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This first series is an introductory set of interviews I did for a local paper, the Canberra Times with a regular contibutor, Tony Trobe who is an architect in Canberra and has an interest in the conversations that happen in a highly planned city. We hope you enjoy it.
Viv Straw is the President of the Planning Institute Australia (ACT Division). This is the a series of articles exploring themes derived from Randolph Hester and others for development of place/cities, an Australian Ecological Democracy Framework.
Tony Trobe Interviews Viv Straw
Planning Themes 1
Introduction
Tony Trobe Interviews Viv Straw
Planning Themes 2
Vision
Tony Trobe Interviews Viv Straw
Planning Themes 3
Governance
This is an introduction to a series on planning using the principles of Design for Ecological Democracy
TT: Viv you have some radical ideas about the future of planning in Canberra and our cities in general would you like to explain them to us?
VS: Tony, Globally four major trends characterise changes in metropolitan typology. The first of these is urban resurgence which is a function of people moving back to cities. It is common for urban centres to be seen as attractive, lively places to live and work, and as centres of intellectual and creative capacity.
The second is the High-tech, global economy which has been a driver of recent economic expansion and new opportunities in cities.
The third is a recognition that there is a need to diversify land uses and build solid revenue basis, and the need to create liveable urban centres. And the fourth is a trend towards an increased investment in mass transit or urban transit opportunities and to orient development toward urban transit rather than private commuting options.
The convergence of these trends leads to the realisation that a substantial market exists for new forms of walkable, mixed use urban development around new light rail, rail or rapid bus interchanges. More than 100 American cities are looking at introducing trams at the moment. Our cities are defined by congestion, growing obesity problems and other community health issues and the rising cost of running individual transport systems as well as isolation from our neighbours to name a few.
Canberra is not immune to this and while we are a long way ahead in terms of being a beautiful city set in a beautiful landscape we need to provide for those that will want to live car free lives in the centre.
TT: How will planners and our civic leaders deal with these changes in the future?
VS: I think that last century’s planning that got us out of trouble with polluting industrial development, is having unintended consequences this century. Planners will gradually stop using zones creating residential enclaves, commercial areas and industrial areas and we will begin to live in more diversified localities using collaborative diversity principles, putting together more things that add to improved amenity and removing things that create conflict.
TT: But how can that be achieved when our cities are so entrenched with the current systems?
VS: Recognition that the private sector has the money, the imagination, initiative and the innovative capacity to develop the economy and change our technological base is a good starting point. The private sector and the marketplace are open to change as a process while the government sector plays the guiding hand in a governance framework rather than a command and control framework. Perhaps next time we can talk about how we bring this together and set up the principles.
This is the second in a series of articles exploring themes derived from Randolph Hester and others for development of place and applied to cities in an Australian context using Ecological Democracy principles
TT: Viv In our first article you talked about four global megatrends, city centre living becoming more popular, technology driving the new economy, a diversity of land uses together and the re-emergence of mass transit as an alternative to connecting people to other parts of the city; what do we need to do to take advantage of these trends?
VS: Tony, The first thing we need is a clear vision about the type of city that we want, and a clear understanding about what it is that cities do fo us: what we want to get out of the city.
I think it’s apparent that the global trend is toward lively mixed-use centres that are walkable, provide employment that is meaningful and give us a healthy lifestyle. But diversity is important too and we have some beautiful suburbs and a city setting in a great landscape that works on a lot of levels. It's framework, thanks to the planners who went ahead of us, is robust and will allow for a lot of change.
To develop a vision our civic leaders need to have a clear understanding of the type of city that we want to have: is it to be more inclusive, is it going to be innovative?
There is going to be a great deal of debate about the difference between a dense city and a more compact city if we are going to introduce mass transit systems. How are we going to service parts of the city that are sparsely populated and how are we going to manage developments in the inner-city that will need to be more transit and less private motor vehicle oriented?
TT: It is difficult for people to connect with the vision when they think that it is going to change in a few years because our circumstances have changed or the politics has changed.
VS: Yes, it is clear that a vision must have three components to be successful. A vision needs to have a wow factor that people can associate with and want to be part of.
The vision must be owned by the people even when it was developed from above and needs to connect existentially, it needs to identify the “what’s in it for me?”
And thirdly vision needs to be anchored in the reality of the current situation to be deliverable and be based on an understanding of how cities will change over time.
To deliver on a vision it is important that we have an appropriate governance system in place. We will talk about this in the next article but for now it is important to recognise that while the global mega trends are changing the shape of cities they are also changing our perception of government.
Any vision for the future needs to recognise the development of deliberative and inclusive democratic government processes.
TT: Viv In our first article you talked about four global megatrends, city centre living becoming more popular, technology driving the new economy, a diversity of land uses together and the re-emergence of mass transit as an alternative to connecting people to other parts of the city; in the second you developed the role of vision, what comes next?
VS: Tony, well the third thing we need is a good governance system. The age of command and control is dead. Successful places will develop a more collaborative approach to delivering city outcomes.
This is all about collaborating: the community, government, the private sector and the not-for-profit sector working together to deliver a more diverse future that provides for people to live where they live.
It will be all about living, working, accessing recreation and services locally. Many will remain in suburbs but the life of the city will be close to its centres and many will want to live in close proximity.
Canberra is already a poly centric city which gives it a great skeleton to facilitate this.
The century old design and control approach to dividing the city into zones must be replaced by a system that encourages collaborative diversity: people, land uses, economic and social activity as well as urban styles can cohabit in close proximity.
The original reasons for land use zones are no longer a substantial driver for the inner city, but it does make for lazy planning that is easy to implement and control. Everyone will have to get a clear picture of the what the compact city looks like. It is not just a dense city. It is a city characterised by nodes of activity and lifestyles.
I think that in future our cities will be deliberative, inclusive and innovative, compact and great places to live and will be characterised by collaboration. But that is not the same as high rise, which some still want to foist onto us as an answer to the ills of suburban living.
TT: You will need to explain that.
At present our planning and municipal services structures and commercial delivery functions are highly segregated. There are ideological and practical walls, in government and between them and the community. I heard Chris someone recently say ‘government has to stop doing all the heavy lifting’. This attitude reinforces a business as usual approach. The private sector gets the need for change and often before government gets the feedback.
We all need to break down the barriers and be more willing to share the load. Places that are successful, have great leadership across sectors that recognise the issues and share in the outcomes.
Clarity of vision needs to be connected to the existential and the situational.
Good governance provides clarity of purpose, develops a climate that facilitates debate, is collaborative and recognises success and failure quickly while building the capacity for delivery.