WORKSHOPS
[FULLY BOOKED] WORKSHOP 1:
A MOMENT OF CHANGE - Public Spaces in a Housing Crisis
TIME AND DATE: Thursday 23 May 2023, 3:30 PM - 5:00 PM
ABSTRACT: Once an underutilised, unattractive former wharf area, now a multi-million-dollar piece of public realm infrastructure on the bank of the pristine, blue Pioneer River. Mackay's River Wharves is the completed first stage of the Mackay Waterfront Riverside Revitalisation Project, which is set to catalyse private investment in the Mackay Waterfront Priority Development Area through improving public amenity and overall liveability of the Riverside Precinct. However, after a short time the space has become occupied by homeless people and other vulnerable members of the community.
The question Council asks itself a year after the completion of the space is, who exactly did we see the space being utilised by? What did we mean by place activation? What if the main use of Council's purpose-built public realm infrastructure became the provision of shelter and basic infrastructure for people in need?
Housing supply and homelessness is a complex issue facing councils around the country. Lack of temporary and crisis accommodation has led to the occupation of public spaces in lieu of housing solutions. River Wharves has shined a significant public spotlight on a historic ‘out-of-view’ social issue occurring in regional and metropolitan centres across Australia.
Following an overview of the Mackay River Wharves project, this interactive workshop will explore the broad ranging issues around the increasing occupation of public space by homeless people and other vulnerable members of the community amid a housing crisis.
What are the immediate, medium and long-term planning solutions? Should public spaces be planned and resourced to be a key social service provider in times of need, in the same way that some buildings are designated as evacuation centres? What role should local government take in resolving this nationwide pandemic?
Justine Goddard
Mackay Regional Council
Alvin Kirby
Place Design Group
[FULLY BOOKED] WORKSHOP 2:
DOING IT DIFFERENTLY - Build your own community education resource to shape better urban change conversation
TIME AND DATE: Friday 24 May 2023, 11:00 AM - 12:30 PM
ABSTRACT: Fostering community understanding, knowledge (and ultimately) support for quality growth and urban consolidation is critical in achieving sustainable urban change and requires communities to have ‘urban change literacy’:
- Awareness of projected population growth and its drivers
- Ownership of the need for urban consolidation, increased density and housing diversity
- Knowledge of the challenges and benefits of consolidation and the key factors that can drive great outcomes
- Understanding of how their choices will impact the sustainability of the city now and into the future
Building the urban change literacy of a community requires a proactive education approach that is founded on an evidence-based understanding of a community’s literacy gaps and the development of education resources to build required knowledge.
During this 90 minute workshop you will create your own community education resource, specific to your urban change challenge or community knowledge gap.
You will be guided through a series of activities that will support you to:
- Consider the importance of taking an educational approach to bringing communities along on the urban change journey.
- Learn from real life case studies, exploring examples of where we have embedded an education component into plan-making community engagement process
- Rapidly create your own community education resource set, using Studio THI’s growing library of jargon free explanations and illustrations of key planning concepts
- Explore ideas for how you can use these resources to shape proactive and reactive urban change conversations
By participating in this session you will build your skillset and toolkit for leading great change conversations. You will also leave with ideas for how you could embed an education element within your next project to better prepare your community for urban transformation conversations.
Jennifer Michelmore
Studio Thi
[FULLY BOOKED] WORKSHOP 3:
FIRST STORIES FIRST - PLANNING WITH COUNTRY - Rising to the challenge of Country-centred planning
TIME AND DATE: Friday 24 May 2023, 11:00 AM - 12:30 PM
ABSTRACT: Beyond the words and the goodwill is an awareness and skills set that will build the confidence and capacity of your planning and design teams to embrace a Country-centred approach to planning and design. In this workshop we will weave together our combined sixty years experience in planning, design and public policy with deep cultural knowledge and practical strategies. A Country-centred approach is not just for those working with the natural environment, Country speaks to us wherever we are. For the majority of non-Indigenous planners and designers this is a foreign and challenging concept and one which is rarely touched in in formal planning education. Yet the interest in how we give voice to Indigenous perspectives, knowledge, needs and aspirations is high across the planning profession.
A Country-centre approach to planning and built environment is not mysterious and unreachable. Building your own capacity and that of your team requires personal reflection, a rethinking of values and assumptions, listening and engagement with Indigenous knowledge and perspectives, realignment of processes and recalibration of how we define ‘good’ outcomes. How do we know ‘What is good for Country’? How do we listen to Country? How do we align our planning process and priorities with a Country-centred approach? How do we work respectfully together?
If you want to challenge yourself and your team to elevate their skills, confidence and practice then this is the workshop to create those foundations, to be inspired and challenged.
Michelle Howard
Carol Vale
[FULLY BOOKED] WORKSHOP 4:
IMAGINING OUR FUTURE - Reinventing the Future: The Role of Planning in a Changing World
TIME AND DATE: Friday 24 May 2023, 1:30 PM - 3:00 PM
ABSTRACT: What did you imagine today would look like?
Ten years ago, the word "selfie" was added to the dictionary, and Justin Bieber was ink-free. Australia had a female PM. Your iPhone 5s had just been released, with a fancy new fingerprint scanner.
The concept of self-driving vehicles was still in the distant works, and Elon Musk had not yet emerged with his high-risk ventures, including space exploration. Pandemics were just the plaything of long-term scenario strategists.
Terms such as "Chat GPT" and "global boiling" weren't on anyone's radar and buying a house before retirement at 65 seemed like a possibility.
How things have changed.
Where were you 10 years ago? Could you have done something innovative to affect a better outcome?
How might actions taken now influenced the future?
Through LegoSerious® Play (LSP) The Futures Practice will bring people together to explore what is happening now, how these events might affect planning decisions, and how to positively leverage these to ensure we support thriving communities.
LSP is based around the concepts of constructionism and constructivism through play with LEGO®, to provide a place of fun and release while exploring challenging topics such as artificial intelligence and planning legislation, a changing environment due to global warming and how we can promote and protect a cohesive social fabric through urban form.
The 90-minute facilitated workshop will give participants an opportunity to build with LEGO, share their creations and connect with other congress attendees.
Take aways include photos and recordings of their creations, to embed positive change into the future.
You cannot predict the future, but you can anticipate it and prepare for change.
To see more you can view a short overview here
Sarah Norman
The Futures Practice
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SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES
Please contact Karen Lock
karen.lock@planning.org.au