'System Garden', University of Melbourne

Seems silly to have avoided this one for so long, particularly as it is about five minutes' walk from where I work every day. The System Garden is celebrating its 160th anniversary this year, except it's a shadow of (i.e. about a quarter of the size of) its original incarnation. Not to say it's not a delightful space.

It conforms to most of our internal reserve rules, although of course (?) the surrounding buildings are all university offices/labs/classrooms etc, not residences, and the idea of 'street frontage' on a university campus is kind of fluid, too. In terms of its content, landscaping and usage, though, it's a great grab bag of ideas.

It's also worth remembering that one of the inspirations for Raymond Unwin in his creation/advocacy of internal reserves was the court spaces he saw at university campuses.

Read more about it here or look at the google map here.