The resilience of our major cities in the national context

Since the establishment of the Major Cities Unit three years ago, the Australian Government has become increasingly involved in cities. What impact will its policies have on planning and urban design in Australia, and what is the role of urban design professionals in this context?

The centrepiece of the Australian Government’s contribution is the National Urban Policy, which establishes a national approach to urban development and investment in our cities. The central premise of the policy is the need to address complex challenges such as population growth and demographic change; the security of our water, energy and food; keeping up with advances in technology and communication; maintaining our productivity and prosperity within the global-socioeconomic context; and reducing our vulnerability to environmental hazards, climate-change and human-induced events.

We need to continually work to maximise the opportunities our cities present, and to also adapt and minimise the exposure of our cities and regions to risks. The National Urban Policy sets out the framework for addressing this within the national context. The Council of Australian Governments, which is made up of the Australian Government and each of the State and Territory governments, has agreed that by 2012 all capital cities will have nationally-agreed strategic planning systems in place.

The objective of these reforms is ‘to ensure Australian cities are globally competitive, productive, sustainable, liveable and socially inclusive and are well placed to meet future challenges and growth.’ The report is due to be submitted to COAG in December this year. One of the nine criteria agreed to by COAG is that the strategic planning systems must ‘encourage world-class urban design and architecture.’ As part of the Commonwealth’s contribution to this criterion, it has been developing an Australian Urban Design Protocol in partnership with government, industry professionals, academics and community stakeholders.

Ms Sara Stace, Director National Urban Policy, Major Cities Unit

4th International Urban Design Conference
21 - 23 September 2011 - Surfers Paradise Marriott Resort and Spa

Building the World's first 100% Sustainable Global Infrastructure

We are on the brink of a mandatory paradigm shift in everything we do, provoked by the imminent disappearance of petroleum and the requirement that we slow and reverse global climate change! We must convert from petroleum to 100% sustainable and renewable energy sources, starting with our cities, which will rapidly die without the food sourced by the 95% petroleum inputs that our current system requires! Why not consider linear cities that provide a far greater perimeter than our roughly circular cities, which have the minimum that is mathematically possible. These differences are compounded when you stack floors on top of each other to create vertical cities, which become impossible when all their inhabitants must walk into fields to grow their own crops because there is no more petroleum to produce the food and bring it to where people can eat it! Linear Cities can be built at right angles to prevailing wind directions, where everyone can walk into fields to grow their own food, and to supply those who are still stuck in existing cities, and towers! They can both power, and be supplied by high-, medium and low-speed speed rail, which are the only form of transportation outside of ships and electric vehicles that can be driven by wind, and which use only about 1/3 of the energy/passenger mile of cars and aircraft. Wind turbines along the top edge of the north to south linear city capture the energy of the wind that has accelerated as it passes over its 3 – 5 stories. Our current motorways can be used to deliver building materials to the cities just alongside them, and we can start by installing conventional wind turbines first, followed by both high-speed rail and a “high temperature” superconducting induction track/grid in the roadway to drive electric vehicles.

Mr Kim Gyr, Green Millennium, United States of America
4th International Urban Design Conference - 22 - 23 September 2011