Are we just a dormitory, a placed to sleep before we go to work, then come home, sleep and do it again? I think we can be much more. What’s it take to make this the very best place to be? What do we need? Where might we go?
Of course feeling safe is import to us, with respect to crime, graffiti and much more. It’s about road design, knowing the people in our street, trusting each other, having a good footpath, safe windows that still let the breeze in and so much more.
We want our city to be healthy for all of us, with good medical care, walkways and cycle tracks, social connections, places to meet, fresh air, light and space, trees, Black Cockatoos and a living river.
We also need a lively economy, that vital arm of a good community, so that our safe, healthy city endures and improves. What do we need to make this work? To the south is the extensive Fiona Stanley Health complex and Murdoch Uni. To the north is Perth’s CBD. On the east is Curtin Uni, with its plans for thirty thousand students soon. Next door we are building the most powerful computing centre on Earth. Light rail will very soon give us quick travel across the metro region.
The 2011 Census helps us think about the future by telling us what we are now. (Click for our info). There are forty thousand of us in South Perth. We average 36 years of age. We have 70% of a car each, including kids. A surprising 37 per cent of us are students. Not so surprisingly, our education levels are a little bit higher than average. About 60 per cent of us were born in Australia; after that we come from England, Malaysia, New Zealand and China. More than 60 per cent of us are immigrants or the first- generation children of immigrant parents. Nearly a quarter of us use two or more languages at home. Only 51 per cent of us live in separated houses. Forty per cent of us live in rented accommodation. More than half of us over 15 are not working; that includes students, parents at home and retirees.
Sooo, what’s this say about our potential? I suggest it means we have fabulous links to other countries and that our professionals, managers, new immigrants and students have friends and families around the globe and are multi-lingual. We have great education and are well connected. Some of us are a little more wealthy, many are not and many of us work hard to make a go of it in our new home in Australia. My family has been here since 1835 and I think it’s always been that way.
I think this places us well to provide worldwide services based around technology, that don’t require large infrastructure, that use high intensity professional skills and that thrive on diversity. We need fast internet, good links with the airport and universities and a lot of local services. We need support services that operate around the clock, spanning the time zones. Schools and universities right here can use technology to service all of the world, especially Asia. Local businesses can offer employment for people to work near their homes, making this a magnificent place to both live and to work.
Our city planning will think ahead, think beyond perceptions of traditional 2+2 families where Dad goes out to work and comes home to sleep. We’ll think about different styles of homes, of transport, communications and workspaces. We’ll plan too for the lifestyle of retired people and of students. Much of the change has already happened, we just need to recognise it and plan for the future we choose in the place we’ve already chosen.
Behind all this, to ensure that our city is still a wonderful place to live, we still need that safe, trusting community, healthy rivers and clean air. On a Perth spring morning we still want to breathe in and feel as though champagne bubbles are tickling our noses.
What’s your dream?
