Introduction
The Sustainable Future Program is a three year initiative of the ACT Planning and Land Authority (ACTPLA) to develop planning policy for more sustainable living.
Devised and directed by the multidisciplinary Design Policy team and led by a senior landscape architect, the program will influence Canberra’s future urban forms and landscapes, aiming to make them more sustainable. It recognises geographic, social and cultural factors such as diversity, integrity and spirituality while drawing on the inherent qualities of Canberra.
The program uses applied research and community engagement (consultation) to influence planning policy. As a discipline, landscape architecture can have a significant contribution on human interactions with the natural and man-made environments.
The Design Policy team was responsible for researching issues for the workshops, selecting speakers, arranging the workshops and subsequently producing the report and analysing the findings.
The program is innovative in its intention to give the community the opportunity to shape ACTPLA’s future policy from the outset. This is particularly important given the move towards a more sustainable world may involve significant long-term shifts in everyday life practices and attitudes. Significant research combined with public engagement has not generally underpinned high quality, effective urban planning in Australia.
Phase one of the program was a series of research papers presented at workshops on the topics of energy, water, transport and communication, landscape, culture and knowledge, and economics and governance. The workshops consisted of expert speakers and stakeholders, with each workshop having between four and six speakers selected for their expert knowledge of the subject area and their ability to stimulate discussion. The use of scientists and other experts, including a landscape architect, to present at the workshops was to ensure a shared understanding of the breadth of the issues as well as embrace the interlinked aspects of the topics and explore the wide range of community views and suggestions.
The research and subsequent workshops had a strong interdisciplinary focus that engaged the community and stakeholders to scope the issues for climate change and sustainability from the outset, with a clear path for feedback.
Following the workshops, the Sustainable future Workshop findings report was produced in an online and printed form. The report documents the discussion process, synthesises the issues and provides a proposed direction to address the input from participants. This was accompanied by a questionnaire and web site hyperlink for comments, and made available at local libraries and government shopfronts for three months additional public comment.
The major findings were that the community:
- wants multi-faceted solutions (crossing over workshop topics) implemented across sectors and with strong intergovernmental collaboration
- wants revision of the Territory’s planning instruments (e.g. Codes and Spatial Plan), to take account of current research and information
- identified the barriers to change are outmoded thinking and inappropriate resourcing
- identified the most important sustainability issues are population, urban design/innovation and sustainable behaviour/reducing consumption
- identified the highest priorities in planning for climate change water scarcity, biodiversity and bushfires.
In 2010, the collective consultation findings will inform the evaluation of the Canberra Spatial Plan and subsequent planning documents to address the wide ranging changes called for in the program’s Phase One.
introduction / overview / web site / presentation / Projects
2010
