海角社区

Focus on Inclusivity

Thursday 12.20pm-1.15pm

• Chris Aston and Kate Wall
• Julia Miller-Randle M海角社区
• Leah Harris M海角社区

Chris Aston and Kate Wall
Evolve or Stagnate, focus on what matters most

As Mufasa famously said to Simba, before the climatic ending to one of the most iconic movies of my generation ‘you have forgotten who you are’.

As planners our professional value-add is greatest when actions are grounded in strategic and coordinated thinking. Planning requires balancing economies, ecologies and communities. Importantly, at the centre of this, is people. Those of us living here now, legacy and tradition from generations past, and generations to follow, and their ability to thrive in the places that we shape.

But does this mean as planners we need to be all things to all people?

As planners we have allowed land use planning to be pulled into the weeds. Planning Regulations have increased from A5 pocket books to chapters of volumous ‘value add’; full of detail about side setbacks in one suburb being different to those in another, design requirements for fences, and roof top garden requirements explaining how a screen is different to a wall, which is clearly not allowed.

Planning is being called to the forefront, by all levels of government to fix the housing crisis. If we remove the noise emanating from all of our ‘value add’, planning has a critical role to play in housing supply and affordability; ensuring development is occurring in the right places, making land work harder (building up not out), ensuring enough supply, and servicing this available land.

Evolution is defined as the gradual development of something or the process of developing by gradual change. Instead of trying to be everything to everyone planning needs to double down on its strengths and deliver its part of the greater narrative instead of trying to deliver the whole story. When it comes to evolution, it’s not the strongest that survives, nor the most intelligent. It’s the most adaptable to change.

Julia Miller-Randle M海角社区
ities for everyone: embedding access and inclusion in planning and design

Australian cities and towns are wonderfully diverse places, and our communities are just as unique. As planners we recognise that the way people experience and participate in their environment impacts their physical and mental health, feelings of worth, social connections and ultimately, their resilience. But how well do we really understand the needs of our marginalised population groups? And how often do we seek out the softer and “smaller” voices in our communities to inform our policies, plans and programs?

One in six people in Australia have a disability, and around 30% of these individuals have a severe or profound disability. We are home to the world’s oldest continuous cultures, as well as Australians who identify with more than 270 ancestries. Almost 20% of our nation’s current population is aged under 15 years. Add to this the densification of our suburbs, an evolution in the way we work, recreate and socialise and a housing crisis. The need for inclusive people-centred planning and design outcomes is more important than ever.

In this presentation we will provide insights on key demographic trends and changes, and examples of how the needs of diverse population groups have been reflected in different aspects of our cities and regions. From emergency response planning for people with a disability, to improving the accessibility of our public spaces; and supporting increased female participation in organised sport, to child-led design processes – we’ll discuss our ideas and present case study examples for how we can create cities for everyone, and embed access and inclusion in planning and design.

Leah Harris M海角社区
Count her in…when planning your city

You’ve probably heard of the Queensland Housing and Homelessness strategy but have you heard of the Queensland women’s strategy? The overarching priority of the strategy is “genuine economic inclusion and successful economic participation for women and girls”. The UN theme, count her in: invest in women, discusses the significant obstacles to achieving equal participation in the economy. What are we doing in planning to ensure our cities are designed in a way that best allows women to increase participation in the workforce. Most cities were designed and built by only one gender and women remain underrepresented in key-decision making positions. How do our planning schemes, address issues like safety, women’s different transport needs and even equity in our public art policies.

Let’s look at the current state of play in Queensland and whether there needs to be changes made. For example, the Gender Responsive Project Roadmap, prepared by ARUP in partnership with the University of Liverpool and United Nations Development Program recommends development conditions to require developers to implement women’s safety measures. Most Planning Schemes will include a section of a code about safety, using the Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design principles (CPTED) but have the schemes kept pace with the most contemporary CPTED theories? Making the connection between the design of the built environment and crime was referenced in policy as early as 1961 but has been evolving since then. It is especially critical to consider societal changes such as urban sprawl, an ageing population and the changing nature of households. What does a safe street even look like? Queensland Walks organisation has drafted a walk my street checklist designed to help you to see what your streets already have in place and what improvements they recommend. How can we translate that into a safe streets development code?

This paper is designed to be a discussion, sprinkled with startling and stunning facts with the goal that we all learn from each other and come away from our time together with a beautifully rounded perspective of what our cities, and the people in them, need in order to flourish. Afterall, (as stated in the Queensland women’s strategy) all Queenslanders are able to thrive from the economic prosperity that we know comes from increased gender equality.