Five things town planners must remember

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own planners need to consider five things in descending order when laying out or designing a community.

First, every allowance and convenience must be made for the pedestrian; second, similar consideration must be given to the cyclist; third, public transit systems need to be integrated with both pedestrians and cyclists; fourth, there need to be many and generously sized green public spaces and fifth, and last, the planner needs to think about the motorist.

People, regardless of socio-economic standing, need to somewhere to walk or cycle to as it is those green public spaces that refurbish human wellbeing and repair broken spirits.

Such human sized and community places will be increasingly important as our disrupted climate makes life increasingly difficult for everyone, irrespective of income.

The Guardian has written about the importance of these green spaces arguing that arguing they are equally important as social housing.

Read The Guardian story - “People don’t just need social housing, they need green spaces close by”.

White Paper based on 20th Century ideas

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wentieth Century ideas have been applied to the drawing up of a Federal Government white paper for the development of northern Australia.

Andrew Campbell.

Andrew Campbell writes on The Conversation arguing that the white paper is primarily about “hard infrastructure” saying little about its opposite, “soft infrastructure”.

The essence of the paper also appears to assume that the purported riches of northern Australia can be exploited without any reference to the world’s disrupted climate system.

Campbell, a Friend of The Conversation and the Director of the Research Institute for Environment and Livelihoods at Charles Darwin University, discussed the tensions surrounding development.

He wrote, “The first is the tension between developing a northern economy based primarily on export commodities, versus one based around distinctive environment, demography, knowledge and services

“The second is the perennial struggle associated with trying to achieve long-term objectives with short-term funding and even shorter electoral cycles,” he wrote.

Read his thoughts – “Is the white paper a game-changer for northern Australia?”

Cities might be our lifeboats, but we need to be villagers again

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any argue that our cities will be our “lifeboats” during the unfolding dilemmas of climate change.

As humanity wrestles with the changes settling upon it from our disrupted climate we will, they argue, retreat to our cities.

Elizabeth Farrelly has written in the Sydney Morning Herald about our need to again be living in villages in her story: “Why we need to become village people again”.

Those who advocate the idea of “lifeboat cities do, I think, see a city as little more than a series of interconnected villages that live happily within their specific confines, but then cooperate with all those around.

“We can't all have it all. The attempt just brings sprawl, congestion, unhealth and suburbia's deathly boredom. But perhaps there's another way.

“What if we leave the what of dwelling, and start with the where. For many of us, now, the ideal "where" is small, local, walkable, pretty and sustainable. In short, the village,” she writes.