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September 2015 September Issue No. 104 Issue new planner the journal of the New South Wales planning profession Planning for Places What is placemaking? | Creating people-centred cities Community engagement | Digital placemaking evolves Awards for Planning Excellence GALA DINNER Wednesday 11th November 2015 AWARDS FOR PLANNING Doltone House, Hyde Park, Sydney EXCELLENCE 2015 TO REGISTER: www.planning.org.au/awards/nsw Place Making Consultancy CURRENT PROJECTS Gladesville DCP Amendments North Sydney Public Domain Review Optus Campus Strategy Gold Coast Chinatown Retail Guide urban design | planning | engagement place making | activation | branding | marketing | measurement | training PLEASE CONTACT US Phone | +61 (2) 8065 7401 Email | [email protected] Web | www.placepartners.com.au 2 | SEPTEMBER 2015 | newplanner This Issue contents Guest Editorial 4 CONTACT President’s Message 6 General Enquiries Suite 404, Level 4, 32 York St, Sydney NSW 2000 Executive Officer’s Report 7 T: 02 8904 1011 E: [email protected] New Planner Planning Perspectives 8 E: [email protected] W: www.planning.org.au/news/new-planner-nsw From the Minister 9 CONTRIBUTIONS PlannerTech 10 The New Planner contributor guidelines are available at: www.planning.org.au/news/new-planner-nsw How place-oriented planning can create 11 Expressions of Interest to write an article or opinion people-centred cities piece for the December 2015 issue should be emailed to [email protected] by Monday 14th September. There’s no place like home 14 NEW PLANNER EDITORIAL TEAM Mind the gap! Rethinking public transport as a 16 Managing Editor valuable public space Andrew Wheeler, UNSW Australia Lead Editor (September 2015 Issue) In the Courts 18 Laura Wynne, UTS Associate Editors NSW Young Planners 19 Elle Clouston, HillPDA Camille Lattouf, Architectus Planning as a social art form 20 Rose Saltman, RM Planning Ken Shepherd What do Australia and England have to learn from 22 Alice Strömstedt, Hames Sharley each other regarding community engagement in planning? PIA Staff Maurene Horder, NSW Executive Officer Successful centres: protecting Sydney’s long-term productivity 24 Amanda Maskill, NSW PD & Events NSW Consulting Planners 26 COVER Clovelly Road Better Block Healthy Built Environments 28 (Photo: Andrew Wheeler) Norton Rose Fulbright Review 30 SUBSCRIPTIONS New Planner is available on subscription to non-members The Inbox 31 of PIA at a cost of $88 per annum, GST inclusive. Email: [email protected] International Snippets 32 The views expressed in New Planner are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Planning Institute of Australia. Copyright for all images belongs to the respective article Stay up to date with the latest news from author(s) or the Planning Institute of Australia unless otherwise noted. New Planner. Follow us today! @pia_newplanner www.linkedin.com/in/newplanner See our advertising rates and guidelines on our website Want to reach your target www.planning.org.au/news/new-planner-nsw or audience? contact us [email protected] / 02 8904 1011 to discuss the attractive advertising and sponsorship Advertise in New Planner opportunities on offer. ISSN 1324-8669 PP a233-867-00015 newplanner | SEPTEMBER 2015 | 3 public information sessions. Sydenham to Bankstown Corridor Study The Guest Editorial The evolution of placemaking – what’s next? Kylie Legge MPIA, Director, Place Partners Norberg-Schulz defines the genius loci as our main streets, mixed-use developments What exactly is placemaking and what a thing or place is and also what it and even malls were left with gaping how can it help create, enhance and wants to be, and reflects the focus of the first vacancies, a degraded public realm and, in manage places that are attractive era of placemaking – that is, delivering place turn, fewer people spending time and money character, identity or meaning. in them. There were many problems and little and meaningful to people? money for large-scale capital improvement Community participation works or economic programs to fix them. The second key period in the history of Economic revitalisation Strangely, considering the current trend placemaking occurred in the mid-20th toward placemaking across a wide array century, and centred on New York and the This third era is where the promise of of community, economic and design work of community activist Jane Jacobs placemaking has come into its own as a professions, defining placemaking has not and urbanist William Whyte. This period relatively low-cost process that involves been high on the agenda. Like a mirage, represents the birth of contemporary local people engaging in the revitalisation definitions can change to reflect the desire of placemaking. It catalysed a move from the of local places. This process aims to share the protagonist, and this is why placemaking macro planning of cities via infrastructure- responsibility, build connections between is attractive to so many. oriented development, to the micro people and local places and, of course, build environments of communal activity and Despite this, most people would agree that and sustain local economies. The third era of relationships. From the professional to the placemaking is about delivering at least placemaking has truly begun. personal, whether that was the community one, or perhaps all three, of the following 3 activism led by Jacobs to save Manhattan’s In 2010, the Knight Soul of the Community objectives: place character, community unique villages, or Whyte’s commitment to research was released and, what for many participation and economic revitalisation. It creating urban public spaces that allowed for had been intuitive, now became definitive. is, then, perhaps no coincidence that these social interaction, the focus of placemaking Place attachment – how loyal a person is objectives reflect the history of placemaking, during this period was on community to their place – is a direct result of three as well as its evolution. participation, both in planning and activation factors: (1) how welcoming the place is to Place character of public spaces. a diversity of people; (2) aesthetics – the look and feel of the place; and (3) social Any consideration of placemaking begins At the turn of the century, professional activities – what the place offers in terms of with an understanding of what place placemaking was still on the periphery, opportunities to connect with other people. is and why it is valued as an objective. not widely known, understood or utilised. Place can define a location, a personal However, the foundations of placemaking – This research proved that place attachment relationship to an environment, or act as a collaboration, the experience economy, place is real and, more importantly for many critics, re-presentation of the spirit of the land and branding and the re-localisation movement that there is a measurable economic benefit our unspoken communion with it. In the – were gaining greater acceptance. Then, associated with it. The research showed that simplest terms, ‘place is a space that has in late 2008, came the tipping point: a places that have higher levels of attachment a distinct character’.1 At its most complex, global financial crisis that, on the back of also have higher levels of GDP growth and it embodies the essence of a location, its growth in Internet shopping, changes to economic resilience. Put simply, people who community, spiritual beliefs, stories, history consumer values and increased competition, were connected to local places were more and aspirations. 2 This essence or sense fundamentally changed the way our urban likely to shop locally and support fellow of place is its genius loci, its ‘place-ness’. centres function. The result was that many of community members in their businesses. 4 | SEPTEMBER 2015 | newplanner At home In Australia, the economic benefit of placemaking has been a key driver behind the growth of the profession and the uptake of its editorial principles across a range of disciplines. The key objective of most placemaking projects today is to create places that people want to spend time and money in, whether that be meeting friends, buying a coffee, attending a festival or purchasing a new home. At Place Partners, our definition of placemaking is ‘the collaborative process of creating, enhancing and managing people focussed places that reflect and respect the unique qualities of each location’. This definition aims to be both a process diagram for our work and a synthesis of placemaking history, theory and best practice. It considers the uniqueness of each location, the values and aspirations of the community and it does not discount the economic rationale behind many of our projects. In fact, understanding the value proposition of any placemaking work is fundamental, whether the goal is to deliver economic, social, cultural or physical improvements. The defining aspect of what we call strategic placemaking – particularly in the built environment arena – is that real benefits come from the process, not the outcome. This is a massive shift for an industry primarily focussed on delivering product – and one that it is still struggling with. The risks inherent in product-focussed versus process-focussed placemaking are substantial. While ‘pop ups’ and other similar urban trends are transplantable, they are not always sustainable. ‘Quick wins’ are attractive, particularly to governments, as they are relatively easy to deliver at low cost and show that something is happening. However, they can also be a waste of precious resources, a way to avoid engagement and a distraction from the main game – that is, providing a tactical stepping stone to long-term solutions, particularly to structural or systems-based problems. This is where the planning profession has the opportunity to engage positively with the placemaking movement, not only by creating tools to support the creation of places that people value, but also in the collaborative Before and After, Lyons Road Corner, Drummoyne, Sydney.