If there’s one thing that we’ve learned from reading and analysing tens of thousands of comments made on city place making and development projects, it’s that not everyone wants the same thing and that is because everyone wants the same thing: to have it their way.
Throughout our research, and highlighted by a recent project for the City of Melbourne where we analysed feedback for 10 Melbourne neighbourhoods such as Carlton, South Yarra and Kensington, we’ve picked up on some key themes for how people want their cities, neighbourhoods, and streets to develop in the future.
Lots of green space (but still enough roads, car parks, and homes)
Cycleways (also, some definitely want NO cycleways)
Less traffic and congestion (but still the ability to drive where/when needed, and park outside favourite shops)
Affordable housing (but no over-development)
What it comes down to is that people feel passionately about the need for liveable cities. They want greener cities with more open space for residents and to be able to be free from concrete and cramped living. They want cities they can walk around with easy and safe access to work, education, amenities, and entertainment.
BUT
They also want to be able to park their cars outside their houses, and find parking in the city when they go to work, education, and to shop, run errands, or visit people. Many of us want convenient and cheap car access to wherever we feel like going, but with no traffic congestion or cycleways/pedestrians/e-scooters to slow us down.
People (no surprises here) view the world through their own particular individual lens; we want what we want as it will be useful and of benefit to us personally. Many of us want to live in a different world but are not willing to live through the changes that will make it different - particularly if we are not certain that the changes are going to bring what we want.
The reality is that the world is changing; cities are expanding and with that, the needs of the community are also changing. City expansion is coupled with climate change, which will make change even more inevitable and urgent. The major challenge for city planners and designers, then, is to understand people’s priorities but find a way for these to work within our changing world. There are trade-offs we need to make if we want to be able to accommodate more people in our cities without wrecking them, and we really need to think hard about what we are willing to do or not do during this process.
Community engagement is a great tool to help with this, but better communication between planners, councils, and communities throughout the various stages of projects around the reasons for suggesting certain changes can help reduce the tensions.
The best contribution we find ourselves making is understanding and explaining all sides of arguments and identifying the parts that most people want and those that hardly anyone wants. It is also important to identify quick wins and tweaks to plans that can make them more palatable for many more people. Sometimes it is not the majority, or even a group of respondents who have these ideas, a great idea can come from just one person, and we pride ourselves on being able to find those unique gems.