Cities rose up out of human imagination, but not by design. Instead they evolved – a necessary, unconscious response to progress’ steady, unstoppable spread. Commerce brought us closer together, adaptability made life spent walking on hard surfaces feel ok.

Adelaide is a small city, but it’s still hard to see the moon. And the trees that would cushion the bricks and mortar are ripped from their planter boxes every Friday and Saturday night.

People are the organic reprieve from the corner we’ve built ourselves into. Amid a landscape of foreign objects, we recognise each other.

Flavia Tata Nardini
CEO of Fleet

Picture: Jessica Clark

Flavia immigrated to Australia from Italy earlier this decade. Now, she regularly appears in interesting conversations around the city representing Fleet – the Adelaide-based nano-satellite company she co-founded.

Emmaline Zanelli
Artist

Picture: Andrè Castellucci

With little more than cable ties, sticky tape, and a camera, Emmaline creates strange new worlds that somehow feel oddly familiar. We see her and her work in Adelaide’s galleries, but know she’ll soon be seen worldwide.

Daniels Langeberg
Founder of EcoCaddy

Picture: Sven Kovac

Dans returned from an urban planning job in Shanghai with an idea to make Adelaide less car-centric. Three years later, we see him and his EcoCaddies sweeping through the city – a regular part of the transport mix.

Ying Mok
Co-owner Nanna Hot Bake

Picture: Josh Geelen

While city-dwellers were initially sceptical of Ying’s Chinese-style baked goods, her sweet and savoury buns are now staples. Every morning, she starts work at 2am so we can say hello and grab a delicious treat at 7am.

Medhi El-Aquil
Founder of Condesa Electronics

Pictures: Ben McPherson

Medhi began building hand-made mixers to merge his love of music and his background in electronics. Condesas can be seen in the hands of all good DJs, while Medhi’s smile regularly beams out from behind the decks at Udaberri. 

Jo-Anna Kenney
MFS Firefighter

Picture: Jessica Clark

Firefighters like Jo-Anna are most often pictured in our imaginations battling blazes. While that’s certainly part of her work, a lot of it is also about community education – so Jo is always happy to say G’day.

Karl Winda Telfer
Artist and community leader

Picture: Jessica Clark

As we walk through Tarndanyangga we think of Karl – who helped design the Square, but who laments that it is yet to be completed.  Karl continues his work though, teaching in many ways – including through his Yellaka dance group.

Michael Merhi
Owner of Jerusalem

Picture: Andrè Castellucci

Hindley Street’s Jerusalem restaurant is a city institution and that status is largely because of the man behind the window separating the kitchen from the tables. Michael took over the venue from his father and was wise enough not to change a thing.