Australia Needs to Build Back Better, not Build Back Same

The Australian Institute of Landscape Architects (AILA) acknowledges the increased focus on sustainability and the development of regional and rural Australia in Infrastructure Australia’s 2021 Infrastructure Plan.

However, AILA strongly advocates for the inclusion of Urban Green Infrastructure in both the Plan and future Infrastructure Priority Lists.

“Urban Green Infrastructure (UGI) can no longer be a nice to have, it needs to become a MUST have” AILA CEO Ben Stockwin said.

“Many of the projects on the Infrastructure Priority List are submitted with significant UGI components, but these are often the first to be cut, the victim of inevitable budget blowouts. What we are left with can be inhospitable concrete jungles with massive carbon footprints, limited biodiversity, and greatly increased surface temperatures.”

AILA argues that the mandated inclusion of UGI targets on priority projects are cost-effective, easily implemented, and a practical way to assist with:

• Meeting the Government’s emissions targets and associated international commitments
• Reducing and offsetting the considerable carbon footprint of the concrete and steel used in infrastructure
• Preserving and enhancing biodiversity through habitat restoration, ecological corridors, and urban landscapes and public realm
• Mitigating the effects of increased urban heating through the cooling effects of well design urban forest canopy, gardens, green walls, roofs, and facades
• Increasing mental and physical health outcomes in a post-COVID world.

“Building Back Better must mean just that” AILA President Claire Martin said. “The future design of climate resilient cities and regions must learn from and improve on the mistakes of the past. Without the inclusion of a significant focus on UGI in the 2021 Australian Infrastructure Plan and future priority lists, all we will see is Building Back Same.”

AILA will shortly be releasing a fuller response to the plan which will include detailed recommendations for the Government’s next Statement of Recommendations to Infrastructure Australia.

CONTACT: Ben Stockwin, AILA CEO