Category Archives: urban design

ACT planning lacks good governance

A DICKSON RESIDENT, Canberra, distraction, GOVERNANCE, legislation, opinions, planning, politics, urban design, urban development, URBANITY, , , ,

This opinion piece only scratches the surface of the enormous problems we have here in Canberra with planning and development. The whole of the planning system has been corrupted by decades of bad management and the development of a culture that has residents as the enemy to be tricked and out manoeuvred. Click here for my piece in City News.

Yvette Berry insults Canberra’s inner north residents

A DICKSON RESIDENT, Canberra, cities, GOVERNANCE, green infrastructure, planning, trees, urban design, urban development, URBANITY, , , , ,

After almost a decade of residents saying very clearly what their preferred options were for a precious community site within Dickson in the inner north of Canberra (Dickson Parklands) , residents have been told that Yvette Berry, Minister for social housing (housing clearances mostly) is to announce that her wonderful deaf government is to build on this community site.  Click here for the opinion piece published in City News.

for another instance of Yvette Berry’s talent – click here – being dismissive about the urgent and long over due needs for sports, community and cultural facilities in Woden.

Yvette Berry does herself no favours in Woden

A DICKSON RESIDENT, Canberra, cities, GOVERNANCE, planning, politics, urban design, urban development, URBANITY, , ,

Yvette Berry as ACT sports minister attended a recent Woden Valley meeting and totally trashed all the ideas that residents put forward for much needed and well-overdue sports, recreation and cultural facilities for Woden – where there are 20 plus towers of apartments about to appear. And as yet – no facilities are being planned for the area. WTF?? Click here for the opinion piece in CityNews.

16 years on, is this Canberra’s worst building mess?

A DICKSON RESIDENT, planning, urban design, urban development, , ,

Canberra planning is in a mess. How can a residential site be left as a rubbish tip for 16 years despite people contacting authorities to see if it can be fixed. Click here for the opinion piece in City News.

Mick Gentleman is the ACT planning minister – and is the local Labor member for this suburb. Nothing has happened! Go figure!

Griffin impugned for the West Basin’s awful future

A DICKSON RESIDENT, biodiversity, Canberra, cities, cultural, cultural landscapes, design, GOVERNANCE, green infrastructure, heritage, opinions, parks, planning, trees, urban design, urban development, URBANITY, , , ,

Good journalism is welcomed and embraced. Journalism that is written to promote bad decisions by government must  be called out. Here’s an example of the latter.  The author, Tom Greenwell, starts well by making some points about Walter Burley Griffin’s planning for Canberra. But then he commits the crime of using Griffin’s name and visions to justify some outrageous developments being planned by the ACT Government (Urban Renewal Authority again!) that will destroy a wonderful part of the foreshore of Lake Burley Griffin. Click here for the article in City News.

and for more about West Basin alternative facts – click here;  includes letters from Richard Johnstone of kingston – a supporter of West Basin developments.

And for more on the arguments against what Tom Greenwell has written – click here for a very well informed  piece by Penny Moyes, one of the Lake Burley Griffin Guardians.

ACT planning’s brutal behaviour goes unchecked – again

A DICKSON RESIDENT, Canberra, cities, cultural landscapes, GOVERNANCE, heritage, opinions, parks, planning, politics, urban design, urban development, URBANITY, , , ,

Before the 2016 ACT Elections, the chief minister promised that there would be a panel formed to bring about master planning for the precinct around the Manuka Oval. That panel was to meet by the end of 2016. Did not happen! Instead there have been games, spin and alternative facts. The most recent insult being a meeting called that pretended to be about Manuka planning – but was simply a waste of people’s time. Another broken commitment by the ACT Chief Minster.  Another insult to the intelligence of residents by Andrew Barr and his planning barbarians. click here for the opinion piece in City News.

It’s not easy being green around Kippax centre

A DICKSON RESIDENT, Canberra, cities, GOVERNANCE, green infrastructure, opinions, parks, planning, politics, trees, urban design, urban development, URBANITY, , , ,

When developers eye off ACT Government green spaces – the trend in Canberra is that those developers get to buy that land and the people lose yet another piece of precious community open space. This is happening with land behind the Kippax shops in west Belconnen in Canberra.The local Labor member is Yvette Berry and she loves to show up with a shovel to be photographed when community land and green spaces are being removed from the public ownership. Click here for the opinion piece in City News.

Woden Valley gets ignored

A DICKSON RESIDENT, Canberra, cities, equity, GOVERNANCE, opinions, parks, planning, trees, urban design, urban development, URBANITY, , ,

Two stories about a meeting at the Woden Community Council meeting in late July. The first is about an ACT Minister, Rachel Stephen-Smith, addressing the audience and apparently not having an understanding of the depth of anger about the lack of facilities in this centre – despite the enormous growth in apartments. The second involved the ACT Government’s planning bureaucracy’s mishandling of a small green space within the suburb of O’Malley. Both performances were astonishingly terrible – sort of funny if it was not about people’s lives. Click here for the opinion piece in City News.

National Capital Authority stupidity on Commonwealth Avenue Bridge

A DICKSON RESIDENT, cities, cultural landscapes, GOVERNANCE, opinions, planning, transport, urban design, urban development, URBANITY, , , , ,

The agency that is supposed to be the steward for the national capital, the National Capital Authority (NCA), does come out with some rubbish at times. In this case it floated the idea of pulling down Commonwealth Ave bridge to build a new bridge for the tram. Luckily the project engineer who worked on the bridge is around t point out how stupid this thought bubble was. Click here for my opinion piece in City News.

Heritage ignored in Reid house approval

A DICKSON RESIDENT, Canberra, cities, gardens, heritage, housing, opinions, planning, urban design, urban development, URBANITY, , , ,

The suburb of Reid in Canberra is one of the oldest and residents accept that there are heritage values to be considered for most of the suburb. When a house was demolished and plans were approved by the ACT Government that paid token attention to these heritage values – residents were not happy. To make matters worse the ACT Heritage Council approved the development application. What were they thinking! Click here for my opinion piece on this in the City News.

Continue reading Heritage ignored in Reid house approval →

New ACT Labor Minister goes neoliberal

A DICKSON RESIDENT, Canberra, cities, GOVERNANCE, opinions, planning, politics, urban design, urban development, URBANITY, , , ,

Chris Steel became an ACT Labor Minister about a year ago. Watching him recently at a Weston Creek Community Council meeting I became aware of how these Labor politicians have so easily accepted the arguments of the classic NeoLiberals. It is all about market forces. Click here for my opinion piece in City News.

The NCA and towers to dominate national capital

A DICKSON RESIDENT, bullying, Canberra, cities, GOVERNANCE, heritage, housing, planning, trees, urban design, urban development, URBANITY, , , , , ,

Some stories about planning in Canberra are simply unbelievable. This is one of those and involves the National Capital Authority not doing its job.

Click here for my piece online in City News.

time to do something about West Basin

A DICKSON RESIDENT, Canberra, cultural landscapes, GOVERNANCE, heritage, opinions, planning, politics, trees, urban design, urban development, URBANITY, , , ,
a call to all ACT politicians to do something

There’s misleading information being used to justify apartment developments on West Basin. It is overdue for all our local politicians to get involved. more on this from my opinion piece in City News – click here.

and for a later article on this — click here

 

ACT Government about to bulldoze a community site

A DICKSON RESIDENT, ARTS & CULTURE, bullying, Canberra, GOVERNANCE, green infrastructure, opinions, parks, planning, trees, urban design, urban development, URBANITY, , , ,
Crunch time looms for Dickson parklands

There’s a long saga at play in Dickson in Canberra. Here’s the latest on this – click here.

and there’s more..

Continue reading ACT Government about to bulldoze a community site →

A Christian School and trees being removed

A DICKSON RESIDENT, Canberra, GOVERNANCE, opinions, parks, planning, trees, urban design, urban development, URBANITY, , ,
No punishment for felling trees on public land

a story of a Christian School corporation, their use of public lands and significant trees being removed. Here’s a link to my opinion piece in City News.

 

 

Labor’s mess, but where do the Libs stand on planning?

A DICKSON RESIDENT, Canberra, GOVERNANCE, opinions, politics, trees, urban design, URBANITY, , ,

The ACT Greens/Labor coalition government has a host of ministers who are making a mess of the planning and development of Canberra’s urban environments. The question asked by the community sectors is where do the ACT Liberals stand on these planning issues. Click here for my piece in City News on this topic.

Downer residents rally against development push

A DICKSON RESIDENT, bullying, Canberra, distraction, GOVERNANCE, green infrastructure, health & well being, parks, planning, urban design, urban development, URBANITY, , ,

You can tell when residents are hitting the government where it hurts – when the press coverage from the government turns to spin – and more spin.  There is no doubt that this is a response to the successes the pesky residents of Downer have had in getting attention through their brilliant “Don’t Dump on Downer” grassroots campaign. Click here.

West Basin blatantly a property deal

A DICKSON RESIDENT, bullying, Canberra, cultural landscapes, GOVERNANCE, heritage, Landscape, open space, opinions, parks, planning, politics, trees, urban design, URBANITY, , ,

With the Christmas release of the draft City and Gateway Urban Design Framework, the ACT Government’s City Renewal Authority undertook media advocacy during February for an apartment suburb on West Basin. The ACT Government continues with its proposal for West Basin against the opposition of the Canberra community – click here.

Give us this day our daily spin…

A DICKSON RESIDENT, Canberra, cycling, parks, planning, urban design, urban development, URBANITY, walking, , , ,

It is annoying to constantly experience the culture within this ACT government that delivers a daily onslaught of spin. Who writes this stuff? Don’t they realise how hollow they sound? What do they think this nonsense achieves? click here for my piece on this

Mischievous elves dump on Downer

A DICKSON RESIDENT, bullying, Canberra, GOVERNANCE, green infrastructure, housing, parks, planning, urban design, urban development, URBANITY, , , ,

THE ACT’s muddle-headed bureaucrats keep coming up with planning brochures laden down with alternate facts and marketing spin. Ministers then blindly sign letters to residents based on the bureaucrats’ gobbledygook and then wonder why people get upset. I wrote about what is happening in Downer in City News.

Planning shock: regulators say no to developers!

A DICKSON RESIDENT, Canberra, GOVERNANCE, legislation, planning, urban design, urban development, URBANITY, , ,

In Canberra how developers bend and get around planning rules is a common debate. The ACT Government has several ministers who mess around in planning and development – and all not good at it. See my City News article – click here.

How does the ACT planning minister keep his job?

A DICKSON RESIDENT, Canberra, GOVERNANCE, planning, urban design, urban development, URBANITY, , ,

Here in Dickson we have seen the disgraceful, long-running mess created by planning ministers and bureaucrats about the establishment of a second supermarket in Dickson. This mess is typical of how business is carried out under the current planning minister.

I wrote about this in City News – click here.

ACT Government ignores residents

A DICKSON RESIDENT, biodiversity, Canberra, climate change, open space, parks, planning, plants, solar, SUSTAINABLE SETTLEMENTS, trees, urban design, , , , ,

The ACT Government has a bad reputation in its dealings with residents and their concerns for the future of Canberra.

I have written about this topic in City News – here’s my piece – click here.

Signs of intrigue within the inner north

A DICKSON RESIDENT, Canberra, GOVERNANCE, green infrastructure, SUSTAINABLE SETTLEMENTS, trees, urban design, urban development, URBANITY, , , ,

First an update on the 2016-2017 ACAT appeal about the proposal to remove the carpark in front of Woolworths and to build an apartment and supermarket complex.

Continue reading Signs of intrigue within the inner north →

architecture

architecture, cities, urban design, URBANITY, , , ,
“Call us dull, call us sellouts, call us gentrifiers – just don’t call us copycats”

Our lust for originality is wrecking the city, delivering a rash of formally new but ultimately anti-urban hideous skyline baubles reducing city-making to a spectacle of super-size billboard branding gestures while inhibiting the multiplication of good ideas. Click here

New Garden Cities

biodiversity, cities, climate change, gardens, green infrastructure, Landscape, sustainability, SUSTAINABLE SETTLEMENTS, urban design, , ,

Competition winner: for new Garden Cities

 

It was announced in the UK that the winner of a competition has proposed that to deal with population growth that new cities should be built nearby established ones. These would be garden cities connected back to the older city by public transport.

 

_77363771_022536936-1

Continue reading New Garden Cities →

Featured Landscape Architect

biodiversity, climate change, design, green infrastructure, Landscape, landscape architecture, professions, sustainability, SUSTAINABLE SETTLEMENTS, urban design, , ,

Recommendation

Looking for a Landscape Architect in South Australia?

We highly recommend calling the great people at outerspace landscape architects

Click on the logo below for more. (or here)

outerspaceand I am sure that they could negotiate on any job elsewhere in Australia

Featured Landscape Architect

biodiversity, climate change, design, green infrastructure, Landscape, landscape architecture, open space, parks, planning, play, professions, sustainability, SUSTAINABLE SETTLEMENTS, urban design,

Recommendation

Looking for a Landscape Architect in Canberra?

We highly recommend a call to Harris Hobbs Landscapes.

Click on the logo below for more. (or here)

HHL GREEN

 

 

and I am sure that they could negotiate on a job outside Canberra.

 

 

the city and cyclists

cities, cycling, Place, SUSTAINABLE SETTLEMENTS, transport, urban design, walking,

re-posted from Gehl Architects:

The City and Cyclists

Their guest blogger reports:

Brussels – a city of cars, Amsterdam – a city of cyclists

By Devon Paige Willis
Devon is doing a Masters program called 4Cities, an Erasmus Mundus Masters that takes students from Brussels to Vienna, Copenhagen and Madrid to study cities. Gehl Architects met her when she was interning at the Montréal Urban Ecology Center in 2013.

Devon

Continue reading the city and cyclists →

Education in ecology and biodiversity

architecture, biodiversity, cities, climate change, design, education, GOVERNANCE, green infrastructure, health & well being, Landscape, landscape architecture, planning, professions, sustainability, SUSTAINABLE SETTLEMENTS, urban design, , , ,

The Nature of Cities

Education in ecology and biodiversity

If cities look to stay within their boarders, there is the need to seek acceptable ways to intensify the number of residents within the older suburbs. This requires an intelligent engagement with the present residents of suburban areas on a case by case basis.

Given the need to address climate change within the suburbs as they are being redeveloped and upgraded throws up a host of requirements that should have by now have been built into legislation. Sadly this is not so as most of the re-development and intensification as been left to laissez-faire market forces.

Continue reading Education in ecology and biodiversity →

Women and the city

cities, design, equity, GOVERNANCE, People, politics, SUSTAINABLE SETTLEMENTS, urban design, ,

Re-Posted from The Global Urbanist

A woman’s right to enjoy the city

Dealing with the overlooked issue in Urban Design, Women and the City. As part of our series on eliminating violence against women and girls in our cities produced in collaboration with the Huairou Commission, Mumbai architect Pallavi Shrivastava offers a personal reflection on how the threat of violence forces women not only to change our movements but also prevents us from enjoying our cities, and thus from helping to make them the cities we want them to be. click here for the full article.