The retirement incomes of many Australians depended on efficient cities, the president of the Building Owners and Managers Association, Brian Pollock, told a conference a Parliament House yesterday.
He said many large institutions invested in non-residential property _ about $30 billion held on behalf of seven million Australians.
It was important that control systems were streamlined and looked at the long-term.
The warring tribes in the city-planning debate must be replaced by co-operation, he said.
He said his organisation, which to date had concentrated on single buildings, had to look at the wider issues of city development and urban design.
“”There is no point in pursuing a narrow sectional interest to the exclusion of other interests,” he said. “”. . . There is much more we can do to work with other stake-holders to bring about change.
The private sector had to do more to present an alternative to the institutions and processes it had been quick to criticise.
Mr Pollock was speaking a a conference organised by BOMA.
In opening the conference, the Deputy Prime Minister, Brian Howe, said urban design was important both in improving the quality of life for Australians and in making Australian cities internationally competitive.
He called for greater co-operation between the three levels of government and the private sector.
John Mant, a consultant to Phillips Fox solicitors and out-going acting commissioner of the Independent Commission Against Corruption, called for a greater unity of purpose, direction and control in urban planning matters.
He said the “”planners” were not really in control of the managing of cities because they had no control over expenditure and revenue which had a large impact on cities.
Further, “”guilds” prevented a multi-disciplinary and coordinated approach.
“”Colonial forces which gave rise to the present fragmented and unaccountable governance of Australia’s cities are still there,” he said.