In the depths of Melbourne’s 2020 lockdown, a group of urban designers hatched an idea to create a “force for good” for the future development of our cities. As we emerge from a second year of pandemic isolation, the group has resurrected a more than 30-year-old organization to galvanize like-minded peers and colleagues to tackle major challenges facing our cities.
First established in 1986, the Urban Design Forum is a not-for-profit organization bringing together a network of aligned professionals with an interest in improving the quality of Australian cities. The original organization produced quarterly newsletters, as well as conferences, but has been inactive since 2006.
The leadership team of the revamped Urban Design Forum comprises Leanne Hodyl and Margie McKay (joint-presidents), Katherine Sundermann (vice-president) and Andy Fergus (advocacy lead).
When this new generation came together to connect, share knowledge and advocate for better urban design outcomes, they discovered the dormant organization that had chartered a similar path three decades earlier.
Sub Base Platypus by Lahznimmo Architects and Aspect Studios is the winner of the 2021 Walter Burley Griffin Award for Urban Design at the National Architecture Awards.
Image:
Ben Guthrie
“We approached the original founders who were still the president and treasurer and had been in those roles for 35 years,” joint-president Leanne Hodyl said . “It was an exciting opportunity to take all of their fantastic advocacy and knowledge sharing work and pick it up again and reinvigorate the Urban Design Forum.”
“They were just thrilled and very supportive of the next generation coming in and continuing to drive a debate around good design in our cities.”
The new Urban Design Forum, which launched in early November 2021, now has more than 100 members as well as supporting organizations including universities and design practices.
“[Our members are] primarily people who work in and with cities,” vice-president Katherine Sundermann said. “They might be urban designers but we’ve also had people join us who are ethical developers, a lawyer and landscape architects. They’re people who work with these big urban challenges on a daily basis.”
The group has three main purposes: first, to support its member through social and career mentoring events; second, to share knowledge about urbanism through its website and social media channels; and thirdly to advocate for better urban design outcomes in the public interest.
“Most people live in cities,” Sundermann said. “We know that cities are where we’re facing a lot of the big issues in terms of climate change, biodiversity loss, and income inequality. Our main purpose is to ensure the way cities are developed and governed can help address some of those challenges. I think that’s something that touches on everyone.
“So, how can we be a force for good that really gets everyone involved in how we can conceive of the future of the city? Because we don’t want to leave it just to the private sector, or to the public sector. Everyday people need to be a part of that.”
Carrum Station and Foreshore Precinct by Cox Architecture received the Joseph Reed Award for Urban Design at the 2021 Victorian Architecture Awards.
Image:
Peter Clarke
An important area of advocacy for the group will be the planning system, which they see as a key tool in delivering good urban design outcomes. “It’s about creating the right preconditions for amazing architecture. That’s a really important part of what urban design does,” Sundermann said.
“If we’re able to set up the right built form controls for an area – it means it won’t get over developed. It means the sunlight to the parks is protected, so you can sit there on your lunch break. It seems like it might be something that people don’t think they need to be interested in, but it affects everyone and how we use our neighbourhoods.”
In the next three years, the group hopes to have an overarching urban design strategy connected to the planning system to add regulatory weight to the importance of urban design. “At present, urban design too often treated as a plug-in condition – there’s not one overarching strategy, which we think is a key gap,” Hodyl said. “If we can get something like that in place, more positive outcomes will flow from there because urban design will be seen as an intrinsic and central driver of good cities.”
The group has also made a submission to Victoria’s parliamentary inquiry into apartment design standards and aims to use their collective voice to advocate for the key drivers of good development.
“We’re also really excited about being a resource and an ally,” Sundermann continued. “Our website and Instagram have a lot of information about cities so even if you don’t want to become a member and urban design is not the core thing that you do, certainly spreading the word within the industry about the importance of thinking about these things and how it can support great design outcomes is a really big part of what we’re wanting to do.”
Urban Design Forum hopes to expand its membership to all Australian states and territories and has plans for a number of public events throughout the year, including its launch event, What Cities Need Now, to be held at MPavilion on 8 December.
“We’re definitely looking to be an small organization that punches above our weight,” Sundermann said. “We’re entirely volunteer run at this point. We’re independent so we can really advocate for the things that we want to see and we’re not beholden to other interests.”
For more information and to become a member, head to the Urban Design Forum website.
Source: Architecture - architectureau
