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A Tale of Two Cities - Podcast and Release Melbourne released its version about 3 years ago, espousing many of the same principles. What can Sydney learn from the Melbourne experience in delivering what really counts - to not just have a vision but also the leadership to make it happen? The Dialogues took place on April 10, 2006 at the Museum of Sydney. Here are the speakers in order. Left click on the link to hear it live and right click to save. Introduction Tim Blythe (Director Planning UrbisJHD Sydney) Sarah Opperman (Director Planning UrbisJHD Melbourne) Peter Cumming (Urban Systems) Questions and Answers then Thanks from John Wynne Media Release Metro Squeeze: Managing Sydney's Growth Sydney's growing – there will be another 1.1 million people who'll share our city over the next 25 years. By 2031, 5.3 million people will want to use our roads, railways, hospitals and schools. Most of all they'll need somewhere to live. Over those 25 years around 1.8 million new dwellings will be needed on Australia's east coast, at an infrastructure cost of $30 billion or more for each city. 640,000 of them will be needed in Sydney – that's 25,600 new houses or apartments, on average, each year. New South Wales and Victoria both have metropolitan plans to direct the development, but can they be made to work? That's the question that will be raised at the Museum of Sydney tonight at the Dialogues Seminar. "The plans for Sydney are in place, but how do we get traction for them?" asks Tim Blythe, Director of Planning at UrbisJHD. "The state government is taking steps to increase their powers, but how they'll exercise those powers is the test that's still to come." Do state governments have the political will to manage this scale of development? Does local government understand the bigger picture? And how do planners get community buy-in from people who don't want high density developments 'in their backyard'. Concerns are mounting that the Sydney City Metropolitan Strategy plan, released late last year won't play out as it was intended. That's certainly been the case for the Melbourne 2030 plan. Lord Mayor Clover Moore says that Sydney could learn from Melbourne's public transport. We can also learn from the implementation of their 2030 – even if it's only what not to do, says Sarah Opperman, UrbisJHD Director of Planning in Melbourne. "The Melbourne plan took five years to put together – it's not short on vision", Sarah says, "But without pragmatic implementation and community buy-in, the dream won't materialise." Sydney's planning is a hot topic. The controversial new powers over council planning processes granted to the Planning Minister Frank Sartor recently brought a strong reaction from local government. Yet both have to work together for Sydney to thrive as a city. Local government is often accused of not understanding the bigger picture and the cities needs in the light of their own local concerns. State governments may be putting off the harder long term political decisions for easier shorter term gains. It's easy to draw up plans, Tim Blythe says. "But how do you make them happen? The key is implementation and funding for infrastructure." Some of the Sydney plan provides immediate challenges for the state government. It calls for employment growth of 93% in Liverpool, 57% in Penrith and 44% in Parramatta. "Liverpool's actually declined in numbers employed recently," says Tim Blythe. And the other two cities aren't growing as fast as they're predicted to either. How is the government going to make this happen when the market trends are going the other way? The bigger issue is still the cost of infrastructure – the $30 billion over 25 years that the three east coast states will have to find. "It's hard to imagine a bill of that amount being handled by the current plethora of arrangements," says Peter Cumming former City Planning Manager for Brisbane, who's now with Urban Systems. "We have to say to the public that it has to be handled in an organised way. The lack of co-ordination will cost. We need metropolitan planning organisations at arms length from local and state politicians. If we don't do that then these plans will have no effect and we just won't manage our urban budgets," Peter Cumming says. Dialogues is part of a regular series of seminars presented by UrbisJHD. UrbisJHD is one of Australia's largest independent advisory firms specialising in urban planning, property advisory and economics. The firm provides expertise in Urban and Strategic Planning, Urban Design, Property Economics, Valuations, Property Investment Advisory, Social Planning and Research, Consumer and Market Research and Corporate Real Estate. With over 50 years operational experience and over 250 employees nationally, UrbisJHD operates in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Canberra in Australia as well as Asia Pacific and the Middle East. Released on behalf of UrbisJHD by Corporate Communications and Counsel Please contact: Kathy Scott 02 9966 0200 0415 764 159 or Bob Hughes 0407 901 587 |