Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Table 9.2
Vision priorities from the Dialogue for the City process in Perth, 2003
Strong local communities (city of villages)
Clean, green city
Urban growth boundary
Connected, multi-centred city
Reduced car dependence - better public transport, especially more rail, better local
bike/walk and integrated transport/land use
Housing diversity (more options)
Access to city services for all
Source: Dialogue for the City process, Perth 2003 (www.dpi.wa.gov.au/dialogue).
Whenever the public are asked their views they tend to be very keen on
the idea of sustainability, particularly new public transport options. For
example, a government agency survey in Perth showed that 78 per cent of
people wanted transport investment to be for sustainable transport and 87
per cent said that it could come out of road funds.
In all Australian cities there are the beginnings of deliberative democracy
approaches to planning. In local areas tools such as Design Charettes (inten-
sive integrated design workshops) are now common to help generate local
visions for thorny planning issues. And there are new techniques for strate-
gic planning such as Citizen Juries, Delphi techniques and Backcasting from
Scenarios. A deliberative democracy approach to planning the city was held
in Perth, called 'Dialogue for the City', involving some 1200 people in an
exercise to set out what they wanted to see prioritised in the city over the
next 30 years (www.dpi.wa.gov.au/dialogue). As Table 9.2 shows most of the
visions highlighted in this chapter were the public's preferred future.
There can be little lost from greater public participation in the transition of
Australian cities towards sustainability. Indeed a case can be made that the
public is likely to be more forthright about the necessary changes than the
bureaucracies that have grown up based around car dependence and inade-
quate consideration of ecological innovation. The issues to do with the inten-
sity of development seem likely to be the most contentious, but even here the
public can see why it is needed if it is explained and if true 'common good' out-
comes are seen to be associated with the results. Engaging the public in issues
such as where people live, the way they move around and the nature of their
dwellings is essential if sustainability outcomes are to be achieved.
