tag:theconversation.com,2011:/fr/topics/cities-minister-22089/articlesCities minister – The Conversation2018-08-27T08:18:35Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1021842018-08-27T08:18:35Z2018-08-27T08:18:35ZSpills and City Deals: what Turnbull’s urban policy has achieved, and where we go from here<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233655/original/file-20180827-149484-g1tvnm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Governments need effective policies to lure people into regional towns. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">from shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s recently announced ministry includes a new Minister for Cities, Urban Infrastructure and Population. Alan Tudge’s first Tweet in his new role announced he is “looking forward to my new congestion busting role”. </p>
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<p>Federal governments have rarely shown any explicit policy concern with cities or urban problems. And conservative governments had never done so until September 2015, when the then newly installed prime minister, Malcom Turnbull, <a href="https://www.afr.com/business/infrastructure/malcolm-turnbulls-cabinet-jamie-briggs-named-minister-for-cities-20150920-gjqvsq">announced the appointment</a> of a Minister for Cities and the Built Environment. </p>
<p>Jamie Briggs was persuaded to adopt a version of the <a href="https://www.ahuri.edu.au/policy/ahuri-briefs/what-is-a-uk-city-deal">UK’s City deals</a> as the major policy initiative of his ministry. City Deals are <a href="https://theconversation.com/city-deals-nine-reasons-this-imported-model-of-urban-development-demands-due-diligence-57040">essentially about creating partnerships</a> between all three levels of government (federal, state and local) to drive the sustainable growth of our cities.</p>
<p>This model encourages city councils or groupings of councils to work together more effectively in identifying local economic development opportunities. They then strike a deal with the central government to secure the funding necessary to realise these opportunities.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/city-deals-nine-reasons-this-imported-model-of-urban-development-demands-due-diligence-57040">City Deals: nine reasons this imported model of urban development demands due diligence</a>
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<p>In his <a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/buzzfeednews/malcolm-turnbull-farewell-press-conference?utm_term=.li0oaD8pk#.fbyOWkqeY">farewell speech</a> last week, Turnbull referred to City Deals as a “real innovation” in the way the three levels of government now engage in planning and managing our cities. Looking back over these three years, there are three important questions about City Deals to be answered. </p>
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<li>Have they transformed the way we go about planning our cities and managing their growth?</li>
<li>Do they serve as the foundation for a coherent national urban policy?</li>
<li>Have they made our cities – large and small – better places for most of us to live and work in?</li>
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<h2>1. Deals are nothing new</h2>
<p>City Deals celebrated public-to-private partnerships, but these are nothing new in urban policy; nor are attempts to create better working relations between different levels of government. </p>
<p>The challenge has always been for these partnerships to remain in place and to retain the enthusiasm of the partners over the course of a long-term relationship. In contemporary Australia, we have a poor reputation for maintaining the long-term political relationships that enable policy stability. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233659/original/file-20180827-149475-z8obrh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233659/original/file-20180827-149475-z8obrh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233659/original/file-20180827-149475-z8obrh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=389&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233659/original/file-20180827-149475-z8obrh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=389&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233659/original/file-20180827-149475-z8obrh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=389&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233659/original/file-20180827-149475-z8obrh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=489&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233659/original/file-20180827-149475-z8obrh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=489&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233659/original/file-20180827-149475-z8obrh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=489&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">There’s little appetite in Australia to amalgamate local council areas.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">from shutterstock.com</span></span>
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<p>In the UK, City Deals were also part of a concerted drive to encourage greater amalgamation and cooperation among the patchworks of municipal governments in the larger, metropolitan areas. There have long been calls for a <a href="http://www.mdpi.com/2413-8851/1/4/34">metropolitan-scale government</a> in Australia to enable the plethora of local councils that run our major cities to work more effectively together. </p>
<p>But many locals are still <a href="https://www.governmentnews.com.au/council-mergers-blamed-for-13-by-election-backlash-in-nsw-coalition-heartland/">tremendously hostile</a> to council amalgamations in major cities. And there is no appetite for the creation of new metropolitan authorities and their “<a href="http://www.centreforcities.org/publication/everything-need-know-metro-mayors/#whatis">metro mayors</a>”, which were a hallmark of the UK City deals program.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/deal-or-no-deal-are-uk-style-city-deals-a-good-bet-for-australia-58978">Deal or no deal: are UK-style City Deals a good bet for Australia?</a>
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<h2>2. Deals tend to be opaque</h2>
<p>So, are City Deals likely to be the foundation for a coherent national urban policy, or even a national settlement strategy? We can only hope so, but the experience of City Deals in the UK suggests otherwise. </p>
<p>Three waves of UK City deals have resulted in some local <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/pa.1661">improvements to public infrastructure</a> such as improved broadband connectivity in a part of Nottingham and a new geothermal district heating system in Stoke on Trent. In some cases, the policy also strengthened relations between central and local government. </p>
<p>But the initiative as a whole has been <a href="https://www.nao.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Devolving-responsibilities-to-cities-in-England-Wave-One-City-Deals.pdf">criticised from various quarters</a> for an <a href="http://www.regionalaustralia.org.au/home/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/POBrien-%E2%80%98City-Deals-%E2%80%98deal-making%E2%80%99-and-UK-local-and-regional-development-policy.pdf">overarching lack of transparency</a>, which may explain why some areas appear to have struck better deals than others.</p>
<p>This goes to the heart of the deal-making approach to urban policy, or indeed to any central or federal government policy initiative based on deals. They tend to be opaque and to hide behind commercial-in-confidence clauses that deny the public (whose tax dollars are at stake) much insight into who is getting what from the deal. </p>
<p>Without principles of consistency and transparency there is often a suspicion that decisions about major infrastructure projects are influenced as much by <a href="https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/18817/1/cesifo1_wp1453.pdf">pork barrel politics</a> as they are by assessments that are both rigorous and transparent. </p>
<h2>3. It’s about broader national policy</h2>
<p>It is too early to say whether any of the aspirations, and even some of the early works undertaken under the first round of City Deals, are having the positive impact hoped for. The A$250 million <a href="http://www.udiaqld.com.au/getmedia/2fef5d16-2ddf-46c4-b63f-c8dc36773bf3/Townsville_City_Deal_progress_report_v8_March_ACC.pdf.aspx">North Queensland Stadium</a> is underway and is expected to generate around 2,000 jobs during its construction. In Launceston, the University of Tasmania’s <a href="https://www.examiner.com.au/story/5522454/launceston-city-deal-makes-progress-one-year-on/">new campus</a> is in the detailed planning and design stage.</p>
<p>There is no doubt such projects are having some impact – large scale infrastructure projects invariably provide a boost to the local construction industry – but we don’t and can’t yet know of their long-term impact. </p>
<p>This has always been a challenge when trying to measure the costs and benefits of long-term urban policy. The evaluative challenge is not only to assess whether the Townsville City Deal (under which the North Queensland Stadium is being built) has delivered more or less of what it promised. Nor can we say whether Launceston has become a better place.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/making-small-cities-bigger-will-help-better-distribute-australias-25-million-people-101180">Making small cities bigger will help better distribute Australia's 25 million people</a>
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<p>What we need to know is whether we have begun to develop a more comprehensive and coherent national system of towns and cities. Because, if we have not, it is likely we will continue to ignore the important connections that exist between our major cities and their regional hinterlands. </p>
<p>We’re also likely to to deal ineffectually with the problems of rapid population growth in Sydney and Melbourne at the same as trying to lure people and investors to regional towns and cities with ad hoc inducements and inadequate incentives.</p>
<p>Prime Minister Morrison studied economics and geography at university and spent some time leading the Property Council of Australia. So, he has the credentials to continue the relatively new tradition of giving urban policy debates a national perspective. Let’s hope Minister Tudge can rise above the congestion problems of Sydney and Melbourne and bring a fresh approach that truly integrates population, infrastructure and city planning into a coherent national urban policy.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/102184/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paul Burton is a member of Regional Development Australia, Gold Coast and sits on the National Education Committee and the Queensland Committee of the Planning Institute of Australia.
The Cities Research Institute receives support from the City of Gold Coast.</span></em></p>Turnbull put in place the City Deals program in 2015 - aiming to create better partnerships between all levels of government. Some projects are underway, but we need more than just partnerships.Paul Burton, Professor of Urban Management and Planning & Director, Cities Research Institute, Griffith UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/586282016-05-02T05:36:16Z2016-05-02T05:36:16ZSmart Cities Plan offers signs of hope, but are Turnbull and Taylor just dreamin’?<p>For committed urbanists, any sign of serious urban policy action by the federal government is welcome. Early announcements by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and his <a href="https://theconversation.com/urban-policy-could-the-federal-government-finally-get-cities-47858">appointment of a minister for cities</a> were <a href="https://theconversation.com/hopes-of-a-new-urban-age-survive-ministers-fall-52975">cause for some celebration</a>. </p>
<p>The subsequent <a href="https://theconversation.com/turnbull-makes-necessity-the-mother-of-opportunity-54702">appointment of Angus Taylor</a> as assistant minister for cities and digital transformation continued the positive outlook; a relatively new parliamentarian with a good track record of business development and an analytical disposition was <a href="https://theconversation.com/memo-to-our-latest-cities-minister-heres-what-needs-to-be-done-55768">entrusted to advance this policy agenda</a>.</p>
<p>April 29 marked the start of the next phase of policy development, when we got to see what a <a href="https://cities.dpmc.gov.au/smart-cities-plan">Smart Cities Plan</a> looks like and whether it was worth the wait.</p>
<p>On first reading it contains all of the right words – smart, innovative, liveability and prosperity. It also advocated some sensible principles – collaboration, co-operation and partnership. But do these nice words and sensible principles add up to a <a href="https://theconversation.com/will-budget-2016-deliver-a-new-deal-for-australian-cities-58581">real step change in urban policy thinking</a>, or to a business-as-usual approach <a href="http://blogs.crikey.com.au/theurbanist/2016/05/02/turnbulls-smart-cities-plan-is-that-all-there-is/">wrapped in the latest policy terminology</a>?</p>
<p>At this stage we cannot be sure, but prospective partners in state and local government seem to have a <a href="http://www.planning.org.au/news-archive/media-releases/29-april-2016---planners-welcome-smart-cities-plan-concerns-over-lack-of-population-growth-guidance">fair degree of optimism</a> about the plan. </p>
<p>Most sensible public bodies will profess their support, in principle, for any initiative that offers the prospect of new money to support development proposals in their area. They will commit, in principle, to working together for the common good in their locality. And, if necessary, they will rebadge their current plans to fit more easily with the rhetorical flavour of the new initiative.</p>
<p>The proof will, however, lie in the detail of partnership arrangements, in the implementation structures that are developed and in the way new money is allocated. Even more importantly, success will depend on whether the actual measures employed work in practice.</p>
<h2>Partnerships in practice</h2>
<p>In each of our cities – large and small – we need all three levels of government to work together if growth is to be supported and managed effectively. Intergovernmental partnerships have been proposed for as long as we have had different levels of government.</p>
<p>There is much research on <a href="http://www-wds.worldbank.org/external/default/WDSContentServer/WDSP/IB/2010/01/11/000158349_20100111135808/Rendered/PDF/WPS5172.pdf">what makes such partnerships work</a> well and what does not. Where partnerships work, much of this success is based on mutual respect and recognition of the distinctive contribution of each partner. </p>
<p>It becomes more challenging where the reality of an urban area requires horizontal partnerships between local councils as well as vertical partnerships with state and federal bodies. </p>
<p>The patchy experience of <a href="https://rda.gov.au/">Regional Development Australia</a> committees across the country gives some indication of how well this has been achieved to date. Some have worked very well. Others have struggled in the face of varied and variable enthusiasm among partners.</p>
<h2>Getting implementation structures right</h2>
<p>I have <a href="https://theconversation.com/city-deals-nine-reasons-this-imported-model-of-urban-development-demands-due-diligence-57040">argued previously</a> that effective implementation of any policy initiative is often plagued by a lack of long-term commitment and bipartisan support. </p>
<p>Along with a seemingly irresistible belief within governments of any hue that policies need to be fiddled with (the technical terms would be refreshed, refocused or rebadged) every few years, carefully designed initiatives are rarely left to get on with their work and run their course. </p>
<p>Another problem is bureaucratic capture, in which early ambitions to work differently, with greater agility perhaps, are slowly but surely overtaken by implementation regimes that do the opposite in practice. The business experience of both the prime minister and his assistant minister for cities will be needed to prevent this type of sclerosis taking hold.</p>
<h2>Finding and spending new money to best effect</h2>
<p>As Taylor <a href="https://theconversation.com/politics-podcast-angus-taylor-on-cities-and-digital-transformation-57974">told Michelle Grattan</a> recently, some partnerships between public bodies and private investors have been very effective in the past – the construction of the national rail network in the US, for example. But there is also no shortage of ones that have not gone well for any of the parties.</p>
<p>So, while there has been some <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-30-minute-city-how-do-we-put-the-political-rhetoric-into-practice-56136">enthusiasm for the potential role of value capture</a> of late – and certainly in the new plan – we need to see the detail of particular proposals. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://theconversation.com/city-deals-nine-reasons-this-imported-model-of-urban-development-demands-due-diligence-57040">UK City Deals model</a> includes the principle of transferring some of the increased tax revenue associated with growth from the Treasury back to local partnerships. However, this has sometimes <a href="http://ner.sagepub.com/content/233/1/R14.abstract">proved difficult to agree in practice</a>.</p>
<p>And it is here that bipartisan agreement in the urban policy field seems unlikely at present. The shadow minister for cities, Anthony Albanese, has come straight out with a ringing condemnation of the Turnbull-Taylor plan as a policy without substance. </p>
<p>Albanese also joined with the <a href="http://www.afr.com/real-estate/malcolm-turnbulls-value-capture-plan-for-infrastructure-splits-developers-20160429-goic5m">Property Council of Australia</a> in invoking the spectre of Australian families being <a href="http://anthonyalbanese.com.au/coalition-must-rule-out-new-property-tax">slugged with a new property tax</a> to capture some of any increased value associated with public investment in infrastructure.</p>
<h2>How will we know what works?</h2>
<p>Tucked away on page 23 of the plan is a small section about measuring success. This acknowledges the importance of having good-quality data to provide a baseline against which future performance can be measured. It cites the need for “unambiguous targets, accountabilities and timeframes for city-level reforms”.</p>
<p>The plan recognises that, without these, it will be impossible for the government to hold itself and its investment partners to account. I would like to think that in five years’ time we will be able to read a National Audit Office report (like <a href="//www.anao.gov.au/work/performance-audit/design-and-implementation-liveable-cities-program">this one on the 2011-14 Liveable Cities Program</a>) describing how this bold new Smart Cities Plan heralded a new era of productive intergovernmental collaboration. </p>
<p>That would mean it succeeded in attracting substantial new private investment, which set our cities on a clear path to being <a href="https://theconversation.com/ideas-for-australia-city-v4-0-a-new-model-of-urban-growth-and-governance-for-australia-56372">smarter, more productive and nicer places</a> in which to live.</p>
<p>Let’s hope that if I shared this view with The Castle’s <a href="https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Castle">Darryl Kerrigan</a> he wouldn’t tell me, or indeed Angus Taylor, that we’re dreamin’.</p>
<iframe id="audio_iframe" src="https://www.podbean.com/media/player/wm9y6-5e8e62?from=yiiadmin" data-link="http://www.podbean.com/media/player/wm9y6-5e8e62?from=yiiadmin" height="100" width="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" data-name="pb-iframe-player"></iframe><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/58628/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paul Burton receives funding from the City of Gold Coast as part of its Growth Management Partnership with Griffith University. He is also a founding member of Regional Development Australia, Gold Coast. </span></em></p>The discussion paper makes all the right noises, but the proof of the policy will be in the detail of partnership arrangements and implementation structures, and in how new money is used.Paul Burton, Professor of Urban Management and Planning & Director, Urban Research Program, Griffith UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/579742016-04-19T06:32:13Z2016-04-19T06:32:13ZPolitics podcast: Angus Taylor on cities and digital transformation<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/119029/original/image-20160418-23642-1mv0evu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=3%2C116%2C2044%2C1437&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Angus Taylor </span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In his ministerial reshuffle earlier this year, Malcolm Turnbull made Angus Taylor, an up-and-coming Liberal MP, the assistant minister for cities and digital transformation.</p>
<p>Taylor tells Michelle Grattan there needs to be agreement across all three levels of government to meet the challenges of jobs growth, transport and housing affordability faced by the nation’s cities. </p>
<p>“We have already said we’re going to use the mechanism of "city deals”, which is an agreement across federal, state and local governments on a strategy for each of our individual cities, recognising that no two solutions will be the same.“</p>
<p>Taylor also says Australia will need to find "innovative ways of financing increased investment in our cities”. </p>
<p>“We won’t be able to finance the very significant investments required in our cities just on budget. We’ll have to look off the budget. We’ll have to look to use our balance sheet,” he says.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/57974/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michelle Grattan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>In his ministerial reshuffle earlier this year, Malcolm Turnbull made Angus Taylor, an up-and-coming Liberal MP, the assistant minister for cities and digital transformation.Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of CanberraLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/570402016-04-01T21:53:30Z2016-04-01T21:53:30ZCity Deals: nine reasons this imported model of urban development demands due diligence<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/116870/original/image-20160331-9712-1a04gd3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">From Prime Minister David Cameron down, UK ministers have been keen to unveil ambitious 'City Deals', often before difficult policy and funding details have been resolved.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/number10gov/14384390539/in/photolist-nV6Lar-ocAc8X">flickr/Number 10</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The new assistant minister for cities and digital transformation, Angus Taylor, <a href="https://ministers.dpmc.gov.au/taylor/2016/welcome-speech-10th-green-cities-conference-hilton-hotel-sydney">spoke last week</a> of his enthusiasm for a “new vehicle” for creating partnerships between all three levels of government to drive the sustainable growth of our cities. This “tried and tested” vehicle is based on the UK government’s <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/policies/city-deals-and-growth-deals">City Deals model</a>, which has been <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/city-deals-wave-1">running in England since 2012</a>. </p>
<p>In a nutshell, this model encourages city councils or groupings of councils to <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-northern-powerhouse-what-actually-is-it-50927">work together more effectively</a> in identifying local economic development opportunities. They then strike a deal with the central government to secure the funding necessary to realise these opportunities. </p>
<p>Part of the UK government’s so-called “<a href="http://www.localism-agenda.com/background/">localism agenda</a>”, this approach was designed to give more power and freedom to localities so they could do what they thought best to achieve growth in their area.</p>
<p>This approach has been heavily <a href="https://home.kpmg.com/au/en/home/insights/2015/12/urban-regional-growth.html">spruiked in Australia by KPMG</a> and by the Property Council of Australia to Taylor and his ministerial predecessor, Jamie Briggs. The Property Council’s Ken Morrison and KPMG’s Paul Low helpfully set out in their joint pamphlet <a href="http://www.kpmg.com/AU/en/IssuesAndInsights/ArticlesPublications/Documents/uk-city-deal-economic-growth-productivity.pdf">nine reasons</a> why this approach provides a model for Australian urban policy. </p>
<h2>How do the City Deals stack up?</h2>
<p>So let’s look at each of these reasons. How do they stand up to scrutiny? That includes the scrutiny of the UK National Audit Office (NAO), which in July 2015 published a <a href="https://www.nao.org.uk/report/devolving-responsibilities-to-cities-in-england-wave-1-city-deals/">progress review</a> of the first wave of English City Deals.</p>
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<li><p><strong>It’s a contract – the deal is a deal!</strong> In Australia the deals will be more complicated if the partners have to come from each of the three levels of government. And, as we know, federal and state governments have been known to tear up deals struck by their predecessors.</p></li>
<li><p><strong>The focus is on productivity and growth.</strong> The NAO review found that deal partners can struggle to agree on measures of growth and productivity. The Treasury and the Greater Manchester partnership took two years to <a href="http://www.manchester.gov.uk/blog/leadersblog/post/707/new-powers-to-greater-manchester">agree the terms</a> of their “earn back” deal.</p></li>
<li><p><strong>They encourage local leadership and good governance.</strong> While it is a sensible move for some local councils to come together in combined authorities, some of these now look remarkably similar to the English Metropolitan Country Councils <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Local_Government_Act_1985">abolished in 1986</a> by a previous Conservative government. Creating a more efficient profile of local governments in Australia is a challenge many state and territory governments shy away from.</p></li>
<li><p><strong>They use smarter tools for making infrastructure investment decisions.</strong> There is certainly scope for making infrastructure decisions on the basis of more comprehensive and rigorous criteria. It is somewhat incongruous, though, to prosecute a localism agenda while at the same time insisting on assessment by a central unit located within the Treasury.</p></li>
<li><p><strong>They unlock innovative financing.</strong> The NAO review found that ministers often quickly published high-level ambitions, sometimes before departmental officials had agreed to specific funding packages. Haven’t we learnt to be cautious of policy rhetoric outstripping careful implementation planning?</p></li>
<li><p><strong>They help join up economic, social and sustainability goals.</strong> While the goals might be joined up – an excellent ambition – it has proved extremely difficult to set up evaluation frameworks that can demonstrate with any rigour what the long-term impacts are and what would have happened without the deals.</p></li>
<li><p><strong>They promote powerful political leadership.</strong> Directly elected mayors are already common in some parts of Australia and local councils are typically much smaller than in the UK. Whether a formal partnership of local councils in Australia would find it easy to allow one mayor to be first among equals is a moot point.</p></li>
<li><p><strong>They promote financial literacy skills at the local level.</strong> City Deals did not provide any extra funding to build local management capacity. Local partners were expected to pool their resources to achieve this. The NAO concluded that this approach was not sustainable in the context of continuing reductions in central funding to local government.</p></li>
<li><p><strong>They rely less on inefficient taxes.</strong> Without specifying what these inefficient taxes might be, we can safely assume this approach won’t involve any reform of negative gearing or capital gains tax on property holdings.</p></li>
</ol>
<h2>New titles, same old song</h2>
<p>City Deals have been sold in the UK as a significantly new approach to urban policy, but they look remarkably similar to measures that have been promoted over the last 40 years. </p>
<p>Every UK urban policy initiative introduced since the mid-1970s has spoken of the importance of partnerships, cross-departmental co-ordination, multi-sectoral intervention and local leadership. While the titles of these initiatives may have changed, the song has remained the same.</p>
<p>And here lies the biggest challenge. We know that:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>the problems are inter-related and the all levels of government need to work productively together and with other sectors;</p></li>
<li><p>departmental silos within government get in the way of strategic planning; and</p></li>
<li><p>scarce public resources need to be invested wisely. </p></li>
</ul>
<p>And we know that to overcome these problems we need a much greater degree of policy stability and long-term, bipartisan commitment. What we do not need is to jump on yet another urban policy bandwagon from overseas – one that is already being tinkered with in its country of origin.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/57040/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paul Burton receives funding from the City of Gold Coast and has in the past received funding from the UK government for research on urban policy. He is a founding member of Regional Development Australia, Gold Coast.</span></em></p>The new cities minister apparently shares the Property Council and KPMG’s enthusiasm for the UK ‘City Deals’ model, but he should look more closely at this ‘tried and tested’ model before adopting it.Paul Burton, Professor of Urban Management and Planning & Director, Urban Research Program, Griffith UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/557682016-03-14T19:13:24Z2016-03-14T19:13:24ZMemo to our latest cities minister: here’s what needs to be done<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/114383/original/image-20160309-22132-14nsnos.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The new assistant minister for cities, Angus Taylor, has expressed a 'deep belief that consultation and proper public debate gets to wise outcomes'.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/crawfordforum/21099615426/in/photolist-hWYgAw-cjcCHy-qbtnYq-cjcoew-xeW7BM-y9v3yS-cQnUV3-cQnWhA-tNpxjR-cQom2W-Ba3NqC-xeNbu3">flickr/Crawford Forum</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When Malcolm Turnbull became prime minister last September and announced there was to be a minister for cities and the built environment, many were pleasantly surprised. The <a href="http://www.liberal.org.au/latest-news/2013/09/05/final-update-federal-coalition-election-policy-commitments">Coalition’s 2013 election platform</a> made the briefest mention of cities and proposed only a program of investment in urban roads and national highways to ease congestion. It seemed then that the traditional antipathy towards urban policy from the conservative side of politics was set to remain.</p>
<p>So, Turnbull’s innovation agenda, which included this new focus on cities, was <a href="https://theconversation.com/hopes-of-a-new-urban-age-survive-ministers-fall-52975">welcomed in many quarters</a>. Perhaps now we would see concerted policy attention given to the <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Latestproducts/3218.0Main%20Features152013-14?opendocument&tabname=Summary&prodno=3218.0&issue=2013-14&num=&view=">places where most of us live</a>, work, study and play. </p>
<p>Over the next few months, the new cities minister, Jamie Briggs, undertook extensive consultation and discussion around Australia. But this process had not produced a clear statement of government policy by the time he was <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-12-29/mal-brough-and-jamie-briggs-stand-down-from-frontbench/7058266">obliged to offer his resignation</a>, just after Christmas. </p>
<p>One of Briggs’ last major speeches was to the <a href="http://soacconference.com.au/">State of Australian Cities conference</a> in December. He described his ambition for greater co-ordination among federal agencies and between levels of government and greater collaboration between government, the private sector and urban researchers. </p>
<p>However, apart from Briggs’ passing references to trying to capture some of the value uplift associated with public investment in infrastructure, we were none the wiser about the substance of an embryonic national urban policy. </p>
<h2>A new broom?</h2>
<p>Briggs’ successor is <a href="https://ministers.dpmc.gov.au/taylor">Angus Taylor</a>, who enjoys the slightly different title of <a href="https://theconversation.com/turnbull-makes-necessity-the-mother-of-opportunity-54702">assistant minister for cities and digital transformation</a>, sitting within the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet rather than in Greg Hunt’s Environment Department. </p>
<p>With Taylor having been in the job for less than a month, we have not yet heard much detail of his views on cities and urban policy. But <a href="https://ministers.dpmc.gov.au/taylor/2016/abc-radio-am-programme-interview-michael-brissenden">he has said</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I’m the assistant minister for cities, not the assistant minister for inner cities, or even capital cities …</p>
</blockquote>
<p>And to fulfil his “deep belief that consultation and proper public debate gets to wise outcomes”, what advice might we offer to the new assistant minister? Here are some suggestions to be going on with.</p>
<h2>Dear assistant minister,</h2>
<p>Congratulations on your appointment. Many who recognise the importance of cities to how well we live are pleased that the prime minister continues to show a commitment to building policy in this field. We trust that you will be able to lead this process and overcome <a href="https://theconversation.com/without-a-national-cities-policy-who-joins-all-the-planning-dots-24634">the policy neglect</a> that has been <a href="https://theconversation.com/urban-policy-could-the-federal-government-finally-get-cities-47858">evident for some time</a>.</p>
<p>You have rightly pointed out that Australian cities are many and varied and although we do not have a clear definition of what constitutes a city, we should not be preoccupied with what happens within the inner areas of some of our capital cities. </p>
<p>No doubt you will be aware that previous federal urban policy initiatives have tended to focus on what happens within our cities and this is important. But too often it has been at the expense of any serious attention to the overall pattern of settlements across the country and to <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Paul_Burton3/contributions">relations between cities</a>. </p>
<p>Now would be a good time to rectify this and develop a truly national policy on settlements and cities.</p>
<p>We expect that Australia’s population <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/lookup/3222.0Media%20Release12012%20(base)%20to%202101">will double by 2075</a> if current assumptions about fertility, life expectancy and migration hold. While the validity of these assumptions will always provoke public debate, it is unlikely that the population will not continue to grow. </p>
<p>It is incumbent on the federal government to think about where this growing (and ageing) population will live and work; you have a critical role in stimulating this thinking. </p>
<p>You might take the view that the market is best placed to anticipate where people want to live and provide accordingly. But those decisions have consequences, especially for the provision of infrastructure such as roads, public transport, schools and hospitals. </p>
<p>And you have already indicated that the distribution of economic activity – and <a href="https://ministers.dpmc.gov.au/taylor/2016/cities-agenda-focus-access-local-jobs-affordable-housing-and-liveability">especially access to local jobs</a> – is one of the biggest challenges facing Australia’s cities, large and small.</p>
<h2>A national spatial plan is needed</h2>
<p>Local councils and state and territory governments already prepare spatial plans for their areas. These aim to anticipate where growth might occur and what its wider impacts might be. These plans and strategies enjoy varied success, but few would argue that we should abandon spatial planning. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/114385/original/image-20160309-22114-xb9ufq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/114385/original/image-20160309-22114-xb9ufq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/114385/original/image-20160309-22114-xb9ufq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=857&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/114385/original/image-20160309-22114-xb9ufq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=857&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/114385/original/image-20160309-22114-xb9ufq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=857&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/114385/original/image-20160309-22114-xb9ufq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1077&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/114385/original/image-20160309-22114-xb9ufq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1077&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/114385/original/image-20160309-22114-xb9ufq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1077&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">If the government can produce a development plan for northern Australia, there’s no reason not to produce a plan for the whole country.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://industry.gov.au/ONA/WhitePaper/index.html">Commonwealth Office of Northern Australia</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>There are no obvious reasons, therefore, why the federal government should not also develop a spatially-aware national policy for settlements. This does not mean that you, minister, should be responsible for approving state or local government plans, or for signing off on development approvals – unless they were of national significance. But it might mean that you are able to build a national perspective within government on where growth should be encouraged or discouraged and where government investment in critical infrastructure might be targeted.</p>
<p>The government already has a <a href="http://industry.gov.au/ONA/WhitePaper/index.html">plan for northern Australia</a>. You have the opportunity to help it develop a settlement and investment plan for all of Australia.</p>
<p>This will not be an easy task. Many believe the federal government has no role to play in the planning and governance of our cities. This overlooks the fact that your colleagues in government make decisions every day that have spatial implications and urban impacts. </p>
<p>The new policy commitment to cities that you embody provides an important opportunity to make these processes more explicit and to plan accordingly. I wish you all the very best in this difficult task.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/55768/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paul Burton was the organising committee chair of the State of Australian Cities national conference held in the Gold Coast in December 2015.</span></em></p>Effective development planning must anticipate where growth might occur and its wider impacts. So, if the federal government is serious about cities policy, it needs a proper settlements plan.Paul Burton, Professor of Urban Management and Planning & Director, Urban Research Program, Griffith UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/529752016-01-13T19:10:49Z2016-01-13T19:10:49ZHopes of a new urban age survive minister’s fall<p>The <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/minister-jamie-briggs-quits-malcolm-turnbulls-government-after-incident-abroad-20151229-glw7md.html">resignation</a> of Australia’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/urban-policy-could-the-federal-government-finally-get-cities-47858">first</a> minister for cities and the built environment after just 99 days is a setback for federal leadership in these areas. Yet enough momentum and goodwill have been generated to keep the flag flying. The greatest hope is that an urban consciousness in national public policy will be lodged permanently.</p>
<p>Even before state planning ministers assemble within months to hammer out the ground rules for federal engagement, the mutual understanding will be that the states are Australia’s primary urban governments.</p>
<p>In August 1945, a conference of Commonwealth and state ministers in Canberra confirmed that arrangement. The states rejected a generous proposal for a central planning bureau to provide advice, training and information resources plus cover half the costs of employing technical experts to assist local authorities.</p>
<p>Prime Minister Ben Chifley’s <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books?id=3cknaR91bXUC&pg=PA221&lpg=PA221&dq=Chifley+Coombs+%E2%80%9Cthe+matter+ought+to+be+left+to+the+states%E2%80%9D&source=bl&ots=EME-7APVVJ&sig=Yojh5l-fwo8Ie2q6dbHTzR-80SI&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiMooib-KLKAhUhY6YKHeAjCHIQ6AEIGzAA#v=onepage&q=Chifley%20Coombs%20%E2%80%9Cthe%20matter%20ought%20to%20be%20left%20to%20the%20states%E2%80%9D&f=false">summation</a> sealed the fate of the bold reconstruction initiative hatched by Nugget Coombs:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>… the matter ought to be left to the states.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>How cities became ‘orphans of public policy’</h2>
<p>Regardless, the federal government has retained a periodic interest in cities, with mixed outcomes. Historically, most initiatives have been linked to Labor. </p>
<p>Gough Whitlam’s Department of Urban and Regional Development (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Department_of_Urban_and_Regional_Development">DURD</a>, 1972-75) injected valuable locational and equity perspectives into policy. However, a big-spending command, control and co-ordinate mission proved problematic.</p>
<p>Bob Hawke delivered <a href="http://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/BN/1011/CityPlanning#_Toc280273573">AMCORD</a> and <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books?id=smCRlqAAGEgC&pg=PA69&lpg=PA69&dq=%22Green+Street%22+Hawke+government&source=bl&ots=4ManO0USEk&sig=faYZAHDW2COX77oV5aibEDYxnjk&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjg2Nej96LKAhVELqYKHeGhBYcQ6AEINTAE#v=onepage&q=%22Green%20Street%22%20Hawke%20government&f=false">Green Street</a> as best-practice guidelines for residential development. This helped change the culture of the development industry. But the Hawke government’s main legacy, driven by Deputy Prime Minister Brian Howe, was <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books?id=UhMVMEQv6okC&pg=PA83&dq=%E2%80%98Building+Better+Cities%E2%80%99+1991-96&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwil5ZqK-aLKAhVGqqYKHVWUDT0Q6AEIGzAA#v=onepage&q=%E2%80%98Building%20Better%20Cities%E2%80%99%201991-96&f=false">Building Better Cities</a>, centred on strategic housing, environmental and infrastructure projects.</p>
<p>Paul Keating gave us the <a href="https://pmtranscripts.dpmc.gov.au/release/transcript-9020">Urban Design Task Force</a> (1994) and the Australian Urban and Regional Development Review (1995) of federal programs for infrastructure, planning and transport.</p>
<p>By the time of the Rudd-Gillard governments, an actual <a href="http://infrastructureaustralia.gov.au/policy-publications/publications/Our-Cities-Our-Future-2011.aspx">National Urban Policy</a> emerged to guide public intervention and private investment. Its quartet of themes remain widely accepted: productivity, sustainability, liveability and governance.</p>
<p>The Coalition’s contributions have been more muted. </p>
<p>The enduring love affair was between Robert Menzies and Canberra. The capital received extraordinary largesse to become an exemplar of modernist architecture, design and planning. Most everywhere else was ignored. </p>
<p>Late in his term, William McMahon <a href="https://pmtranscripts.dpmc.gov.au/release/transcript-2691">instituted</a> a National Urban and Regional Development Authority, which lingered as a commission for new cities alongside DURD. </p>
<p>The Fraser government wound down Labor’s perceived excesses but still found a rationale for inquiries into the Commonwealth and the urban environment (1978) and a <a href="http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/13479689?q&versionId=45288253">pioneering study</a> on urban environmental indicators (1983). John Howard offered various charters and best practice initiatives, notably the <a href="http://alga.asn.au/?ID=157">Development Assessment Forum</a> (1998).</p>
<p>Cities have been called “<a href="http://www.afr.com/news/politics/national/cities--those-orphans-of-public-policy--need-a-voice-20141016-11bx10">orphans of public policy</a>”, so the decisive and acclaimed entry of the Turnbull government into the fray is remarkable. Malcolm Turnbull has the credibility, nous and drive to supplant Tony Abbott as the first infrastructure prime minister. In a sense, Abbott ignored cities – except to champion motorways – at his peril.</p>
<h2>Turnbull invigorates urban agenda</h2>
<p>Turnbull’s transformative move has been to declare officially what has been long known: cities are “<a href="http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2015/10/11/turnbull-i-want-be-infrastructure-prime-minister">crucibles</a>” of innovation and enterprise.</p>
<p>Productive cities are smart, innovative, prosperous and great places to live. Less productive cities are accordingly less liveable, sustainable and connected.</p>
<p>While a new cities minister will lay claim to one ear of Turnbull, wife Lucy will command the other. A former lord mayor and “city expert” adviser to the COAG Reform Council, she chairs both the <a href="http://www.sydney.org.au/">Committee for Sydney</a> and the NSW government’s new <a href="http://www.planning.nsw.gov.au/Plans-for-Your-Area/Sydney/A-Plan-for-Growing-Sydney/Greater-Sydney-Commission/">Greater Sydney Commission</a>.</p>
<p>The problems of Australian cities are well documented: density (the drawbacks of low joined by the challenges of high), transport (needing greater mass transit connectivity and walkability while reducing dependence on cars), housing (affordability and variety), inequality (divided by income, health and mobility), the spatial mismatch between jobs and homes, fractured metropolitan governance, open space, environment, heritage, design. </p>
<p>Australia’s “broken cities”, to quote the Grattan Institute report <a href="https://grattan.edu.au/report/city-limits-why-australias-cities-are-broken-and-how-we-can-fix-them/">City Limits</a>, are:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>… caught between the three tiers of Australian government, hardly registering on the agenda of many politicians.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>What to do next?</h2>
<p>The solutions are wickedly challenging. In December, the then-minister, Jamie Briggs, distilled the state of play in his <a href="https://www.environment.gov.au/minister/briggs/2015/speeches/sp20151211.html">keynote address</a> to the <a href="http://soacconference.com.au/">State of Australian Cities conference</a>. The Commonwealth was not set to take over from the states, create new bureaucracies or become a “planning approver”. Rather, there would be better co-ordination between federal agencies and across all tiers of government. </p>
<p>Briggs flagged collaboration with the private sector, researchers, and the wider community. He spoke of the need to secure “better outcomes” and “measure our performance”. The gaze was on the long run and locking in agreed planning and co-ordination of projects.</p>
<p>Smarter, more flexible and adaptable financial arrangements will come into play. The buzzwords “value uplift” and “value capture” pinpointed the need to extend federal intervention beyond cash handouts. This is code for differential tax increment financing to tap into revenues generated by rising property prices from infrastructure improvements. </p>
<p>Labor’s National Urban Policy framework will need to be revisited. The way forward is through intergovernmental agreements that link specified outcomes to robust and streamlined planning systems. These will need to connect up issues of housing, employment, environment and infrastructure.</p>
<p>This agenda has been taking shape for some time. Bellwethers include:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Productivity Commission inquiries into <a href="http://www.pc.gov.au/inquiries/completed/regulation-benchmarking-planning">planning, zoning and development assessments</a> (2011) and <a href="http://www.pc.gov.au/inquiries/completed/infrastructure">public infrastructure</a> (2014), and the <a href="http://competitionpolicyreview.gov.au/">Harper review</a> of competition policy (2015), all highlighting the need to reform land-use planning; </p></li>
<li><p><a href="http://www.consultaustralia.com.au/docs/default-source/infrastructure/Tomorrow_s_Cities_Today_-_Short_Form.pdf?sfvrsn=0">Tomorrow’s Cities Today</a> (2014) by Consult Australia; </p></li>
<li><p>the Australian Sustainable Built Environment Council (ASBEC) report, <a href="http://www.asbec.asn.au/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/150707-ASBEC-Media-Release-Investing-in-Cities-Essential-for-Productivity.pdf">Investing in Cities</a> (2015), aimed at “maximising the benefits created by the world’s most urbanised nation”; and</p></li>
<li><p><a href="http://www.linkplace.com.au/#!coag/cfa9">COAG’s review</a> of metropolitan planning strategies to ensure matching and orderly infrastructure provision (2011).</p></li>
</ul>
<h2>Ideas and inspirations abound</h2>
<p>Several seers lit the ideological torches for the new infrastructural urbanism. Ed Glaeser’s <a href="http://www.economist.com/node/18111592">Triumph of the City</a> is a paean to proximity, density and light-handed regulation. In <a href="http://www.creativeclass.com/richard_florida/books/the_rise_of_the_creative_class">The Rise of the Creative Class</a>, Richard Florida broadcast the competitive advantage of attracting human capital. Enrico Moretti’s <a href="https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/insights/enrico-moretti-geography-jobs">The New Geography of Jobs</a> (2012) demonstrated the multiplier effects of urban “brain hubs”.</p>
<p>In the UK, the Cameron government’s <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/opinion/new-deal-for-cities-will-mean-a-great-deal-for-the-nation/news-story/47ae016c79180f329b993bcaf479a2bf">City Deals</a> policy highlights an attractive model of bespoke multi-target programs for competing cities. It is aimed squarely at economic growth underpinned by enhanced tax revenue from development.</p>
<p>While the cities component of the new portfolio is crystallising publicly, what of the built environment? In exploring a model that works for the Coalition another exemplar is the UK’s <a href="http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20110118095356/http:/www.cabe.org.uk/">Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment</a> (1999-2011). Although emasculated in a purge of quangos, it was widely respected as an adviser and advocate for quality design and valuation of the public realm. </p>
<p>Run leanly and through a similar mix of design reviews, publications, research forums and an adviser network, an Australian adaptation could assume a timely leadership position. It would be a vehicle for many voices to be heard, not just the property and development sector. Turnbull tacitly recognised the value of this when he <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/what-will-our-politicians-be-reading-and-watching-over-the-summer-break-20151211-gll4j1.html">announced</a> that his summer reading included Marcus Westbury’s primer for DIY urbanism, <a href="http://www.creatingcities.net/">Creating Cities</a>.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/X32TAPulJkM?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Marcus Westbury talks about the creative renewal of his home city of Newcastle.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Quite a few federal activities might be connected under this umbrella. These include <a href="https://infrastructure.gov.au/infrastructure/pab/soac/index.aspx">State of Australian Cities</a> reporting; the National Australian Built Environment Ratings System (<a href="http://www.nabers.gov.au/public/WebPages/Home.aspx">NABERS</a>); various environmental policies including management of national and Commonwealth heritage lists; leased federal airports, which have become development hotspots; the <a href="https://www.nationalcapital.gov.au/">National Capital Authority</a>; the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute (<a href="http://www.ahuri.edu.au/">AHURI</a>) and the Australian Urban Research Infrastructure Network (<a href="http://aurin.org.au/">AURIN</a>). </p>
<p>Given the importance of evidence-driven policy, it is unfortunate that urban-related research is under-supported by the Australian Research Council. It barely registers in its <a href="http://www.arc.gov.au/science-research-priorities">research priorities</a>.</p>
<p>Urban policy is complex because it potentially links up and intrudes into many arenas of government. The cities ministry and the new interdepartmental <a href="http://www.governmentnews.com.au/2015/10/new-cities-and-built-environment-taskforce/">taskforce</a> sit within the Environment Department overseen by Greg Hunt. As shadow minister for cities, Anthony Albanese has <a href="http://anthonyalbanese.com.au/speech-to-the-the-rail-tram-and-bus-union-national-conference-the-politics-of-building-better-cities">warned</a> of “convoluted administrative arrangements”, with five ministers sharing responsibilities for cities and infrastructure policy.</p>
<p>Former professor of public administration Martin Painter <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1467-8500.1979.tb00877.x/abstract;jsessionid=D5866569596B991CEF8488B509417D9F.f01t03?userIsAuthenticated=false&deniedAccessCustomisedMessage=">identified</a> the “impossibility of urban policy” because of insoluble administrative problems flowing from taking too comprehensive a position. His advice was “the simpler the better”.</p>
<p>Briggs’ successor will likely continue down the same path with a discussion paper, a national forum with the prime minister speaking, and that meeting of planning ministers to talk through approaches and decisions. There are now huge expectations that a new urban age has dawned in Australia.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/52975/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Robert Freestone does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Cities have been called “orphans of public policy”, so Malcolm Turnbull’s decisive entry into the fray is remarkable. He has the credibility, nous and drive to deliver a national urban policy agenda.Robert Freestone, Professor of Planning, Faculty of Built Environment, UNSW SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/488252015-10-27T19:19:58Z2015-10-27T19:19:58ZLiveable cities: who decides what that means and how we achieve it?<p><em><strong>Foundation essay:</strong> The Conversation has appointed a cities and policy editor to lead our coverage of the myriad issues affecting the urban centres where nine out of ten Australians live. This article sets the scene for exploring the many challenges facing cities today, as well as presenting solutions to the problems and highlighting the opportunities of life in the modern city.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has created a new ministry for cities and the built environment. Announcing his decision last month, <a href="http://www.malcolmturnbull.com.au/media/Ministry">he said</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Liveable, vibrant cities are absolutely critical to our prosperity. (They are) where the bulk of our economic growth can be found … (and they are) economic assets. (M)aking sure that Australia is a wonderful place to live in, that our cities and indeed our regional centres are wonderful places to live, is an absolutely key priority of every level of government. Because the most valuable capital in the world today is not financial capital … (it’s) human capital. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>While the question of what is a <a href="https://theconversation.com/melbourne-the-worlds-most-liveable-city-not-exactly-17677">“liveable city”</a> inspires endless debate, less thought has been given to making urban planning a more democratic process. </p>
<h2>Natural evolution and the birth of urban planning</h2>
<p>In the 18th century, one of London’s <a href="http://www.londonlives.org/static/Policing.jsp">pioneer police magistrates</a>, Henry Fielding, strove to keep the streets of the city clear of crime and vice. But in the course of his work Fielding also went out of his way to help prostitutes and petty criminals. He understood that the city was made up of all sorts of people with different values and cultures. </p>
<p>Fielding was living in a period when London was experiencing a <a href="https://www.oldbaileyonline.org/static/Population-history-of-london.jsp">population boom</a>, going from just over 500,000 in 1700 to 900,000 in the 1801 census. </p>
<p>Today, <a href="https://www.un.org/development/desa/en/news/population/world-urbanization-prospects.html">54% of the world’s population</a> lives in cities, which have historically drawn people from myriad economic, social and cultural backgrounds. Cities have always been places of integration, intense population pressures, migration flows, cultural interactions and variations in socioeconomic positioning and values.</p>
<p>Fielding was interested in making London a liveable city, although the term would have been anachronistic to him. Yet it appears almost ubiquitous in contemporary policymaking, urban planning and in the public imagination. A liveable city has become the highest form of praise we can give to a city space. </p>
<p>But liveable for whom? The implication is that ordinary people should be able to inhabit cities. Yet how governments generate affordable housing, and even who is allowed to have a say in the planning and development of a city, is often badly developed. </p>
<h2>Where does democracy fit in?</h2>
<p>Is a liveable city a democratic city? Who gets to participate in the process of governing and shaping a city?</p>
<p>In the early 20th century, modern cities were thought to evolve according to “natural” processes, combining migration, growth and the urban form. Urban sociologists from the Chicago School <a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/2084475?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents">outlined</a> how cities evolved like living social organisms balancing conflict and co-operation, density, heterogeneity and tolerance. Ernest Burgess even <a href="http://isites.harvard.edu/fs/docs/icb.topic1050993.files/2-15%20-%20Ernest%20Burgess%20-%20The%20growth%20of%20the%20City.pdf">suggested</a> that the very form of the modern city developed in predictable fashion as a set of “concentric rings”, with production and workers’ cottages in a singular inner centre and more affluent suburbs at the extremities.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/99617/original/image-20151026-18421-14fkgz2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/99617/original/image-20151026-18421-14fkgz2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/99617/original/image-20151026-18421-14fkgz2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/99617/original/image-20151026-18421-14fkgz2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/99617/original/image-20151026-18421-14fkgz2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/99617/original/image-20151026-18421-14fkgz2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/99617/original/image-20151026-18421-14fkgz2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/99617/original/image-20151026-18421-14fkgz2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A failure to plan contributes to urban sprawl as cities spread along major highways.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urban_sprawl#/media/File:Los_Angeles_-_Echangeur_autoroute_110_105.JPG">Wikimedia Commons/Remi Jouan</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Such ideas have given way to a more complex depiction of post-modern cities, incorporating multiple (or no) centres, historical communities, development interests and urban planning. Urban planning is seen as an essential technical science. A <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/75353.Edge_City">failure to plan</a> is associated with dystopian images of suburban sprawl, of the “exopolis” without facilities or a civic centre, or of “edge cities” growing like lichen along the intersections of major highways.</p>
<p>Appropriate planning is aimed at building the best cities to enhance quality of life and attract the elite of the global workforce. We strive to find a formula for the most liveable city and potentially top the <a href="http://www.eiu.com/public/topical_report.aspx?campaignid=Liveability2015">EIU’s Global Liveability Ranking</a> (which Melbourne achieved in 2015). </p>
<p>Urban planners explore how cities can be sustainable and how a continuous food and water supply can be ensured, but they also deal with concerns about over-population, migration and what happens when poverty is concentrated in certain areas, which can increase the potential for crime.</p>
<h2>Cities as economic sites or liveable places</h2>
<p>Soon after his appointment, the new cities minister, Jamie Briggs, <a href="http://www.jamiebriggs.com.au/MayoMedia/Media/tabid/64/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/1675/Media-Release-Appointment-to-the-Ministry-Monday-21-September-2015.aspx">conveyed</a> his vision of cities as economic sites:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Cities are one of the great drivers of our economy. Most Australians live in our cities and the majority of businesses are based in or around them. They are the engine room of commerce, infrastructure, innovation, the arts, science and development. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>While it’s true that historically people have been drawn to cities because of the economic opportunities they offered, such claims disguise both the difficulties for urban migrants and environments that economic opportunities have created, as well as the negative implications for those remaining in rural areas.</p>
<p>Before 1871, migrants from across France settled in Paris as a consequence of its economic opportunities and political importance. The social disconnection implicit in such movement became evident in Emile Durkheim’s 1897 <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58095.On_Suicide">study of French suicide rates</a> and the breakdown in traditional forms of social solidarity. </p>
<p>Migration also played out broader social inequalities across the nation in urban space. People grouped in neighbourhoods based on shared languages and dialects that related to their home regions. Within those districts, rich and poor shared the same buildings, their wealth demarcated by their positioning in the building.</p>
<p>Perhaps this was better for social integration than many modern environments, but a focus on the city as an economic space can lose sight of how cities are made liveable. Social relationships are key to central ideas of safety, belonging and ownership. </p>
<p>In 1903, Georg Simmel <a href="http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/content/bpl_images/content_store/sample_chapter/0631225137/bridge.pdf">described the metropolis</a> as a blasé, rationalised space that alienates people from people and feelings, in that: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>… punctuality, calculability, exactness are forced upon life by the complexity and extension of metropolitan existence.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Sixty years later, however, Jane Jacobs <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30833.The_Death_and_Life_of_Great_American_Cities">defended</a> the city as a myriad of communities in that:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>… the trust of a city street is formed over time from many, many little public sidewalk contacts.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>What makes the ideal Australian city?</h2>
<p>Is it Canberra, which divides public opinion with its low density, its roundabouts and planned streets? Is it Sydney or Melbourne with their high-density cultural vibrancy? Or is it the small country towns, which often appear communal in ways larger cities do not?</p>
<p>We often think of the attachment we have towards cities in emotional terms; we love or hate a place, we feel comfortable or settled in some spaces but not in others. We instinctively speak about cities in terms of their emotional impact on our lives. </p>
<p>Even Wordsworth, renowned for his love of nature and solitude, spoke of his emotional attachment to the city. Reflecting on his first sight of London, he <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books?id=CQ73AQAAQBAJ&pg=PA263&lpg=PA263&dq=%22A+weight+of+ages+did+at+once+descend%22&source=bl&ots=0n0Uxkijdk&sig=FINPIn8wP8rYzCSvvwpFOhVjFek&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CCMQ6AEwAmoVChMItYmGp_jeyAIVpl2mCh1ZUQjv#v=onepage&q=%22A%20weight%20of%20ages%20did%20at%20once%20descend%22&f=false">wrote</a>: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>A weight of ages did at once descend </p>
<p>Upon my heart – no thought embodied, no</p>
<p>Distinct remembrances, but weight and power, </p>
<p>Power growing with the weight… </p>
</blockquote>
<p>For Wordsworth, as for others then and now, the city inspired a complex set of emotions.</p>
<h2>What the new ministry needs to do</h2>
<p>First, it needs to recognise the cultural, aesthetic and emotional elements of cities. It needs to acknowledge the importance of cultural activity ahead of the pursuit of commerce and the idea of cities as “economic assets”.</p>
<p>The aesthetic qualities of space are crucial to the notion of a liveable city. These became important in the 18th century with a growing appreciation of the ways that environment shaped the self and emotional behaviours. </p>
<p>To produce “civilised” behaviours in their populace, urban planners laid out wide streets, introduced sewage and flowing water, added street lamps and began to police both the behaviour and cleanliness of the urban environment. This was not just about practical benefits to the population, but reflected a strong belief that surrounding yourself with beauty enabled people to be better versions of themselves. </p>
<p>Such ideas remain important to the present. Historians of emotions spend a lot of time thinking about how cities and spaces create emotions, historically but with implications for modern spaces. Urban planning (or its lack) can produce emotions in inhabitants, whether that is the disgust at poor sewage and disease that inspired reform in 18th-century Copenhagen or 20th-century Sydney, the anger and tensions caused by ghettoisation of minority groups, or the political unrest caused by poor housing and overcrowding. </p>
<p>Perhaps most famously, cities have provided “outcast” individuals, such as gay men and lesbians, with a space to create a community, to find affirmation of their feelings and to build pride and political identity. A narrow focus on the city as a driver of the economic, without an appreciation of how the urban shapes those who live within it can act as a challenge to social stability and personal wellbeing.</p>
<p>Historically, the use of space in cities has been a matter of pride, displaying important cultural and architectural landmarks, but also an issue of public health and safety, preventing the spread of diseases, fires and crime. Our historical knowledge of cities can be enormously helpful in informing current ideas about city planning by showing how people have reacted emotionally to city spaces in the past.</p>
<p>The answer to the question of what makes a city liveable is complex and constantly evolving. Because of this we should be insisting on answers about what will be happening to Australia’s cities in the next few decades.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/48825/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Merridee L. Bailey receives funding from the Australian Research Council. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Amy Milka receives funding from the Australian Research Council. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Craig Lyons receives funding from the Australian Research Council.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Lemmings receives funding from the Australian Research Council. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gordon Raeburn receives funding from the Australian Research Council.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Katie Barclay receives funding from the Australian Research Council.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Roger Patulny receives funding from the Australian Research Council.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Thomas Bristow receives funding from the Australian Research Council.</span></em></p>A liveable city has become the highest form of praise we can give to a city space. But we need to discuss what that means and who gets to participate in the process of governing and shaping a city.Merridee L. Bailey, Senior Research Fellow, ARC Centre of Excellence for the History of Emotions, University of AdelaideAmy Milka, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for the History of Emotions, University of AdelaideCraig Lyons, MSc Candidate in Human Geography, School of Geosciences, University of SydneyDavid Lemmings, Professor of History, University of AdelaideGordon Raeburn, Postdoctoral Fellow in the History of Emotions, The University of MelbourneKatie Barclay, Research Fellow, ARC Centre of Excellence for the History of Emotions, University of AdelaideRoger Patulny, Lecturer in Sociology, University of WollongongThomas Bristow, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.