Summary of Review of capital city strategic planning systems

Brian Howe

Chair, Cities Expert Advisory Panel

COAG Reform Council

Our capital cities are where the vast majority of Australians live and work

‘They contain 75% of Australian jobs, they produce 80% of our GDP and, in general, they are growing....’

We must not be naive...

We are in a region of growing and productive cities—ours must be productive too.

The productivity of our cities will determine the productivity of our nation.

Productive cities attract people and capitalif they are efficiently arranged and used.

Think good transport, access to jobs and labour, growing businesses, and goodfreight and logistics.

So, in 2009, the Council of Australian Governments agreed an objective for our capital cities to be...

globally competitive, productive, sustainableglobally competitive, productive, sustainable

globally competitive, productive, sustainableliveable,

socially inclusive

, well placed to meet

future challenges and growth

…And asked the COAG Reform Council to review capital city strategic planning systems…

liveable,

socially inclusive

well placed to meet future challenges and growth

Against nine criteria agreed by all governments.

And support continuous improvement and sharing of best practice.

All with the assistance of an expert advisory panel, I chaired.

And report back to COAG by 31 December 2011.

1. Be integrated

The criteria: strategic planning systems should…

1. Be integrated5. Consider and strengthen networks and connections

9. Provide implementation arrangements and supporting mechanisms including:

• clear accountabilities, timelines & performance measures

• intergovernmental coordination including under the EPBC Act

• evaluation & review

• consultation & engagement

2. Have a hierarchy of long-term public plans

6. Provide for evidence-based land release

3. Provide for nationally significant economic infrastructure

7. Provide for investment and innovation

4. Address nationally-significant policy issues (there were ten of them)

8. Encourage world-class urban design and architecture

The key messages and recommendations of our report have a national rather than a city-specific focus

‘We have eight governments running different systems in parallel which is one of of the benefits of a federation—local responses to local issues—but it also creates its own complexities.’

Recommendations are for all governments and systems

Focus on improved integration

Continue with intergovernmental collaboration

Get better at:

- community engagement- frameworks for private sector investment - implementation, measuring outcomes and getting

results

The expert panel provided additional insights

Improve freight transport and intermodal networks to support forecast port and airport capacity and growth

Place more emphasis on public transport to combat congestion and address social inclusion

Improve project and cost-benefit analysis frameworks

Focus on demographic change, housing affordability and social inclusion

Governments need to stay on this issue

Cities drive national productivity, a critical area of COAG’s focus right now. For that reason cities need to stay in the national conversation and on the national agenda.