Page 4371 - Week 12 - Wednesday, 25 October 2017
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overall living infrastructure. It is one of the key responses in our preparing for a warming environment and increasing our resilience.
The Territory Plan currently contains provisions relating to Canberra’s tree canopy. These include provisions in the estate development code that require new subdivisions to provide street trees that, at maturity, achieve reasonable summer shade to footpaths and shared paths with regard to heat gain and user comfort.
As part of the implementation of the climate change strategy, the ACT’s planning framework, including the ACT strategic plan, will be reviewed in conjunction with the Territory Plan to ensure that future planning of Canberra, amongst other things, enables the presence of trees to be the norm of what people expect to see in the streets of Canberra. This includes business, recreation and residential areas. The review of the ACT’s strategic plan will have a renewed focus on newly developing areas and the importance of trees as part of the urban fabric as a demonstration of the importance of the landscape, particularly trees, to the sustainability of Canberra.
Madam Deputy Speaker, I am sure that you are aware of the short-term sustainability benefits of trees, including the amelioration of the effects of extreme weather events such as heat waves. While improving sustainability is important to the city, many people love trees as they add to the rich fabric of the city and soften the built environment. In doing so, trees improve the overall amenity of the city and the people who live in and visit it.
The garden city approach to planning has followed a continuous process of refinement to suit changing lifestyle preferences. As we contemplate the growth of Canberra’s population to half a million by 2031, careful thought is required to ensure that planning and design outcomes suit the future needs of this population, yet retain Canberra’s garden city character.
While undertaking consultation on my 2015 statement of planning intent it was evident that the community wants to see the use of water-sensitive urban design and living green infrastructure in our new and renewed urban environments. It was this strong sentiment that led to the inclusion of planning priorities to create sustainable and living neighbourhoods with better transport connections and delivery of high quality public spaces and streets through place-making.
On my recent trip leading a delegation to Europe and Asia as part of the European Union world cities program, I was keen to see how Copenhagen and Singapore, who are at the forefront of creating successful urban open spaces, parks and green infrastructure that respond to people and place, were dealing with this issue, and I was not disappointed. I saw many examples of the significant character and amenity being gained from the use of mature trees to shade private spaces and bicycling areas and the strong will to deliver green infrastructure in new and innovative ways.
I am pleased to say that Canberra is not lagging in this space. The planning and design of our city plays a major role in how much active living we can undertake in our daily routines, and providing comfortable public spaces with good-quality green infrastructure plays a major role in supporting active lifestyles. Active living is a way
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