campus tours and highlighted in RMIT’s IDEA Framework as a model for inclusive student engagement.

Significance to the Sector

• Metropolis represents a scalable model of inclusive, experiential learning that integrates lived experience into campus transformation. It redefines placemaking by centring the needs and insights of disabled communities.
• It connects sustainability and inclusion, challenging institutions to expand their definitions of sustainable practice.
• With documented methodology, partner engagement (e.g. Arts Centre Melbourne), and sector recognition, it is ready for replication across other institutions nationally and internationally.

Wider Societal Impact

• Positioned disability as a driver of innovation in design, sustainability, and community building, encouraging public and policy conversations about inclusion.
• Humanised disability through participatory art, fostering allyship, empathy, and systemic change beyond campus.
• Inspired the shift from one-off fixes to systemic, holistic design practices—proving that inclusive design benefits everyone and should be a standard, not an exception.