200
Mile City
MERGING CITIES THREATEN LANDSCAPE & LIFESTYLE
The distinctive regional landscape and urban identity of Australia’s
eastern seaboard is under threat of being overwhelmed by metropolitan
sprawl, for example a South East Queensland ‘mega-city’ stretching
from Noosa to the Tweed River.
Sustainable
development and ‘the
200 mile city’ was the central issues at The Australian Institute
of Landscape Architects (AILA) National Conference held in
Brisbane from September 28
to October 2
in 2004.
The
conference titled, ‘200 mile city… designing
a sustainable urban future’, put sustainable urban planning
on the agenda, addressing the issue of merging cities, the social
and environmental costs, and creative
and sustainable responses to these challenges.
Urban
conglomerates are in evidence in many parts of Australia, the
broader Asia Pacific
region and throughout
the world. Even where a capital city ‘core’ is buffered
from satellite towns and commuter suburbs by green belts, modern
transport, media and communications
are effectively creating integrated mega-cities.
At
the AILA Conference, national and international leaders
presented papers on new city forms, new approaches to the
environment
and new collaborative
partnerships, as well as a range of ‘best practice’ projects
The
region surrounding Brisbane and Moreton Bay, which is justly
famous for its biodiversity, scenery, tourist attractions and ‘liveability’,
is a great example of the issues we face. Environmental resources
and social values are at risk from the infrastructure, suburban
sprawl and widespread ‘sameness’ associated
with rapid urban growth. The likely future scenario is an urban
conglomerate spreading hundreds of kilometres, subsuming smaller
communities and demanding
ever-greater resources for its ‘footprint’.\
Author
Deyan Sudjic alerted the planning and design professions and
social commentators to these world-wide trends in 1992 with
his book “The 100
Mile City”, and it appears that his predictions are being realised
in coastal south-east Queensland. Current growth rates and development
trends
threaten to overwhelm traditional planning and control approaches,
and new responses are required.
As
growth and sprawl threaten to envelope some of Australia’s
most valuable assets – its coastal landscape, natural
environment, open spaces and local communities – we need
new ways of developing and integrating city forms. Landscape
architects are part of a successful team approach which make
our cities liveable and legible.
To
maintain quality of life in our large cities,
developers, planners, governments and landscape architects are
addressing these issues now.
Alan Chenoweth
