The very latest worlds best practice in planning will be discussed as planning professionals from across Australia and around the world gather in Hobart this week for the Planning Institute of Australia (PIA) 2011 National Congress.

PIA President elect Dyan Currie said the event is the highlight on the Australian planning industry’s calendar and provides an important forum for communication, education and the very latest planning ideas from around the globe.

“This year’s Congress agenda is packed with sessions, workshops, debates and keynote addresses that cover the latest in planning successes, new ideas, schemes and innovations,” Ms Currie said.

“There is a range of subjects to be covered and many of them speak to the way planning is getting better and more sophisticated. But there will also be discussion on how planning dealt with the country’s recent destructive weather events.”

The opening keynote address will be delivered by Enrique Penalosa, a former Mayor of Bogota, Colombia - now an urban strategist whose vision and proposals have significantly influenced policies in numerous cities throughout the world. His address to planners will deal with the challenges confronting the world today.

Penalosa is currently President of the Board of the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy of New York. He has also lectured all over the world in governmental, academic and citizens’ forums.

His ideas have been featured in many of the world’s most important media and he has also published articles in numerous periodicals and books.

As Mayor of Bogota, Penalosa was credited with profoundly transforming the city, turning it into an international example for improvements in quality of life, mobility and equity to developing world cities.

The PIA 2011 Congress will also hear from Dan Pitera the Executive Director of the Detroit Collaborative Design Center at the University of Detroit Mercy School of Architecture.

Pitera describes himself as a political and social activist masquerading as an architect and holds the view that “design” is an essential force in establishing human relations. The Design Center is dedicated to fostering university and community partnerships that create inspired and sustainable neighbourhoods and spaces for all people.

Ms Currie said the Congress also includes a Great Debate where panel members will deliberate whether changing the world means ‘Selling’ planning.

“This will be an interesting session which will include Carolyn Miller from The Gruen Transfer as well as Peter Poulet the Tasmanian State Architect.”

Full details of the PIA 2011 National Congress can be found at http://www.planning.org.au

Renowned Urban Strategist to Deliver Strong Messages

Australian planning professionals will be told they need to imagine compact cities with pedestrian-and-bicycle-only promenades crisscrossing dense capitals.

The message is among a number to be delivered to the Planning Institute of Australia (PIA) 2011 National Congress in Hobart from March 6.

Radical reduction of car use, politicians who can make the hard decisions, creatively designed compact cities and better use of trains and busses are all on the planning wish list of one of the worlds most highly regarded urban strategists.

Enrique Penalosa’s vision and proposals have significantly influenced policies in numerous cities throughout the world.

The former Mayor of Bogota, Columbia, Penalosa is credited with profoundly transforming the city, turning it into an international example for improvements in quality of life, mobility and equity.

He believes one of the key factors to getting better planned cities is to have elected officials who can make decisions under very adverse public opinion.

“Politicians must take risks if change is to occur, they cannot be too obsessed with being loved by everyone all the time. Ideas are never born with majority support,” Mr Penalosa said.

Enrique Penalosa is currently President of the Board of the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy of New York. He has lectured all over the world in governmental, academic and citizens’ forums. His ideas have been featured in many of the world’s most important media and he has also published articles in numerous periodicals and books.

He’ll be telling planning professionals at the Hobart Congress that radical reduction in car use is not just a crazy green dream.

“Some very car-less cities such as Manhattan, central London or Paris are already very car free, yet extremely attractive and probably the most successful cities on many levels.

“I will be putting the case for higher density. Today most people agree that the compact city is the most desirable urban form. Yet we have not been creative in designing really different compact cities.

“It is not just about putting up some multi-story buildings: it is about imagining compact cities with, for example, networks of pedestrian-and-bicycle-only promenades, very wide sidewalks and greenways hundreds of kilometres long crisscrossing dense cities.”

As Mayor of Bogota, Columbia, Penalosa gained unique insights into social planning.

“Bogota is a typical developing country city, with its inequality. Constructing inclusion and equality of quality of life is one of the main tasks of a great city, he said.

“Although this is much more critical in developing countries, it is also an important challenge for advanced societies: for example it is crucial to avoid any privatization of waterfronts.”

Enrique Penalosa will address planners at the PIA 2011 National Congress on Monday morning 9.45 at the Hotel Grand Chancellor Hobart.

Full details of the PIA 2011 National Congress can be found at http://www.planning.org.au

Call for Planners to adopt ‘Activist’ Persona

Planning professionals attending the Planning Institute of Australia (PIA) 2011 National Congress will be told to see themselves as ‘activists’ affecting change in the urban environment for all people.

Executive Director of the Detroit Collaborative Design Center at the University of Detroit Mercy School of Architecture, Dan Pitera says planners should be looking beyond the established way of doing things.
“I define an activist as someone who seeks to affect change if he or she is not content with the way things are,” Mr Pitera said.

“I will use case studies from our work to foster a position toward activating change through an effective strategy.

“The strategy establishes civic engagement, locates moments of intensity and designs responses and actions. I aim to show Australian planners that we do not have to abandon the tools of our discipline to have civic engagement.”

Dan Pitera describes himself as a political and social activist masquerading as an architect. He believes “design” is an essential force in establishing human relations. His Design Center is dedicated to fostering university and community partnerships that create inspired and sustainable neighbourhoods and spaces for all people.

He says the Design Center not only provides design services but also empowers residents to facilitate their own process of urban regeneration.

“Residents have always been an important part of the sustainability and regeneration of a neighbourhood,” he said.

“If residents are not actively visioning, implementing and maintaining a community, it will not thrive. The difference now is that we as planners and designers are acknowledging their role and seeking their participation.”

Mr. Pitera was a 2004-2005 Loeb Fellow at Harvard University. Under his direction since 2000, the Design Center was included in the US Pavilion of the 2008 Venice Biennale in Architecture and was recently awarded the 2009 Rudy Bruner Award for Urban Design Excellence for the St. Joseph Rebuild Center in New Orleans.

He believes planners should focus on strategies that are adaptable.

“Planners appear to be focused on strategies for cities with growing populations or cities with shrinking populations. We need to develop strategies that adapt to change.

“Planners must remember all policies ultimately create designed places that touch people’s hearts and stimulate their minds. We laugh, cry and live in these places. Policies create places, and designed places cannot happen without thoughtful policy.”

Full details of the PIA 2011 National Congress can be found at http://www.planning.org.au