Page 4371 - Week 14 - Wednesday, 30 November 1994
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The National Capital Development Commission recognised in a planning context the need for neighbourhood identity when it developed the town centre, group centre and local centre hierarchy. This hierarchy served Canberra well up to the time of self-government, and this concept has been continued and been reflected in the planning principles espoused in the Territory Plan. What is concerning, Madam Speaker, is the fact that the sense of community at a neighbourhood level has seemingly been eroded since self-government, and especially during the life of this Assembly. It is germane, I believe, to consider some of the comments made by Mr Bob Lansdown in his recent residential redevelopment review that was commissioned by the Minister for the Environment, Land and Planning. Mr Lansdown noted:
There was a strong desire expressed to reinforce rather than change the special character of many, especially the older, Canberra neighbourhoods and there were suggestions that the Planning Authority should give more attention to building up a sense of place, as the changes occur, rather than concentrating on design, siting and building standards.
In short, giving the same ... care to the management of change that went into the original neighbourhood planning.
Madam Speaker, the comments made by Bob Lansdown in this report, and indeed the need for the review itself, indicate clearly that the Government has not taken sufficient cognisance of Canberra's existing neighbourhood structure in the course of implementing its 50 : 50 urban consolidation policy. But neighbourhoods are about more than bricks and mortar. While good planning can help create an environment in which a sense of community can develop, and bad planning can substantially impede such development, it is the people of the community and their interaction that really define a neighbourhood.
Madam Speaker, in taking this broader view of what a neighbourhood is, I refer to the Oxford Dictionary which, as well as defining neighbourhood in terms of nearness, or vicinity and district, also defines neighbourhood as a community, friendly relations between neighbours, and neighbourly feeling or conduct. It is in this sense that I use the term "neighbourhood". I regard a neighbourhood as a community of people who are geographically close to each other, who share local amenities, who provide mutual support to each other and who develop a capacity for self-representation. In other words, a neighbourhood is a community which has developed a degree of synergy, a community in which the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.
It is in the area of shared local amenities that I believe that the ACT Government has failed to take full account of the needs of Canberra's neighbourhoods. These local amenities are made up of many facilities and services, including shopping centres, community facilities such as meeting halls, schools, child-care facilities, preschools, health services, community services, roads and parking facilities, accessible public transport, pedestrian and cycle paths, safety, both real and perceived, accessible sporting facilities, playgrounds and public parks and the non-urban environment in general. It is the sum of
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