Page 3022 - Week 10 - Tuesday, 15 September 2015
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leisure activity; town centres that reflect a confident, bold and ready city; and a vibrant and dynamic CBD. We have established an urban renewal portfolio and appointed a coordinator-general. We have a budget that invests in urban renewal and invests in Canberra.
More recently we have established a team focusing on city and town centre activation under the Coordinator-General, Urban Renewal. Canberra’s CBD and our town centres are some of the key places where Canberrans come together and help create our identity as a city. They will continue to be essential as we continue to grow, strengthen our economy and live closer to where we work and play. The government is committed to these hubs as key centres of activity where people live, work, shop and visit. Our town centres and hubs will be strengthened through a range of urban renewal projects as well as through transport renewal through capital metro.
The Canberra time to talk exercise last year and the year before showed loudly and clearly the Canberra community’s desire for “place making”. Canberrans told us the city of the future would need to grow into the legacy that we received at self-government. Through time to talk Canberrans told us they wanted a city with more variety; more homes near employment and services; mixed-use developments to complement our leafy garden suburbs and single-purpose commercial zones; and better uses of our existing urban areas in a city that reflects their needs and visions.
Urban renewal is how we will deliver the city Canberrans told us they want—a vibrant and livable city with improved competitiveness, productivity, livability and economic viability. Urban renewal is how we will use our existing infrastructure to increase investment, create new markets for new businesses and service new facilities and new residents.
“Urban renewal” is somewhat of a dry term, but at its heart it is about people. It is about creating high quality public spaces that promote health, happiness and wellbeing. It is about shaping the natural and the built environments to improve social interaction and improve our community’s quality of life. Urban renewal is about how we shape our city to reflect who we are we are—confident people, bold people and a city that is ready and has earned its position amongst the greatest places to live in the world. Urban renewal is how we will make people the centre of our places and how we will connect our communities together, because a connected city will give us an even greater sense of identity and belonging.
As our city grows towards a population of half a million people, we need to shape that growth so that we can hold onto the best of our past as we grasp the opportunities of our future. We need urban renewal to make sure the Canberra of the future is a place that is livable, resilient and connected, just as it is today. In the 2015-16 budget we have shown our determination to see our urban renewal agenda shape our city for the future. We dedicated $10.1 million to construct a new waterfront precinct at West Basin.
Construction of the first stage will commence later this year and will include a new park, playground, barbeque facilities and recreation areas at point park on the southern headland of West Basin adjacent to Commonwealth Avenue bridge. There
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