Brave New World

From the President-Elect

Karl Fender FRAIA

Many in the profession will feel 2009 is a year best left in the past.

Locally, as a Victorian, the year represented one of our darkest hours - being marked by the savagery and destruction of the January bushfires. Homes destroyed, lives lost, families torn apart. Nature out of control.

Nationally, the fall-out of the global financial crisis continued to weigh heavily. Government, developers, builders, architects – all were scarred by its impact. Redundancies were felt across the country, firms sought new ways of practice to survive, and collaborations sprung up. Humanity out of balance.

Globally, it was also a year in which architects nationally and internationally attempted, not always successfully, to prove their relevance to big picture issues and challenges associated with burgeoning population growth, resultant suburban sprawl, climate change and sustainable city design. Humanity and Nature out of balance.

Twelve months on, we’re faced with an entirely different, but encouraging and positive scenario. It’s become clear in discussions with those both within and externally to the profession that architects are increasingly being regarded as agents of change capable of bringing about a sustainable, future built environment. They have the vision and know how to contribute. They must step forward.

All indicators point to the fact we’re now in a new productive phase, in which all the planets are aligning to allow us to do that, and to strengthen the future prospects of those in the profession.

Our alignment with industry partners – strategically driven to produce better outcomes for the Australian built environment - have never been stronger or more fruitful.

Our membership and leading role with the Australian Sustainable Built Environment Council (ASBEC) is evidence of this. In the year ahead, we will continue to make inroads with our partners to produce research designed to encourage more informed debate on issues such as cities of the future, climate change, distributed resources and zero residential emissions. All of this will add to the growing body of evidence supporting the need for more sustainable cities.

Our Built Environment Meets Parliament (BEMP) program is another key example. BEMP is an annual conversation between parliamentarians and industry leaders that showcases the relationship between Australian communities and their built environment.

Some might still find this alliance between the Institute, Planning Institute of Australia, Property Council, Green Building Council of Australia and Consult Australia an assortment of odd bedfellows. On the contrary, it continues to develop as a strong and close collaboration, offering an opportunity to explore the economic, social, and environmental and governance issues that help shape national prosperity.

This year, we’re taking this exchange to the next level, commissioning KPMG to conduct an audit of each of the capital cities metropolitan strategies and how they perform against COAG’s nine key objectives for sustainable cities. To read the Government’s Sustainable Cities report, click here.

This focus is entirely in line with COAG’s strong recent spotlight on the liveability and sustainability of Australian cities, and how we must maximize the potential of the built environment in these regards.

Encouragingly, it’s also in sync with the Commonwealth Government’s and Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s strong overtures in recent times that we must do more, sooner, better, and more collaboratively to improve the quality of our urban spaces.

We are faced with exciting times ahead, full of possibility for us all, and for the profession. We must not let the potentials escape.