Smarter Cities and Smarter Living

We need to be smarter in order to grow sustainably. While the state government is ramping back on spending, telling us that it's great to be in surplus, have we forgotten that there can also be "good debt", that is investing in soft infrastructure? Future proofing our cities by investing in technology, innovative design and higher education can transform regional cities and provide them a strong competitive advantage. We have schools, education, heritage and open space, but we also have disengaged youth and fractured society. Infrastructure is more than roads, bridges and east-west tunnels, it's about innovation, hubs, tethering technology to make us mobile and more productive. As highlighted in a recent Urbanist podcast, Cisco Systems believe that connected communities are the future, and ultimately the smarter cities. Being connected is the price of admission, what you do on top of this in terms of innovation and bringing public private partnerships together to deliver better services, from paying rates on-line to having open forums and free wi-fi in public spaces. That way we spend less time doing the things we don't enjoy like paying registrations in a queue at VicRoads and spend more quality time and energy on other things. We are time and space bound at the moment, by "teching up" we can take the space-bound out and the time out - simple things that are minor irritants can be removed, allowing us to enjoy our city more. I have seen innovative projects such as the Nicholson, by Places Victoria that have motivated my thinking about collaborative mixed use development, providing private and key worker housing, retail and place management solutions to our ever increasing shortage of affordable housing. A penny for your thoughts Ballarat - Civic Hall perhaps?

Ballarat Planning 'Best' in Victoria

Local government planning and planners alike are often 'under the pump' and have to negotiate staff turnover, varying degrees of application quality and constant communication with residents, developers, Councillors and anyone that wants to be heard. In the face of this and some challenging times, a report presented to the City of Ballarat this week revealed that the Ballarat planners are processing at a faster rate than regional and metropolitan Councils.

What makes this even more impressive is the fact that the Ballarat planners undertake mediation on every application subject to an objection. Some would argue that this slows the system down, yet the recent facts suggest otherwise. Perhaps it's down to a matter of good planning, and keeping people informed. You don't have to agree with every decision, but it's important to understand the thinking behind it. Well done.

Below is the press release:

A report presented to the City of Ballarat’s Ordinary Council Meeting last night revealed that planning applications in Ballarat are being processed faster than regional and metropolitan councils.

In sharp contrast to the average processing rate for metropolitan councils at 64% within 60 days and regional councils at 70%, the City of Ballarat processed 95% of all applications within 60 days in December 2011.

For the final quarter of 2011 Ballarat‘s clearance rates for planning applications were 20% greater than that of regional and metropolitan councils.

Mayor of Ballarat, Cr Mark Harris said Council’s planners are to be congratulated for improving processing times to this extent.

“Residential and commercial builders can build in Ballarat with greater certainty that planning applications will be processed within 60 days. We’re reducing delays and uncertainty for local builders and developers”.

In November and December 2011, the City of Ballarat issued building permits to the value of $34 million. The figure was tabled in the Planning & Building Activity Report November and December 2011, approved at Council’s Ordinary Meeting on 8 February 2012.

Cr Judy Verlin said the latest Planning & Building Activity Report is a reflection the hard work of City of Ballarat’s Planning Department.

“Ballarat is a busy, growing city and we congratulate Council’s dedicated planning team for diligently and responsibly handling the increasing number of permit applications in the city. Our staff are a ‘can do’ team who are committed to dealing with each application fairly and in a timely manner, as well as improving decision time performance,” said Cr Verlin.

“This achievement is all the more extraordinary because Ballarat’s Planning team undertake mediations on every application that is subject to an objection. Ballarat is one of the few Victorian Councils to mediate on every application”.

In November and December 2011, the City of Ballarat completed 173 Town Planning Applications and 37 Building Permits.

Manchester – City or United?

For many Manchester is a city of two football teams and little else. Having visited recently as a part of a Study Tour, I thought it would be interesting to share some of my own observations and learning from Britain’s largest regional city. My grandmother emigrated from Salford in Manchester, which provided a personal interest in the city as well. This blog briefly outlines some city central initiatives linked to sporting investment, public housing projects in Manchester as well as highlighting the need to stick to long term strategy.

In 1951 the population of Manchester’s metropolitan district was over 700,000, by 2001 this had dropped to around 420,000, due to the oversupply of Victorian terraces, decentralisation policy and economic decline of its traditional manufacturing industries. The urban redevelopment initiatives of the early 1970’s also left a lot to be desired, creating significant issues around social exclusion, cycles of poverty and general decay of certain areas. By 2011 this was on the increase again, reaching 498,000.
Very much built on the boom of the manufacturing and industrial revolution, Manchester has gone through significant transformations in the past twenty years in its central and eastern areas. Jim Chapman, who spoke to the study tour group, is the Emeritus Professor at the Manchester School of Architecture and he outlined that, ironically, the IRA bomb in 1996 in the town centre was the beginning of a 20-25 year regeneration strategy for the city. In many ways it was the catalyst - there were no deaths, only superficial damage except to a rather bleak 1970’s enclosed concreted mall that was obliterated. (Were there planners involved?)

Since that time Manchester has experienced rapid and then steady growth as a thriving regional city. In 1993, the UK government funded the return of trams to the CBD, a major public transport initiative. In addition, the city prepared 5 Strategic Generation Frameworks that over the last decade that has lead to an influx of higher education institutions, an up-skilling of the workforce and an international airport. Extensive city modelling has been undertaken that graphically illustrates every property in the CBD in 3D form, a very impressive project being run and monitored by ARUP on behalf of the city and developers, who all use the same base data when proposing new applications.

One element that I found quite interesting was the impact of sports on the city. Regeneration initiatives and investment boomed for the delivery of the 2002 Commonwealth Games, and between the two major football teams City and United a significant amount of investment flows across Manchester.

Piccadilly Gardens is an interesting case study to highlight the impact of Commonwealth Games funding. Located in the heart of the city, from 1755-1910 it was the site of the Manchester Royal Infirmary, then demolished and left as open space. This became run down and over time increasingly unsafe as it housed a poorly designed bus station and works depot. As part of the ongoing regeneration of the city centre and Commonwealth Games funding, the Council ran an international design competition to revitalise the area.

Significant funding in the order of £ 10 million was provided and the design by EDAW included new open space and one of the largest walk-through fountains in the world. New pavilions and real time technology were installed to make the bus interchange efficient and safe and it was completed in time for the Games. The flow on from recreating the space was significant. On-going investment in the immediate area including numerous commercial developments have been built over the past decade.

The recurring theme in the Manchester visit from various speakers and authorities was that the key to city renewal is long term partnerships, both public and private. Governments sticking to committed strategies have led to vital and important game changing developments for the city.

Manchester East
The other major sporting related rejuvenation has been in Manchester East, that has seen the bulk of its transformation in the last 10 years led by the moving of Manchester City Football Club into the stadium built for the Commonwealth Games (now known as Emirates Stadium). Coinciding with this was the club being purchased by the Abu Dhabi Royal Family, and along with it a significant amount of developable land in excess of 50 hectares. New tram-lines and metro stations have also been built. Given significant cuts to public housing budgets, the football club and its land holdings offer the potential partnership opportunities with Council and Development Agencies for future provision and possible funding. The challenge will be to stem the wishes of the football club (such as building a Casino in return for land exchange) in check. .
The rise of the football club and its fortunes has also led to a rise in the East generally. The New East Manchester Ltd regeneration project company has three part owners – the Council, the Homes and Communities Agency and the North West Regional Development Agency. (www.east-manchester.com) This innovative Public Private Partnership has built over 5000 homes, 3 schools and significant amount of office space. Its agenda is based on transforming the most blighted pre-1919 housing stock and replacing with sustainable housing that is also affordable.
The suburb of Moss Side was the previous location of Manchester City's stadium at Maine Road which has since been demolished and a mixed development of 2,3 and 4 bedroom houses, flats, a health centre and a primary school has been built on the site. It is made up of an ethnically diverse population, and the affordability model used here through a £ 17m Council-led regeneration project. This includes 64 Victorian Terrace Houses that have been renovated and converted with strong eco and sustainability measures. Manchester City’s relocation opened up this land for redevelopment and regeneration, importantly the team stayed in the same area.

The model for ownership as 70% contributed by the owner (and their bank!) with 30% of the equity retained by the Council which can be bought without interest at a later date, or held by the Council on any resale. It was sold out at the time of inspection last April.

Manchester is a tough city. Resilient, and not necessarily welcoming on first inspection, but dig beneath the surface and it’s a regional city standing up to be counted in its provision of public realm, housing and making it a better place to live. It has a strong history in the birth of heavy manufacturing, the worlds first railway station, the arts, popular music (Factory Records, Stone Roses, Oasis and The Chemical Brothers) and more recently it has risen to prominence on the back of Manchester United in the global sporting market. This has then led to the purchase and rise of Manchester City.
Now significant funding and money is going into the historic Town Hall buildings in the centre of the city. The heart. Transforming two iconic listed buildings into twenty-first century civic and cultural spaces is a project unlike any other currently underway in the UK, and another sign that Manchester is still moving in the right direction. These were also based on long term strategy, and phased implementation that has been adhered to. A rarity compared to some Councils in our system that revamp “long term” strategy every electoral cycle. Manchester is a city worth a visit, try and do so during the football season for a truly remarkable experience of how much a city rides the wave of expectation!

"By no stretch of the imagination is Manchester a picturesque city. It is however, emphatically if unconventionally beautiful. In common with all things beautiful...It is fundamentally flawed. It has a compulsion to preen and show off. It is narcissistic, contrary and wayward, and yet you cannot help but love it. It is both admirable and maddening."

From "Change and Contradiction" by Chris Lethbridge, Diverse City 1994.

World Town Planning Day

Happy World Town Planning Day!

Planning is in the news now more than ever. It's connections to multidisciplinary fields of architecture, landscape, urban design, traffic and consultation have never before been so dependent on each other. Which makes communication between professions critical to achieve well rounded outcomes.

Planners have the skills to understand and decipher the work and outputs required to enable the best results.

Run Melbourne

Thanks to all that sponsored me in Run Melbourne, raising over $1100 for Ballarat Cancer Research Centre. A solid time of 54.00 on the nose for 10kms was very satisfying.

Events are a great indicator of cities and their vibrancy. Having taken part in Run Melbourne recently, it was a showcase of a proud city with a history of great event hosting, from Olympic and Commonwealth Games to family events such as Moomba. Events of all kinds and scale can galvanise and strengthen how communities feel about place and a sense of giving. Well done to the organisers. Event hosting should not be underestimated for their economic input and values, as long as the price you pay to host them doesn't outweigh the overall net benefits.

A new Civic Heart for Ballarat

A project Davis Planning has been involved with on behalf of the City of Ballarat is the concept design of a new Civic Plaza for Ballarat. Convic Design have put together the concept, based on findings from the CBD Strategy where it was identified that the CBD needed an area for people to gather, take time out, celebrate and enjoy just being in the city. It is scheduled to go to exhibition in October.

Civic Hall

We've moved office. In to the heart of the Ballarat CBD.

Always a stressful time, thankfully not too bad for once. A lot is happening in Ballarat at the moment and in planning in general. The time for debate on design what this era of planning and design leaves for our future generations has never been more important.

Recent debate on the future of the Civic Hall site in Ballarat is a case in point. The link below is an interesting editorial in the Courier, Ballarat's newspaper on the matter. Stay tuned.

www.thecourier.com.au/news/local/news/news...civic-hall/1945459.aspx