Our Own Future: Yes Please!

Not just “me too!” Not just like the suburb next door. Not just another dormitory with a big box full of cheap shops. The idea horrifies me. This place is unique; let’s plan for a unique future. Let’s look to the needs of today’s residents and of those fifty years hence.

In South Perth we already see six hundred thousand visitors to the zoo each year, and this even with no rail station. Fresh, exciting plans show development of the Civic Triangle around the Post Office, with community facilities, offices and a residential spire with views to east and west. Nearby landowners want to get this patch moving, with coherent planning. Completion of the rail station will let this happen, and without more traffic too.

Recently I’ve seen architect’s plans for Mill Point, with a cultural museum featuring both Noongar and Colonial history, cycle facilities, coffee shop, a restaurant on the river bank, a marina facing UWA, a zip-slide ride down from Kings Park and careful preservation of the historic Old Mill. Perhaps we really can have a small but significant focus on Tourism. Some people even speak of a recreational area on Sir James Mitchell Park, akin to Brisbane’s Southbank.

For real imagination let’s look at who we are. South Perth has a large proportion of educated people, professional and managerial employees and business owners, a huge range of multi-lingual residents and proximity to the freeway, the rail line, light rail, three universities and the Fiona Stanley medical precinct plus links to the National Broadband Network, being installed right now. Surely this suggests that we can promote a much more knowledge-intensive economy.

With more intense zoning and development in areas such as at South Perth Station and Canning Bridge there is opportunity for Tri-generation energy (click) sources. These would reduce energy consumption, diminish greenhouse gas emissions and save money.  Tri-generation involves building a small gas turbine to generate electricity, using the surplus heat piped around the precinct to run air conditioning and floor heating, while maintaining a connection to the power grid only for emergencies. Lots of other ideas link with this, including grouped solar panels, smart glass, reduced energy transmission losses and co-operative design. This is already being done by Sydney’s CBD.

Preston Street is in a beautiful location but is drowning in Beige. Street art, sidewalk cafés, creative art fashion could thrive here. The business owners are keen but uncertain of Council support. Colin Stiles, owner of the Cygnet Theatre (click) says he’d like to propose imaginative projects but fears that Council would reject them. The restaurant owners too want to get the streetside busy.

Karawara is presently dominated by students, low-rent and social housing. Surely with its proximity to Curtin Uni, Bentley Tech Park and the Pawsey Centre it can be developed as a hub in the knowledge economy. Already Curtin University has exciting plans that include links with surrounding suburbs (click for the link).

Manning and Salter Point have been left behind. Here our population is especially diverse. We have very many people in older, rental places and who really deserve to share in the City’s future. There are numerous Noongar people who provide a link with the long and deep history of our riverbank City. More recent arrivals have built large and costly houses and would also like to feel part of a connected community. The Manning Hub development, which we’ve worked on for about six years, can be a place where all can share the library, sports facilities, shops, meeting places and conversation. Let’s keep this project moving.

Trains now run frequently between Canning Bridge and the City and mean that it is entirely possible for a person to get from their Como home office to a client’s City office more rapidly than they could from another City location. This means that we can already think of South Perth as an extension of the CBD; Similarly we have rapid links with Fiona Stanley Medical precinct and Curtin Uni. With Light Rail as well we can link east and west too.

We could benefit from development of intense, physically small but economically large business centres with diverse services available. Right next to Canning Bridge and South Perth Stations would be ideal.

South Perth has quite a lot of land occupied by large soakage pits. If these were filled with porous, strong cells we could build on top of them, providing land for community and commercial facilities such as medical centres, crèches, sports centres and gyms, etcetera. In total this is valuable land going unused. We’ve already done this in Angelo Street where the car park is constructed over one of these pits, while it still works for rain water to recharge our aquifer.

About two thousand home businesses exist in the City. Some of these are small; others are huge. All Black and Decker tools distribution in WA ran for years from a home garage with internet connection. Many other quite large import and distribution businesses, design firms, games designers and data specialist operate from deceptively small home bases. These are often multi-million dollar operations. Such businesses need a very different support than that required by retail shops. Clustering of people with ideas always brings yet more imagination. Is it something in the air?

Through all these ideas there’s a common thread of the unique riverside environment we share. People worldwide like to live and work in a place that they enjoy and value. The rivers deserve our very best loving care.

Our weakness has been that we’ve usually planned for what we already have. Let’s look beyond today. I believe that we can step onwards from here to build a truly exciting future if we plan for the City that we imagine for the future.

Let’s get on with it. What are your thoughts? Click on Comments below.