Group members: Angus Munro, Nic Martoo, Nick Gonsalves and Kris-Tanya Louca
Our newly formed group struggled to get our head around what aspects of the government needed improving. We started talking of ideas about connections between outdoor spaces to improve education and how that linked into philosophical thinking from aristotle about democracy.
After some research it was found that Canberra is not a sustainable capital. “…because of our affluence, the density of our city and our location we are consuming at levels which are slightly higher than nationally, and that the land required to maintain our lifestyle is greater than the area of the ACT…”. We moved onto the design of Canberra and how it is hard to locate places and use public transport systems, especially with a lack of connection to parliament house itself.
From the group discussion it was found that there is a lack of connection between government bodies and the people of Australia – especially towards the minority groups. We asked ourselves what would happen if there was more participation from the public in making political decisions, would it happen. It was assumed that the younger generations would not participate. This assumption can be tied down to various influencing factors starting with the lack of education which leads to a lack of interest or a strong connection. If the people are educated on the current topics of interest in society better results will emerge.
We then noticed the urban design of Canberra itself. If we were to be designing a capital city from scratch one of the main design features would be a high density environment with a sanctuary (parliament house) in the centre – similar to Central Park in New York. The same design values of Canberra can still exist – the idea of building into the hill and landscaping over the top was so that people could walk on top of parliament house, so metaphorically the parliament is supporting the people of Australia, although it would be enhanced as it would be seen as the heart of the city. Back to the design aspect it was evident that Canberra is not connected on varying scales. On the small scale there looks to be a lack of public transport connections and on the large scale there is a lack of connection to Canberra and the other states within Australia which accommodate the Government houses.
A future plan for Canberra would be made that includes a high density cultural centre almost featuring museums and galleries with the government bodies located centrally. Upon looking at google maps it was noticeable that there is low density housing located all around parliament house. The master plan would populate the outer areas. A transport system would be necessary to create this connection to the wider Canberra. Parliament would be seen as the city centre that links the city together via these transport hubs.
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