most of these papers have been published on LA-Papers
Darryl Low Choy
Looking after Country: landscape planning across cultures
Darryl Low Choy, Jenny Wadsworth and Darren Burns, Griffith University
A number of emerging planning paradigms are creating both exciting opportunities and interesting challenges for landscape planning practice. This presentation will examine the advent of “values led” planning approaches and the need to embrace the full range of community values especially indigenous landscape values as they relate to planning at the “landscape scale” in conventional region landscape planning undertakings.
This raises the question of whether contemporary landscape planning theory acknowledges indigenous landscape values alongside those values of the non-indigenous community. Are there any fundamental differences between these two cultural values sets when it comes to considering landscapes at the regional scale?
Drawing from recent and ongoing research by the authors (Low Choy, Wadsworth and Burns 2009), this presentation will consider the relevance of our current understanding of indigenous landscape values in South East Queensland for landscape planning undertakings. In particular, it will conceptualise the relationship between indigenous relationships to country and conventional non-indigenous landscape management initiatives. A full range of synergies and challenges exist within key indigenous landscape elements, such as traditional boundaries and pathways, spiritual landscapes and the role of totems in indigenous society.
In conclusion the presentation will discuss whether the indigenous paradigm of “Looking after Country” has its equivalence in contemporary planning practice. If so, does this allow us to facilitate “landscape planning across cultures”?
References
Low Choy, D.C., J. Wadsworth, and D. Burns. 2009. "Identifying and Incorporating Indigenous Landscape Values into Regional Planning Processes." Urban Research Program. Brisbane: Griffith University.
Greg Grabasch AILA, Principal of UDLA, Fremantle WA
Integrated Community Design - Connecting with Northwest WA Communities
Abstract: Presently the Pilbara and Kimberley communities are experiencing unprecedented change on the back of a booming abstractive industries market, complimented with the State Government’s regional directed royalty funding. Part of this funding recognises the need to provide greater human amenity within these remote towns to attract families and a stable workforce. Greg will present an overview of UDLA’s work and report on their teams ongoing learning’s and experiences especially within the understanding that developing regional contemporary communities continues to require integrated design and empowerment through design engagement. In addition robust solutions are often found between disciplines and LA’s being well placed to coordinate these findings.
Speaker profile: Greg is principal of UDLA, a small urban design and landscape architecture practice situated in Fremantle WA. In the past seven years the practice has been focused on remote community development, often including high indigenous populations, stressed housing conditions and a limited local capacity to improve its own outcomes, often caught in the churn of a short stay population.
UDLA’s design philosophy hinges on the understanding that the health of a community has a symbiotic relationship with how empowered participates are in improving their environment. Building local capacity includes having a say in changing their existing condition into a preferred one, or in other words engaging and empowering communities with integrated community design.
most of these papers have been published on LA-Papers
Amalie Wright AILA, Senior Associate, Hassell
Green Park, Brown Park, Future Park – the third wave of public park making
This paper draws together contemporary explorations in city park making, and proposes that a ‘third wave’ of public park making is emerging that will expand and enrich current approaches. This thinking is coalesced around five themes: linkages, amalgamations, obsolescences, co-locations and installations.
First wave Green Parks vary in form but share one purpose: to provide a place of refuge away from the everyday. Refuge is articulated by creating the park as a piece of nature; sanitised, well maintained, but undeniably not city. The desire for a park comes first, and the land needed for its establishment identified, often before a supporting population exists.
Opposingly, second wave Brown Parks are distinguished by their existence in locations where parkland use was neither contemplated nor planned. As cities have depleted their green landbanks, Brown Parks have emerged opportunitistically, on the parts of cities that have outgrown their previous role and usefulness.
Responding to contemporary complexities and contradictions of creating inclusive, accessible, resilient urban places demands more than two ways of making parks.
Recent explorations have coalesced around five broad themes:
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Linkages: city-scale initiatives linking disconnected land parcels to form continuous and varied parkland systems;
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Amalgamations: identifying parcels of land under different ownerships or uses for strategic acquisition and reconfiguration as parkland
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Obsolescences: assessing projected lifespans of existing and poorly functioning landuses and infrastructure that could be transformed;
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Co-locations: creating new parks in conjunction with other land use functions;
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Installations: exploring alternative typologies using temporary or seasonal parks.
Each approach requires both a particular insight into public space opportunities, and a collaborative, empowered regulatory environment to realise the potential benefits.
Beyond the singularity of ‘green’ or ‘brown’, this third wave exemplifies an increasing agility in responding to the urgent challenges of global urbanisation, mobility, changing demographic profiles, carbon dependency, resource depletion, and the disconnect between market and stewardship imperatives.
AndrewTurnbull AILA, Scott Carver, Sydney NSW
NEWCASTLE – A CITY IN TRANSITION
One of Australia’s oldest settlements, Newcastle has evolved from its colonial origins as a penal outpost into a national economic powerhouse based upon its coal and port infrastructure. Arguably, Newcastle is the nation’s most important city behind Sydney and Melbourne.
A unique combination of physical attributes and historical events has shaped the coastal City of Newcastle. A declining economic heart and urgent need for urban reinvestment is the driver for action – the tipping point.
This paper explores the role of landscape architecture in providing leadership, advocacy for change and a conduit for communication in reshaping the city. Complex layers of eco urban issues were unravelled and repackaged into a new Strategic Framework to guide future decision makers and investment.
Newcastle is a city that is climate vulnerable. It must adapt and invest into eco urban resilience and reconsider the viability of its service infrastructure in a new paradigm. Sea level rise, increased storm frequency and mine subsidence threaten the urban fabric, function and economy of the coastal city. The combined impacts of existing high water table, acid sulphate soils, storm water management and ailing green asset create a unique combination of challenges for the future.
Modifying the urban landscape character is a delicate community issue. Replacing and expanding the green infrastructure must also deliver eco benefit and be climate responsive. This is an inter-generational investment.
For the city to adapt, it must learn from its past, audit its current assets and liabilities and respond to new forces. The process requires strong leadership. Empowering and education of the community, stakeholders and government through active engagement is critical in advancing a shared city vision.
In 2009, The Newcastle City Council embarked on a “liveability” mandate to underpin the future planning and investment. The Hunter Street Revitalisation was identified as a catalyst project. Four strategic themes establish core principles for decision making: Enterprise, Integrated Transport, Greenways and People & Place, all being intrinsically linked.
The Hunter Street Revitalisation - Contextual & Strategic Framework documents (2010) challenged the very foundation of the cities planning and proposed transformational change that will redefine the city core. There is a window of opportunity whereby bold and visionary interventions are contemplated requiring innovative business partnerships and government sector alignment.
Understanding the physical constraints and consequences of climate change are confronting for decision makers, the community and civic leaders. The process has considered international benchmarking and applied current research and climate resilient theory. Application of adaptive 3D modelling communication tools are employed as a powerful medium in advocating consequential change.
most of these papers have been published on LA-Papers
Professor Jean Palutikof
Director
National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility (NCCARF)
Griffith University, Gold Coast Qld
The challenge of adapting to climate change: how will we live in a warmer world
NCCAF - the National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility - leading the research community in a national interdisciplinary effort to generate the information needed by decision-makers in government and in vulnerable sectors and communities to manage the risks of climate change impacts.
Professor Jean Palutikof is Director of the National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility at Griffith University. She took up the role in October 2008, having previously managed the production of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fourth Assessment Report for Working Group II (Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability), while based at the UK Met Office. (The Met Office is the UK's National Weather Service)
Prior to joining the Met Office, she was a Professor in the School of Environmental Sciences, and Director of the Climatic Research Unit, at the University of East Anglia, UK, where she worked from 1979 to 2004, and a Lecturer at the Department of Geography, University of Nairobi, Kenya, from 1974 to 1979.
Her research interests focus on climate change impacts, and the application of climatic data to economic and planning issues. She specialises in the study of changes in extreme events and their impacts, especially windstorm. She was a Lead Author for Working Group II of the IPCC Second and Third Assessment Reports. She has authored more than 200 papers, articles and reports on the topic of climate change and climate variability. Her proudest moment to date was attending the ceremony in 2007 at which the IPCC was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
Jon Shinkfield, Principal, AECOM
Reconnecting Living and Consumption
In these current and impending times of climate change and environmental degradation, our consideration of integrated and holistic approaches to localised production of energy, water, and food within the public urban realm is critical. It is our responsibility as landscape architects to create places that recapture these qualities that are often lacking in our contemporary urban environments, not just because of impending environmental issues but for reasons of health, social sustainability, and community survival.
It is no longer adequate to consider our cities in the absence of embedded thinking in natural systems. The two factors of living and consumption do not have to be separate. Urban and rural environments do not have to be divided.
Our vision for uses, densities, heights, and transport must be put forward in terms of health, energy consumption and production, water minimisation and reuse, social equity and inclusivity, adaptation and flexibility, as well as embedded thinking in natural systems, with those systems being part of a cycle for the production of energy and food.
So what will this urban future, this paradigm of sustainable urbanism, look like? In order to move forward, we must look into our histories to understand and apply their learnings. This paper will explore past and present examples and case studies from places in Australia and the Middle East – from early settlements in Oman to the emerging Masdar City in the UAE; and from indigenous communities in Western Australia to new sustainable precincts in Melbourne.
Throughout, the paper will explore the factors which support a ‘productive realm’, which when done effectively not only enhances the environment, but also results in a comprehensive economy and developed social structure within each community.
most of these papers have been published on LA-Papers
Allen Kearns, Theme Leader – Sustainable Cities and Coasts, CSIRO Climate Adaptation Flagship
Climate Adaptation Triggers for Transforming Urban Landscapes
Over the last two to three decades, climate change has developed from an emerging science and policy issue to a global and politically contested economic and cultural challenge. Climate change, like other global sustainable development issues, requires locally appropriate, timely and effective action everywhere. It’s also an intergenerational issue in that, without effective action, the consequences of climate change will be felt by future generations with more severity than our own. It’s also an equity issue in that the immediate and early consequences of climate change are not evenly distributed; for example, more vulnerable people and ecosystems in low-lying coastal and floodplain areas clearly suffered more in recent extreme weather events.
The scale and complexity of conceptualising and implementing effective local mitigation and adaptation responses to climate change will continue to challenge policy makers, policy implementers in local governments, businesses at risk, communities, design professionals and researchers. Recent large scale extreme weather events in Australia and elsewhere have shown the destructive potential and huge costs of recovery for people and their built environments. It will be debated whether these extreme events are due to natural climate variability or whether they are a clear indication of projected long term climate change. What is clear is that effective climate adaptation responses are needed and they will require reframing how we have built in the past and design that takes into account future climate scenarios.
The question to be explored in this presentation will be: “How can we best bring climate adaptation knowledge into effective policy implementation through the practice of transforming urban landscapes into more climate-adaptive built environments?” Landscape architects are well-placed professionally through their education and practice to not just contribute to this urban transformation but to drive its development. This will require broader engagement by landscape architects with multiple urban stakeholders beyond the traditional project boundary and a broader vision to transform urban landscapes into the low-carbon cities of the future.
Malcolm Snow, AILA, FRICS, Chief Executive Officer, South Bank Corporation, Queensland
The Power of Place
South Bank has, at various times, been described in phrases such as the ‘people’s place’ and ‘Brisbane’s big backyard’. It is an egalitarian precinct where suits and Speedos mingle easily in a variety of popular and eclectic landscaped settings.
In his presentation Malcolm Snow will distil what it has taken to achieve these enduring place qualities and what more is needed to realize the Corporation’s quest to be one of the truly great urban places in the world - a precinct defined by the extraordinary experiences it offers its millions of visitors.
Richard Brecknock, Brecknock Consulting
artform - transform
This paper will explore Transforming Urban Landscapes; Attitudes and Behaviours; Communities; and Practice from a cultural perspective and consider the role of the public artist as a contributor to the generation of built environments which as Kevin Lynch wrote,should not simply be “well organized, but poetic and symbolic as well”.
With a background as a practicing artist and over twenty years as a cultural planner and public art consultant the presenter will explore the question of poetics and symbolism in placemaking for our highly diverse communities. Examples will be provided in which contemporary artists are contributing to the transformation of public space and challenging community attitudes and values through their art practice.
Artwork can make a significant contribution to place through its aesthetic and narrative qualities. Artwork, such as Craig Walsh’s Classification Pending, in the Ipswich River Heart Parklands contributed to the transformative nature of the project and engaged the community in re-thinking their understanding of the Bremer River. In this work, artificial life forms appear to exist in the river as permanent residents. The artist projects 3D animated mythical creatures onto the surface of river in order to “engage local residents in developing and promoting a local mythology specific to this appearance of an unknown species”.
Projects such as Classification Pending demonstrate the potential for long term transformative engagements with the community and how many artists are using new technologies to interact with the environment and to simulate a wider range of programmable experiences than traditional permanent artforms. For example the redeveloped Southport Broadwater Parkland on Queensland’s Gold Coast, features an artwork by artist John Tonkin, titled Nervous System. This interactive electronic artwork communicates the life conditions of the parkland to its visitors and local community. The artwork consists of 20 units which feature a programmed light and sound interface that reacts to movement, light levels, sound and temperature within the parkland.
Finally the presentation will explore the changing nature of the relationship between artist and landscape architects. In light of the new ALIA Public Art and Landscape Policy it is an ideal time to consider ways of transforming the relationship and developing greater interdisciplinary collaborations between professionals in order to hasten both the evolutionary and revolutionary nature of art and landscape.
Brecknock Consulting has nineteen years of experience in the fields of public art. The company has completed a number of public art policies, has been involved as public art consultants on planning and design teams and has undertaken public art project management on large and small architectural and urban development projects.
most of these papers have been published on LA-Papers
Mark Fuller FAILA, Director of Design, AECOM
Signs of Life
Time transforms space, and the marks of past human activity provide a sense of perspective and scale to our existence. What can we do as designers to create the circumstances where one can exist, or grow into existence?
From hardscapes to wetlands, design should allow a place to evolve, change and mutate over time, and celebrate the unique character the passage of time gives to a place. This paper will explore some of the challenges of allowing spaces to evolve in response to the interrelationships between location, the effects of time and the social and cultural aspects of the public realm.
To be truly authentic, a place has to play a dynamic part in the lives and activities within the community. It has to engage with its community on functional, definitive and emotional levels. At the functional level, the space has to accommodate the population who are to use it and the anticipated activities, programmed and unprogrammed.
Secondly, the physical fabric must have a recognisable or definable form and expression. A place is not defined by the indeterminate shapes and spaces so often remaining after the essential infrastructure and built forms have been constructed.
Finally, to be truly authentic, spaces need to have emotional power. The emotional connection we have with great spaces is a product of many factors, most of which are unpredictable and need time to establish and balance. It cannot be achieved through editing out the risks, or warding against undesirable activities or persons.
We need to work with rather than against the passage of time. Rather than treating a project’s completion as a fait accompli, we need to manage the evolution of the space and embrace signs of life – dents and scratches, weathered pavements, the individual forms of trees. We should adopt systems of creative stewardship and ongoing design that will recognise and celebrate experience.
Tony Blackwell FAILA, Blackwell & Associates, Perth WA
TRANSFORMING THE SUBURBAN LANDSCAPE
Suburbia is often referred to as “sprawl”, and by some it is considered to be little more than an unsustainable blight on the landscape.
However, there are other contemporary thinkers who disagree with this opinion, arguing that our suburbs provide a useful role as the “lungs” of a city.
In reality the question of the role and value of our suburban hinterlands is far more complex than either of these simple analogies and we, as landscape architects, should be seriously considering if there is a sustainable alternative to housing our population and, if so, how can we take a significant role in the transformation of what would otherwise be sprawl into vibrant, walkable, more sustainable and/or self-sufficient, mixed-use neighbourhoods.
The planning context behind the push for change away from the typical residential monoculture of suburban development in the United States is being lead primarily by the New Urbanism / Smart Growth movements which arose as a direct result of concerns such as those expressed above.
The SmartCode is a “form-based code” that was drafted as a template for development incorporating Smart Growth and New Urbanism principles.
The basic premise behind Smart Code is derived from the ecological transect, something that all landscape architects would be familiar with. It is a highly systematized, contextually based, approach.
Most importantly the role of the landscape architect is paramount in the successful implementation of such projects. However, this aspect may not be readily apparent when first reading the Code.
Hence, this talk critically reviews a number of established examples of Smart Growth in the USA to see how successful these have been, focusing on the critical role that landscape architects have played in this process. Many of these developments commenced construction between 10-20 years ago and, accordingly, they provide reasonably ‘mature’ examples in which both the positive and negative attributes can be readily determined, ie ‘lessons learnt’.
Finally this talk considers how readily these US examples translate into the Australian context and how the SmartCode has been applied to a new project located in the NW Corridor in Perth, Western Australia - “Jindee”.
most of these papers have been published on LA-Papers
Tony Cox FAILA, Director CLOUSTON Associates Landscape Architects
Spaceshaper: Innovative Consultation and Collaboration for Creative Park Design
Open Space and Park design has long been a contested area of functional response and budgets versus creativity – with often mixed results. In addition, the management regime to which public open space inevitably succumbs critically limits the long term effectiveness of much initial design innovation and user enthusiasm.
To redress this sterile formula The Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE), a UK government agency, has developed a highly effective online software program that assists project planners and designers in the built environment to focus stakeholder consultation on better and more sustainable parkland results. It was launched as an online design tool in 2007 and is now delivering encouraging results for a new paradigm in park review, redesign and community satisfaction.
Spaceshaper brings together users and managers of a public space through site visits and questionnaires to identify its strengths and weaknesses and assess how well the space is meeting the needs of the different groups. The results are quickly processed and discussed in facilitated workshops, revealing a true picture of the space’s performance from a range of viewpoints. Importantly it provides the tool by which competing views and contested values can be brought to the fore and constructively assessed. This information can be invaluable to managers and planners seeking to improve the quality of the space and for those people that use it.
During early 2010 the CABE team came to Perth to provide accredited training on the licensed Spaceshaper program for 17 professionals from a range of agencies and consultancies across Australia.
This interactive session will draw on subsequent project experience in the application of the Spaceshaper program for local Government, and gives participants the chance to get a taste of the program and how it might be effectively applied to their own projects.
Joshua Zeunert AILA, Adelaide University
Eating the Landscape:
Aesthetic Foodscape Design and its role in Australian Landscape Architecture
This paper explores the relevance of ‘Aesthetic Foodscape Design’ (AFD) to current and future social and environmental challenges and argues for its integration into Australian landscape architectural design practice.
It focuses on contemporary research into the fields of AFD and sustainability, AFD's potential role, challenges to AFD's realisation and current project work.
AFD aims to contribute to overcoming the urban disconnection from growing food and also to increase awareness of food production and food systems. AFD seeks to create edible landscapes in highly visible public and civic locations and encourage ongoing participation in the growing and sharing of food. AFD sets out to embed edible plant species in the core planting palette of landscape architects and designers.
It calls for design and spatial exploration of edible plant species in landscape architectural practice. Ultimately, AFD endeavours to create aesthetic, edible, public spaces that delight users.
This paper is intended as a general introduction to raise many of the relevant challenges to implementation of AFD encompassing aesthetics, risk, knowledge, process and maintenance. AFD, if successfully realised, provides potential environmental, social, economic and health benefits to participants and to the wider sphere.
This paper aims to briefly capture a divergent range of areas and does not cover the aforementioned areas in detail but rather presents a general introduction in an Australia urban design context.
