What is Canberra’s personality?

Posted on 25 November, 2019

The lovechild of the Australian federation? Like a dysfunctional family at Christmas Day lunch? A growing puppy or a disconnected zombie?

These were just some of the ideas that came up during a Salon Canberra event with Gabrielle Trainor AO recently.

Gabrielle has spent more than 25 years sitting on boards making decisions about the future of our nation—from infrastructure, transport and urban renewal to sports, arts and culture and empowerment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Among her current appointments, Gabrielle is a director of Infrastructure Australia and the ACT City Renewal Authority, is a commissioner of the Australian Football League and the Australian Sports Commission, and is Chair of the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia.

(L-R) Professor Robert Care AM and Gabrielle Trainor AO. Photography: Rohan Thomson.

“I am a Canberra enthusiast. I loved the time I spent living here and always look forward to being in this beautiful place.

“Canberra is changing—younger people in particular are looking for a more urban life where they can enjoy all its advantages.

“City centres and peripheries need people living there to give them character, to give them soul.

“Rather than the traditional quarter acre in the suburbs, more and more Canberrans are choosing to live in denser urban environments.

Infographic by Anna Trundle. Click to enlarge,

“Reducing commuting is just one benefit. Living this way—provided building design and the public realm are beautiful and that social infrastructure, including parks, trees, cultural and sporting facilities and other public spaces, are a real focus—means communities can become more connected, more creative, healthier. Ideas are more easily exchanged and enterprise and society flourishes.”

It was a big conversation—and one that couldn’t come at a more important time, as recent suggestions that we expand our city limits leave a lot of Canberrans scratching their heads.

A Salon Canberra event. Photography: Rohan Thomson.

There’s a suburb-by-suburb war being waged across Australia as cities grapple with densification. And Canberra is no different. But not one person in the room mentioned the ‘quarter acre block’ or ‘suburbia’ to describe Canberra’s personality. Instead, the words were aspirational: educated, ambitious, active and energetic.

Canberra also came in for criticism. The words ‘disjointed’ and ‘disconnected’ featured frequently. This was very interesting to me, as one of the consequences of urban sprawl is that we create these disconnected islands far from jobs, services, opportunities or other parts of the community.

The case for densification is compelling. Google “urban sprawl research” and a deluge of data appears, pointing to downsides from food deserts in Dallas, to social disadvantage in Melbourne to obesity in Sydney.

Dr Rebecca Williamson. Photography: Rohan Thomson.

One study found that every additional hour a day in a car translates into a six per cent increase in the risk of obesity. Another, published by infrastructure Australia last year, found 1.4 million people in the outer suburbs do not have frequent access to public transport services within walking distance of their home. A growing body of evidence makes a correlation between city planning and social isolation.

Fringe land might be cheaper, but it locks residents into a life shuttling everywhere in a motor vehicle. Greenfield development demands the construction of more roads and bridges, more water, stormwater and sewer reticulation, more power poles and wires, more communication towers, more emergency services depots, and more dispersed local services so people can buy a litre of milk without using a litre of petrol. It means more emissions, more traffic congestion, more time spent in the car.

(L-R) Felicity Stewart, George Katheklakis at Salon Canberra. Photography: Rohan Thomson.

It goes completely against contemporary best practice urban and regional planning, saves residents nothing in the long-run and commits taxpayers to paying the excess. So why would we want it?

Salon guests spoke a lot about the potential for the ‘third space’ to address a lot of the problems in our cities, with conversation honing in on the importance of “palaces of the people” – libraries, squares and multipurpose meeting places that bring people together.

When I think about the kind of city I want to live in—and, right now, I don’t want to live anywhere but Canberra—I want it to be in a place that is beautiful and interesting, cultural and kind. But the city I don’t want spreads out endlessly in unsustainable suburbia. We are smarter and better than that.

Feature image: Martin Ollman.