Volume 5 Number 1 Home Page: http://www.vicnet.net.au/~tcpa/ March 1998

A number of TCPA members contributed to a submission in December to Environment Victoria suggesting amendments to their draft Charter for Public Transport.

Miles Lewis represented the TCPA at a Boroondara planning committee meeting to argue against the granting of a permit for a development in Bayview Avenue, Hawthorn East. The permit was refused.

Monday, March 30, 1998, 6.00 – 8.00pm, University of Melbourne, School of Architecture, Building and Planning.

Urban consolidation or intensification of our city is a complex issue and affects every citizen. The objective of this forum is to develop an understanding of the forces that are occurring in our society which are changing our suburban streets. This will provide the TCPA and others with feedback to develop an informed position on urban consolidation.

This forum is free and open to anyone who wants to think about this key issue. If you are attending please telephone:

David Rayson, Ph 9690 1575 Fax 9696 5941

Professor Patrick Troy, Research School of Social Sciences, Australian National University, will conduct a seminar in the Japanese Room, Faculty of Architecture, Building & Planning, University of Melbourne, at 1.00 pm, Tuesday 31st March.

Bring your lunch; tea and coffee provided.

The People's Committee for Melbourne is currently undertaking an important project which will be of interest to many TCPA members. Planning Practice ‘98 will document and present case studies of active involvement in planning by a range of community groups and organisations. The project, which focuses on lessons for Melbourne and Victoria, and potential change/ implementation strategies, will provide an important resource for individuals, community groups and organisations with an interest in planning and public involvement.

Mark Riley at the PCM office has been collecting case studies from a range of community groups and organisations which have been actively involved in a broad array of planning issues. On 19 February, a number of community groups presented their draft case studies during an interim workshop. The meeting provided an opportunity for attendees to present and discuss their case studies with members of the project’s steering committee and other group members.

The main project outcome is a Forum to be held in May, where groups will present their final case studies. This important event will bring together groups and organisations working on issues including planning policy, park protection, housing, transportation, to name a few. In addition to the forum, avenues for publication of the case studies are currently being sought. For further information about the project, please contact Mark at the PCM office on (03) 9326 8245.

The Secretary,

Town and Country Planning Association,

Box 312,

Collins Street West PO, Melbourne, Vic. 8007.

President: Dr Miles Lewis: 9419 6030 (ah) E-mail: lewis@architecture.unimelb.edu.au

Vice President: Ray Walford: 9817 4684 (ah) Email: r.walford@praxa.com.au

This was a very interesting and, given the range of international participation, surprisingly low-key conference on "environmental design" in the broadest sense.

About forty countries were represented, with significant numbers from the developing world.

The conference lasted four days, with four simultaneous sessions throughout (other than short morning plenaries), hence it is impossible to summarise the proceedings as a whole - the abstracts alone run to 130 pages! However, the four over all themes were:

• Climate, resources, materials and energy
• Environmental design: spaces, products and buildings
• Institutional and professional avenues for change
• Planning and land use: the big picture.

Speakers with some claim to fame (notoriety?) included: Paul Downton, Max Lindegger (permaculturist), Deborah White, Mark Diesendorf, Richard Register, Ian Kiernan and Norm Sanders.

In relation to planning, urban design and architecture, the conference tended to be somewhat heavy on theory - lots of great visuals and concept drawings - but rather light on practice, which reflects the fact that there is really not a huge amount out there on the ground in terms of "creative sustainability" in the built environment. Where speakers were able to present from real life examples, e.g. Richard Register and his "EcoCity Berkeley" experiences, or Brenda and Robert Vale on their "autonomous house" in the UK, there was great interest. We still have a long way to go ...

As readers will have seen in the daily press, over a thousand people filled the Hawthorn Town Hall for the public meeting of Save Our Suburbs on Tuesday 24 February. The political potential of this movement was demonstrated by the presence of members of parliament and a number of senior staff of the Ministry for Planning. Still more remarkably, SOS received a phone call from the Shadow Minister for Planning, Demetri Dollis, until now widely believed to be deceased.

Outside the hall were a number of clean-cut persons resembling Mormons in appearance and distributing an equally well-presented document entitled 'Your Street ... Your Say'. They stated that they belonged to an organisation called People for Good Government. By a remarkable coincidence, however, each one proved upon enquiry also to be a member of the Liberal Party.

The document turned out to be one originally published by the Department of Infrastructure, but had been printed off for this occasion at Liberal Party expense. The text was a puff for the (ironically named) Good Design Guide for Medium Density Housing, the very document which had given rise to the giant protest in the first place.

The meeting was addressed by a variety of speakers, including representatives of local action groups, who described their own current battles. Hundreds of those attending signed up for membership of SOS.

Since that day SOS has become an incorporated body, and has scheduled its first annual general meeting for 19 March. A president, office-bearers and committee will be elected at that meeting. Meanwhile a number of 'municipal representatives' have been appointed to liaise with local groups in their own areas, watch the local council, lobby, and so on.

An outline policy statement has been prepared so as to put at rest the claims of opponents that SOS is opposed to all development, and that its policies will increase the urban sprawl. On the other side a new developers' body called Planning for Development Excellence has been formed to squash the residential radicals.

Meanwhile the Minister has responded to SOS concerns by announcing five initiatives which purport to give councils and residents a greater say in planning decisions. However, there is no truth in the rumour that democracy is to be restored shortly in Victoria.