Architectural vision is being obliterated because of design by committee and the need for the consent of too many bureaucrats and community groups, according to leading Australian architect, Philip Cox.
Mr Cox was speaking at Parliament House yesterday at the launch of Better Cities National Status Report for 1994 by the Deputy Prime Minister, Brain Howe.
Mr Cox said those cities which were celebrated and loved were created by people of design and vision: Wren’s London, Craig’s Edinburgh, Peter the Great’s St Petersburgh, Haussman’s Paris and the Athens of Pericles.
“”Where there is no vision, no plan, the result has always been a confusion of aims and objectives with corresponding urban chaos,” he said. “”It is impossible to have coherent, let alone beautiful cities without idea, philosophy and vision. It is equally impossible for have an aesthetic result unless it is the sole responsibility of somebody for its implementation.
“”This is not to deny the democratic process _ architecture in itself is created by many disciplines . . . however, the result is achieved through singular vision. . . . The main problem in urban design is the plethora of authorities and the reluctance to allow singular vision to come through.
“”Urban design today is achieved by the consent of many organisations, ranging from local interest groups, local government, local government bureaucrats, city planners and city bureaucrats, state planning with their numerous committees and organisations, and finally state ministerial control. The process is long arduous and ineffective.”
Process, rather than the result, became supreme, he said.
Australians now faced a challenge to develop higher densities and more mixed use _ concepts Australians were unfamiliar with.
He praised the Better Cities program for allowing a more co-ordinated approach to urban design. Previously, education, ports, rail, roads, housing and so on were funded and developed separately.
He called for a single planning body answerable directly to government.
The ACT Minister for Planning, Bill Wood, said more community involvement was required in planning.
The autocratic-vs-democratic juxtaposition of views comes several days after Mr Cox came under fire for being unduly defensive to peer and public criticism of his firm’s design of the casino project in Sydney.
Mr Wood defended the participation of Canberra in the Better Cities program despite it being generally newer, smaller and better planned than other capital cities in Australia.
The spurts of growth in Canberra’s history had created problems of infrastructure underuse and other inefficiencies that the program could help address.
The ACT has received about $11 million for infrastructure renewal and other projects in North Canberra.
In all the Commonwealth with be providing $816 million over five years and the states a further $1.8 billion. The government sector amount will be doubled by the private sector.
Mr Howe said the program demonstrated the benefit of co-operation with the states. He cited several projects undertaken by the program as examples of job-creation and reusing inner industrial areas that previously be wasted: the rejuvenation of Honeysuckle in Newcastle; the redevelopment of the Geelong woolstores; and the rejuvenation of Elizabeth in Adelaide.
The program was helping Australians understand that cities were a national priority _ something that was obvious in Asia. The program would help make Australian cities more internationally competitive and efficient and help Australia export its construction skills.