Post 9

How to make a Town

Andres Duany, Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, and Jeff Speck

The reading this week focused on the interactions within a community. When understanding all these elements of mixed- use development, regional considerations, connectivity, site utilisation, the discipline of the neighbourhood, transit, streets, buildings, and parking an informed decision can be then made in planning for that community.

I found the reading this week to be highly practical and useful in the real world. In comparison previous reading have been highly theoretical based and not as focused on the practical aspect of planning. With a lack of understanding of these elements as well as at a local level planners cannot possible produce the best outcome for that community.

 So far as students we have been thinking of solutions to problems in an ideal world. This chapter forces more thought of constraints and real world problems that we will face in the industry. I think this chapter is one of the most important readings so far as it is an outline of what is expected of planners to consider and act on accordingly.

The concepts of this chapter are taken place in an Australian context. Although it is not only the planning attitudes and implementation which need to change but the communities attitude towards a more compact community of high density, mixed use, smart design and less automobile use. To achieve a more ‘sustainable’ community the society has a whole has to change.

Post 8

Master Planning

Charles M. Haar

For a good master plan to implemented it must follow the frameworks in order for it to be useful for community and city. Good master planning is not left up to a planner deciding what they think is the best for the community, but must involve all stakeholders to participate in the process. A workable master plan is one that can be adapted and easily changed as the city changes and so does its needs.

When looking at the University of Canberra Master plan there is a clear focus on the future of the campus. It includes educated assumptions as to population increase as to cater for the extra students. Planners have to have intuitive and research skills to plan ahead for such changes. An example of this can be seen by Sir Walter Burley Griffin in his plans for Canberra as he understood that the city would grow and designed the city for approximately 250 000-300 000 people. Clearly in 1911 there was not a need for this number of people but Griffin understood that it was crucial to plan for the future.

Master planning is not a perfect system of planning but is the closest we have as it is a workable framework that can be implemented and made into policy. It is a tool used to better a city. Without a Master planning how can a city really develop, if the community is not being consulted and there is not interaction between stakeholders?

Post 7

Pluralistic Planning for Multicultural Cities

Mohammad A. Qadeer

We see in this week the reading focuses on Vancouver, Canada as the case study of multiculturalism as it is an example that confirms how different peoples can coexist harmoniously. In observing Vancouver it can be compared to an Australian context of Sydney and Melbourne. Although from the reading it highlights what the Australian society could improve on in terms of its attitudes towards multiculturalism.

 I thought that the city of Vancouver must have a larger population than Sydney to have the facilities that it provides for its citizens. I was surprised to find that Vancouver has a population of approximately 600 000 which is smaller than Sydney of 4.5 million. My initial thought was how can Sydney cater to all peoples as it is a small city relative to the world scale? As shown Vancouver is able to provide for cultural diversity with a smaller population. Although Vancouver is smaller than Sydney the overall population of Canada is approximately 35 million and Australia is approximately 22 million. Therefore Canada has greater resources overall to allocate towards a more inclusive society. I think that as Canada has developed this multicultural society over time it has become more effortless to maintain than it is for the Australian society to make a real start towards this issue.

As an Australian society we the general public are consistently hearing that we are a multicultural society, but are we really that inclusive? The word is used frequently by politicians as no one wants to be politically correct, but is it just used to for the sake of political correctness?

Planning for a multicultural society is a fantastic concept in an ideal world, but as we do not live in an ideal world we cannot possibly cater to all in society. I guess the difference between a narrow minded planner and a well rounded planner is the one who attempts to serve all members of the society as best they can.