City Road is revisiting a number of panel discussions from the 2024 Festival of ‘Public’ Urbanism.
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.
Listen back to the debates and discussions that took place at the Festival of ‘Public’ Urbanism.
Can the Private Market Solve Australia’s Housing Crisis?
With housing *the* hot topic this election, a panel of experts at the recent festival of urbanism a panel of experts battled to convince a live audience that the private market could (or could not) solve Australia’s housing crisis.
This debate features:
– The Hon Doug Cameron, Former Senator
– Sharath Mahendran, Urban Planner and creator of YouTube channel Building Beautifully
– Emily Sims, Uralla Shire Council
– Stephanie Barker, Executive Director, Strategy and Engagement, Willowtree Planning
– Luke Cass, editor, Honi Soit Newspaper 2023
– Emeritus Professor Peter Phibbs, Henry Halloran Research Trust, the University of Sydney
Commentary
This debate also features commentary from Michael Koziol, Sydney editor, The Sydney Morning Herald and is chaired by Professor Nicole Gurran, Director, Henry Halloran Research Trust.
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