Caring for Country and Community

From acknowledging Traditional Owners through to the NSW Government Architect’s seminal Connecting with Country framework, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, knowledge, and culture are increasingly foregrounded in urban and environmental planning documents. Yet these important and overdue initiatives sit within a regulatory planning system steeped in British colonial law. This session asks whether and how it is possible to bring about more transformative and restorative First Nations led planning and land management systems and processes.
Image cover: The National Aboriginal Art Gallery by BVN
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Festival of Public Urbanism 2024
Great cities are defined by the quality of their public realm. From parks to civic architecture, well designed public infrastructure supports and enables the social, cultural, and economic dimensions of urban life. But are these public assets, along with public processes of urban governance and planning, under attack? Over the past fifty years key legacies of the modern urban project - such as publicly funded housing and urban infrastructure; or comprehensive planning for new development - have been eroded by waves of political and economic reform. Faith in market based ‘solutions’ has reduced public planning processes to ‘red tape’ and replaced public investment in rental housing with subsidies for private investors and households. At the same time, digital transformation under ‘platformisation’ has seen private corporations able to evade domestic regulations, disrupting every facet of urban life and governance.
The Festival of Public Urbanism will debate these topics and more. Join us to engage with academics, activists, politicians, industry leaders through our program of panel discussions, walking tours, and podcasts across Sydney and Australia.